It seems like months ago that football was actually interesting. The first round of the NFL playoffs is cool, and the conference semifinals offer a nice slate of games over a two-day period. But once the conference championships get here, it’s like, “Ah, I’m bored. F the Steelers, and the NFC sucks.”
Then the two-week media break comes, and all we have is speculation, feel-good stories and those weird video game demonstrations on ESPN. (Does anyone else hate Mark Schlabach?) If I have to listen to John Clayton answer another Coors Lite six-pack of Super Bowl questions, I’m going to drink six of those watery beers and smash each bottle over my head. I’ve done it before.—-
Anyway, the Super Bowl is finally about to be played, and the latest reports out of Tampa actually have something to do with the game, although none are surprising: Ben Roethlisberger, Hines Ward and Anquan Boldin are all going to play, and Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin looks like Omar Epps.
The Steelers are 6.5-point favorites, a pretty heavy spread for a Super Bowl. My guess is that it should probably be a little higher, as compulsive gamblers and bored white dudes are known to put their money on the hot team and skew the line in favor of people who bet on the better team. So it goes to say that no one really thinks the Cardinals can beat the Steelers, but put your money on Arizona if you like rooting for the passing team to come from behind and cover the spread.
At least the game is finally here and we can all focus on what really matters: the abundance of appetizers at our big screen TV-owning-friend’s place and the hilarious commercials we get to watch while abusing alcohol on a Sunday night (with an excuse).
