Archive for February, 2010
Super Bowl Pick
February 4th, 2010
Last night I attended a college basketball game here in Atlanta. George Mason, a team that made the remarkable Cinderella run to the Final 4 a few years ago, played at Georgia State. I follow George Mason closely since the days I used to live in Northern Virginia and went to most of their games. I drove downtown in rush hour traffic. I became nervous as my GPS took me on some roads I have never seen. Found a parking garage and paid the 3 bucks, found the ticket window and paid the 12 bucks. Found the gym and sat in the bleachers ( yes, real wooden bleachers ). 10 minutes to tip off so I sat and waited…and waited…and waited.
Then the game started and 4 minutes into it there was a media timeout, then another one 4 minutes later and so on and so on. The game itself wasn’t bad. There was a nice alley-oop play but I missed it because the guy in front of me stood up, there was a no look pass that I missed because I looked up at the scoreboard. My right arm started shaking and twitching like a drunk reaching for his last drink of the night. I missed my remote. I missed my couch. I missed being able to fast forward through the commercials.
Times have certainly changed.
Some of my greatest childhood memories were going to games with my Dad and brother. We were living in Rhode Island and would go to Providence College basketball games. It was in the 80′s and we would yell at the the refs for not calling a foul or calling a foul, whatever went against our team. We would yell at the coach, Rick Pitino, for not clearing his bench in a 20 point game with a minute to go. Good times. For some reason we liked to yell.
Watching games now is totally different. I’ll record it and watch a 2 hour game in 40 minutes. When my wife wants me to go grocery shopping with her on Saturday afternoons, I’ll pause it and pick it right back up when we get back and sometimes I’ll even catch up to it before it ends. When I catch some dude picking his nose in the crowd, i’ll rewind it and freeze it, call my wife into the room to witness this great event and hear her say “that’s great john” even though I think she really doesn’t mean it. Everything is in my control with the power of the remote.
Last year a neighbor asked me if I wanted to go to a Falcons game and I made up a story about going out of town on business, parked my car in the garage all weekend and snuck in and out of the house like I was a Jackson kid. I go through a lot of extremes to not give up the Red Zone Channel for a Sunday.
So I laughed this morning when someone on the CBS morning show said that “anybody who is anybody” is in Miami for the Super Bowl. As much as I love football and everything that goes with it, my desire to actually go to a Super Bowl is slim at best no matter what CBS is telling me that I am missing. I don’t think I need to witness the Miami Sound Machine playing an outdoor concert at 8am, I don’t think I need to know the top 5 restaurants to get a Cuban sandwich in South Beach, I don’t need to know the top 5 night clubs that you can pull your boat up to.
I’ll get by just fine sitting at home and laughing at how Dan Marino’s face gets a new wrinkle each time the discussion turns to whether Peyton Manning is the greatest quarterback of all time. I’ll enjoy listening to Shannon Sharpe’s analysis and probably learn a new word or two that I have never heard before. I’ll eagerly wait every one’s predictions which I am sure will be a lot of “Indianapolis 31, New Orleans 28″ which with a 5 point spread is their way of making everyone happy.
Sometime after the 4.5 hour pregame show and in between commercials featuring the youngest gambler in the world ( the E Trade baby ), a football game will be played and I’ll enjoy it from the comfort of my couch while enjoying the greatest Cuban sandwich north of Miami, my wife’s. I don’t need the Miami Sound Machine playing in my cul-de-sac or any boats docking in my backyard. My family, my couch, my remote is fine enough for this anybody who isn’t anybody.
Indianapolis vs. New Orleans ( + 5 )
Heavy money started coming in on Indianapolis early with the general public taking the Colts by a 2-1 margin. The last couple of days with the news of Dwight Freeney’s ankle injury has pushed the line down to 5 and even 4 on some books. You have to feel good about getting in early if you took New Orleans.
All signs are pointing to this being a high scoring affair and most likely it will be. So much for the defenses win championships argument. I am not a big fan of either team’s running game and I give a slight edge to Indianapolis’s passing game even though Reggie Wayne has disappeared the past few months. Dallas Clark always comes up big and Pierre Garcon has star potential.
New Orleans is no slouch either and Reggie Bush shows up in big games. Pierre Thomas has breakout potential as well. It will be interesting to see if New Orleans decides to either get into a shootout or try to slow it down early with their three running backs.
Many times these games comes down to a field goal ( just ask San Diego ). Would you rather have the kid who looks like he just showed up on a skateboard or the veteran who might have kicked when Johnny Unitas was playing?
With a blizzard on the East Coast, this will be the highest rated Super Bowl in history and the first time a game has ever gone into Overtime.
I’ll take the veteran Matt Stover over the kid Garrett Hartley.
Indianapolis gets the ring. New Orleans backers cash the checks. Everyone goes home happy.
Indianapolis 31 New Orleans 28
Take New Orleans.
