PIGSKIN ~ SUPER BOWL XLV

SUNDAY
February 6, 2011

Arlington, Texas

SUPER BOWL XLV

NFC CHAMPIONS

GREEN BAY
PACKERS

vs.

AFC CHAMPIONS

PITTSBURGH

STEELERS

This is it.  This is the last sixty minutes of the 2010 NFL season where opposing teams and grown men get to legally beat each other senseless and get paid for it.  Six months of sanctioned violence ends Sunday evening in the biggest clash of them all;   THE SUPER BOWL  !!  

Our new unofficial National Holiday. 

Win this game, and we elevate you to levels of esteem only the greatest of great Americans and what their respective contributions to American Society have earned.  That's right, win this game and you're right up there with the signers of the Declaration of Independence, the Wright Brothers, Niel Armstrong, Elvis, and Snookie from Jersey Shore.  Why do we bestow such praise on these athletes and reality stars and deem they be so important in our new-age American psycho-obsessive Pop-Culture polluted lives?  Because! 
I could say a lot worse but I'll stick to the notion we strayed.  Let's leave it at that. 

And then to top off the Big Game, Monday follows as the most unproductive workday of the calendar year.  France ain't got nothing on us come February 7th.

Our new unofficial National Holiday; The Super Bowl - has become to poor defenseless little Chicken's wings, what Thanksgiving came to mean for unsuspecting and unfortunate turkeys wandering the forests and backwoods of the New World.  And in terms of Fanatic hedonism, Super Bowl Sunday can be compared to a Bacchic Dionysia replete with sacrificial goats, wine, dancing and song.  The festival that has become Super Bowl Sunday comes replete with barley/hops, and Margarita-Mix induced revelry, rising BBQ flames in frenzied anticipation of sacrificial Flightless Fowl Genocide, while all done in praise of their all-mighty PIGSKIN Symbol of Supremacy; the Lombardius Trophyus.

*sigh*

Let me tell you something.  Nothing screams "Gimmie Back My Football Game" more than confetti, TV commercials, stupid Half-Time People Tricks and Coors Light.  Just gimmie back the damn game will ya?  C'mon!  This is why I love the Conference Championship Games so much more.

At some point during the Vaudeville Extravaganza & Medieval Puppet Torture Show, a Football Game breaks out.  That's when I start to pay attention (note to advertisers).

...Just so you know;

The BASKET-O-BAGELS was plentiful this season. 

I'm proud to announce a net accumulation of  +21 BAGELS heading into the Super Bowl.  I hope everyone ate one or two of my picks in good health over the season and washed it down with an Egg Cream.  Some Bagel Picks you have to admit, were awesome, while some of them came out of the oven burnt to a crisp.

So here we are; The Big Game.  I'm pushing all my Bagels to the middle of the buffet table;  BTB is All In.

This next Bagel roll-out will be Feast or Famine.

Drum Role Please.....?

(Saturday NYDN Line)

MY PICK ~ ..and all 21 Bagels are on:

STEELERS +2 1/2

The Game:

The Green Bay Packers are the Hottest team in Football.  But the Pittsburgh Steelers are Bone-Chilling good.  Which would you rather be?

The Packers have shown a tendency to disappear on Offense from drive to drive.  Once you get to Aaron Rodgers, you have the Packers.  There is no Packer Running Game.  There is only Aaron and his Wide Receivers.  When he gets hit, he's one Quarterback.  When he's allowed to get Hot, he's another Quarterback.  Throughout, they remain one dimensional.

This is the biggest factor facing Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packer's; ~ They are only going to beat the Steelers if Aaron Rodgers can stand in the pocket long enough for his receivers to gain separation or gain a bad angle, so as to beat the Steelers deep; as in over the top; as in with the Old Fashioned "Bomb".

The deep opportunities will be there.  But can he wait for the play before the Blitz comes crashing down on him?  That's the game right there; How much time will his Offensive Line and Backs give him by picking up the LeBeau Blitz?   Not if..., When the Steelers threaten his safety, will he hang in and take a hit?  Because if he leaves the pocket and runs against Dick Lebeau's Defense, it's going to hurt.  So, Aaron won't be running much.  His destiny is inside the Pocket Sunday.  That's the trade-off for the Steelers having the ability to shut down almost eveything else the Packers can try.  The trick is, he had better hurry up.  The Blitz will be coming and Rodgers won't have much time.

The Steelers however, can keep a game close with their Defense and when they absolutely, positively, need to drive and score, they are brutish enough on Offense to do it, and have shown consistency getting it done.  Besides that, Big Ben is going to do to Green Bay, what people think Aaron Rodgers can do to Pittsburgh.  Ben is going to be disruptive both in and out of the pocket.  Many points I made in the Jets/Steelers game about Big Ben still hold true.  He's too Big, Bad, Bouncy, and Bold for Green Bay's Defense.  He's going to befuddle the Packers and own them Sunday.

There's This; That; and the Other.  But this game may boil down to which team's QB can withstand a better hit and get more done in between shots.  Simple as that.

Getting back to my original question ~ Which would you rather be;
The Hottest Team in Football? 
Or,

A Brutally Good Team? 

Well..,  You know how in Hawaii where the volcano's lava meets the ocean?  The lava instantly cools when the water hits; Blackening and hardening the lava in a cloud of steam.  Now take something that acts with brutish impunity for what stands in it's way, like say...., a GLACIER.  They are just big, ignorant, methodical moving masses lurching forward with complete disregard for what may be in their way....

....Towards a SEVENTH Vince Lombardi Trophy for the Rooney Family.



HAPPY

SUPER BOWL

SUNDAY

..and Merry Pigskin to All...!

Mike.BTB