you know what?  i had this whole big post planned with a bunch of prop bets but it’s saturday night and i’m just not feeling it.  and part of it is that it is a foregone conclusion to me as to what is going to happen tomorrow.  i think part of it is that i’ve had my head buried in the sand working on school crap that i haven’t had a chance to expose myself to erik’s sister and the super bowl media frenzy.  however, i’ve thought a lot about this game and no matter what happens, i can’t seem to alter the pre-ordained outcome.  it’s weird….i’m 90% sure that tomorrow’s game is not going to be close, yet i am more satisfied with the super bowl matchup than i have been in a long time.  and i think the reason for that is quite simply, the two best teams from the regular season are here.  don’t get me wrong, i like a nice underdog story as much as anyone, but the truth is, studying sports from a sociological point of view has ruined any romantic notions i have of underdogs.  think about it…when you root for the underdog, you’re rooting for the party that deserves to win the least.  do i root for bill gates to win the lottery?  do i root for jeffery dahmer to be cannonized? do i root for me to hook up with ugly women? no, no, and depends on how many drinks i’ve had.  my point is, we should want the best team to win and i think it’s idealogically lazy to default root for the underdog if you have no real reason too.  don’t get me wrong…would i be rooting for the lions if they were playing brett favre in the super bowl?  of course i would, but that’s because i hate brett favre, not because i have some misguided notion that justice is somehow served when the better party loses.  and unfortunately for the saints, there’s no one on the colts to hate.

of course the only candidate is one penis nose manning.  and much to my own surprise, penis nose has turned into one of my favorite NFL athletes in my lifetime.  besides his excellence on the field (when is the last time you remember the colts losing because of manning?), i’ve come to appreciate his approach to football.  it’s quite similar to kobe bryant actually.  he may be a sorry human being, but i don’t think there’s any question that he has taken his natural physical abilities and turned them into something sublime.  if kobe and peyton worked half as hard as they do, they’d still be pretty great at what they do.  but that wasn’t enough. and the stories of peyton spending an hour before his last super bowl throwing wet balls to prepare himself for the possibility of rain, that kinda stuff tells you that peyton is playing a different game then the rest of the league.  now you may think that this is the same thing as rooting for the underdog since i’m ascribing some kind of extraordinary moral character to this, like hard work pays off or something.  but it’s quite the opposite actually.  i like these athletes because i think they see the game and sports as i do.  peyton manning understands that being a good teammate doesn’t win you super bowls.  the ability to drop the ball 25 yards downfield into austin collie’s inexperienced hands while delivering the ball over the outstretched hands of the cornerback but away from the safety coming over to help…that’s what wins super bowls.  peyton won’t allow the the possibility for the failings of others to cost him the win.  and that’s why i like him.  he’s a machine.  he’s a nerd.  and he makes goofy commercials.  he’s the terminator of football.  unfeeling and relentless.

i think he understands his place in football history and that’s what people like him play against, history.  my guess is that he could care less if his teammates win a superbowl.  he knows that if he wins a second superbowl, he will cement his place in the montana/unitas/marino/elway conversation.  you want an underdog story? how about a white child of privilege playing the pretty boy position while alienating his teammates becoming one of this cynical sport fan’s favorite players to watch?

as far as technical and strategic concepts.  well, the miami game showed us that you can keep the ball out of manning’s hands with a clock control offense and still lose.  it’s cliche, but the only way to beat manning is to consistently bring the pressure.  manning’s qb rating against the blitz? over 100.  freeny? he missed a couple of games in the season, no sweat.  the fact is, when the starters play, the colts are undefeated.  new orleans has a nice offense, but that team needed 5 turnovers from the vikings to win at home in the dome.  do you think manning and the colts are going to turn the ball over 5 times tomorrow?  no, there’s only two words that can save the saints at this point: curtis. painter.

penis nose for the win.

colts 34 saints 20