Super Bowl XLIV Saints vs Colts – NFL Football

Super Bowl predictions and the ridiculousness of the media coverage leading up to the big game.

Super Bowl XLIV

Since the Super Bowl began, the stories that pass for news have grown stranger and stranger.

Yes, it’s news that Dwight Freeney has a torn up ankle, but the coverage of his injury was akin to being forced to watch a cheesy reality show.

The pundits–these poor people–have to come up with a new angle to keep the non-story alive.

It can’t help but be silly.

Me and my crack research team–Boris Stolichnaya and my Dalmatian rescue, Franky–examined some past non-story stories.

FROM THE BEGINNING

Before the AFL and NFL merged, there were actually reports Vince Lombardi would not shake the opposing coach’s hand in the first inter-league championship.

Lombardi didn’t cement his legend until whipping Kansas City and coach Hank Stram. Unlike most experts, Lombardi respected every opponent he faced and was recorded exchanging pleasantries with Stram.

Talk about a huge “story.”

Joe Willie Namath received death threats from Baltimore fanatics for guaranteeing victory against the Colts.

Terry Bradshaw was repeatedly asked to spell “cat” after the Cowboys’ Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson questioned his ability to do so. Fortunately, most of those queries were offered with tongues firmly planted in cheeks.

When Mike Singletary burst on the scene with lopsided eyeballs that would make Jeffery Dahmer cower, psychologists were interviewed on television news shows to explain how he was probably sane off the gridiron. Some feared only deep probing with a cattle prod could determine his mental state on game day.

Those same experts were deployed to quantify Bill Walsh’s IQ during the 49er’s reign of excellence in the ’80s and ’90s. If San Francisco’s self-assured coach accepted that label so readily, the experts were determined to prove he deserved it.

Behaviorists and newly minted “grief counselors” made ESPN into more than a scores and highlight network when they explored the mentality of the then three-time Super Bowl loser Buffalo Bills and how Marv Levy’s charges would handle their fourth try at Lombardi’s Trophy. They turned out to be prophetic.

Cable outlets fell over themselves trotting out experts after Bill Belichick was busted for cheating a few years back. This time, you could see the NFL’s corporate claw piercing the veil of legitimacy most of these bozos wore by insisting knowing your opponent’s signals was not that much of an advantage.

This year, I saw a podiatrist telestrating the supposedly affected ligament inside Freeney’s injured ankle.

Did we really need to see 342 stories related to Katrina and how much a Saints victory would mean to New Orleans? Of course, that story is a legitimate fruit for the media to pluck. But let’s be honest, after the first viewing of ET, you knew you had been manipulated from a story sense, yet you probably didn’t mind. Everyone can use a good cry.

However, after the second viewing, you felt the urge to scream, “The little bastard comes back to life!”

This year, Saint’s defensive coordinator Gregg Williams actually refused to apologize for saying he wanted his guys to get some “remember me shots” on Peyton Manning.

My hero.

That attitude and Williams’s approach–to change defensive tactics after every series–mirrors New England and Pittsburgh’s strategy in their recent successes against Manning and are the main reasons I’m picking the Saints to win Super Bowl XLIV.

Peyton Manning will make a New Orleans victory nearly impossible. He’s studied every variation of Williams’s defense, but the Saints have their starters healthy and ready–the same starters that dominated potent offenses like Atlanta and New England before injuries hit.

The game might go into overtime because the Indy defense has also transformed itself into a legitimate physical force.

Reggie Bush will be the difference maker and the MVP.

NEW ORLEANS 31
INDIANAPOLIS 28

• March 1, 2010 -- Super Bowl XLIV Final Look Back – NFL Football (1)
• February 8, 2010 -- Super Bowl XLIV Recap – NFL Football (2)
• December 16, 2009 -- December Tampy Noms (8)
• May 8, 2010 -- Sports Bright: Bill Noethlich Minnesota Vikings – NFL (0)
• January 31, 2010 -- Pro Bowl Before the Super Bowl – NFL Football (2)