We've been blessed with some great Super Bowls the past few years. Last year's battle between Pittsburgh and Arizona will go down in history as one of the best of all time. Eli's last minute efforts against an undefeated Patriots' squad was heart-breaking, but awesome to watch. Even the halftime shows have been great, with Prince and the Boss both providing spectacular entertainment. Will we be so lucky this year? I think so. I think the Saints will cover, lead for a big chunk of the game, and Peyton will win in spectacular fashion in the final plays (there's my pick, Saints (+6) over Colts). Of course, I would love New Orleans to win more than anything. I've never been a Colts' fan and would love to see them crumble at the hands of Brees and the crew, but in all honesty, it's looked the Colts' year. They look like New England back in 2008, only I think they'll be able to finish things off properly.
With all this talk surrounding the big game, however, I'm reminded that it really isn't my favorite day of the season. There's so much build-up and so often the game is a letdown, that I've gotten used to kind of brushing the day off as a day for non-football fans to watch football. Factor in the week off between the conference championships and the Bowl, and I tend to lose a bit of momentum after steadily watching for nineteen straight weeks. So what are my favorite days? Well, I would probably have to rate them something like this:
1. Final Day of the Season
This isn't always the case, but if there are playoff spots still up for grabs at the end of the season, this is one of the most entertaining weeks of the year. This season we had an exceptionally good final day, with so many teams fighting to keep their season alive. Of course, if playoff spots are already determined, I'd have to say my favorite week is...
2. Wild Card Weekend
So entertaining to watch teams that just barely made the playoffs and riding the exhilarating high of momentum playing against teams that are slightly better than them. The thing about the week after this is that the top teams enter the equation and you often get mismatches, but on wild-card weekend everyone seems about on equal footing, which makes for entertaining football.
3. Opening Day
Is there any better opportunity to place bets on the underdogs than opening day? Vegas doesn't know, they're guessing almost as much as you are, and lines are set all over the map. Have a little faith in the Browns this year? Bet on them in the first game, see how it pans out. Kansas City going to upset the Super Bowl champs early on? Who knows? The season is full of possibilities and until Vegas figures out what's what, you can make these early games a lot more fun.
4. Conference Championships
Usually these are great matchups between either to top two teams in each conference, or some upstart underdogs who are creating a Cinderella season. Either way they usually prove to be good games and highly entertaining. Almost always I wind up disappointed with what two teams are going to the Super Bowl, but regardless, I feel like it's my last day of football fandomonium before the general public takes over.
5. Super Bowl
Alright, so I'm still usually highly excited, extremely drunk, and full of man-foods for the big day, and although I can rarely remember who I told to go fuck themselves for arguing against the superiority of football over any other sport, I can usually remember the game. I really hope this year is as good as the past two, and I think the Saints can make that happen, but regardless it'll probably be another overblown spectacle that makes me wish I still had football all to myself on Sunday afternoon with the boys. It's my little escape, and when the general population is there cheering with me, I feel like everyone has just seen my girlfriend naked and it loses a little bit of its charm and exclusivity for the day. Does that make sense? I hope so.
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