Happy Super Bowl Eve

Given it's immense popularity, I move for the Super Bowl to be declared an official national holiday. Sure there are people who are not football fans and don't care about the Super Bowl (I'm sure they're the same people who are not fans of Mother's Day, rainbows, and the laughter of a playing child) but for most truly patriotic Americans (I hear not watching the Super Bowl emboldens the terrorists), the Super Bowl should be a day of rest, celebrated on Super Bowl Sunday, observed on the Monday immediately proceeding, to allow for recuperation (either from the elation of seeing your team win, or from the depression of seeing your team lose) and remuneration of gambling winnings.

On this years game
All the talk this week has been about the stars in the game, and who will be the difference maker. Peyton Manning or Brian Urlacher? What will Rex Grossman do? Can the Colts continue to stop the run? Blah, blah, blah. It's like these media types never learn.

Look back at last year's game, the most significant player in Super Bowl XL was not league MVP Shaun Alexander, not Ben Roethliesberger the QB wunderkind, not the ageless Jerome 'The Bus' Bettis. Nope, it was Jerramy Stevens, tight end for the Seahawks who dropped 4 crucial passes that cost them the game. Meanwhile, rookie running back Willie Parker had a monster game for the Steelers, and the Seahawks usually reliable kicker missed to field goals. But none of those guys really factored in to the pre-game hype.

2 years back, it was Deion Branch emerging as Super Bowl MVP, while all the sports pundits fawned over Donovan McNabb, Terrell Owens and Tom Brady (who technically had a lot to do with Branch's performance, but still). And in all 3 of the Patriots recent Super Bowl wins, the game was decided by the kicker. So it looks to me that it's not necessarily the stars who are the difference makers, but the 'other guys'. In this game, I think the Colts have better, more experienced 'other guys' so I give them the edge. Colts 30 Bears 13.

In betting news, I read today that the over/under for the length of Billy Joel's national anthem is at 1:44. Take the over.

Finally, this Super Bowl Eve we take a moment to reflect on those who never made it to the big game, despite their best efforts: