The Blacksheep Online | The Super Bowl: Rooting for the Favorite

The Super Bowl: Rooting for the Favorite

February 5, 2010 - 3:45 pm | Posted by: Nick

Manning It's no real surprise that the NFL has overtaken Major League Baseball as the United States' true national pastime.

I mean, football is a game for men. A bunch of muscular guys who can run 40-yard dashes in 4 seconds is a feat in itself, but when you consider all the talent they possess it is kind of mind-boggling. Plus, unlike long, drawn out baseball games, you don't need three hot dogs and two bags of Cracker Jacks to sit through a football game; you just need a tall beer which costs $8.50 at the stadium [note to self: buy case of beer at home and watch on television].

The biggest reasons I love the NFL more than any other sport is the schedule. Each teams gets 16 games to prove its worth and also its dominance, and then the playoff games are all decided in one game "do-or-die" exhibitions. Of course, this all leads to the Super Bowl.

And this year's Super Bowl is as intriguing as ever.

You have the New Orleans Saints, the "who dats" of the South, riding on the wings of the amazingly accurate Drew Brees, not to mention a city still grieving over a hurricane which took just about everything last decade. It is the Saints' first Super Bowl appearance in franchise history, yet it may not have been at a worse time.

That is because they are facing the Indianapolis Colts, a team which won a Super Bowl in 2007 and still has many of the same players from that team. Ah, yes, they also this one player named Peyton Manning, and I don't know if you follow the sports closely or not, but this dude's good. Real good.

Actually, good is an understatement. When he retires he may wind up as the greatest quarterback to ever wear an NFL jersey. Aside from his superior football knowledge and proficiency, Manning has hosted Saturday Night Live and has done more commercials than the late Billy Mays [may he rest in peace with all of his Mighty Putty and Oxyclean]. Manning even involves himself in Oreo eating championships against the extremely rich Donald Trump, comb over and all. And on top of all of this, Peyton's father, Archie, was quarterback of the Saints in the 1970s!

So, if you're looking for a storyline in this year's Super Bowl XLIV (Super Bowl 44 for you non-sports ingrates), there isn't any shortage. And right as the Saints defeated the Minnesota Vikings with a game-winning field goal in overtime, I immediately knew what would happen for the following two weeks: the Saints would be extreme underdogs and become America's beloved team.

If you remember last year's big game, the Arizona Cardinals were big underdogs but cheered on by most people to win. "The Pittsburgh Steelers already won five times," people said. Now, as New Orleans continues to recover from Hurricane Katrina, I have heard numerous references and how the Saints are "playing for the city."

Now, let me say that Katrina was quite unfortunate in so many aspects. I could name all the reasons why, but I digress. I should also mention that I am a Colts fan, and I'm not one of those bandwagon sports fans who start rooting for a team once they become successful. I've followed the Colts since the 21st century began, mainly because I had a little man crush on Manning; not in a sexual way, just in a "he's so damn good at what he does you can't help but respect the man" way.

I am on the Colts' side, and so is Las Vegas. As of writing this, Indy is already 5 ½ point favorites to come out victorious. And when all of the people I end up watching the game with root wildly for the Saints - whether it's at a bar or my buddy's house - I'll be the obnoxious asshole yelling, "Go Colts!" every chance I get.

Sometimes it's just a lot more fun cheering on the team expected to win. It's like rooting for the high school basketball team that's up by 57 and still have their starters in. On February 8, I will be that kid dunking on the poor guy with Down syndrome...and boy will I enjoy it.