The Ballad of Ricky-Bobby: Tremendous Super Bowl Potential

Colts and Saints. WHO. YA. GOT?

RICKY: Predictions are kind of lame - nothing is worse than friends/family members screaming "I called it!" immediately after something cool happens - but I feel like the rule book gets thrown out the window for the Super Bowl. You have to make a pick, so let's get mine out of the way early: I'll take the Colts, because I think they are somewhat substantially better than New Orleans. Is it a slam dunk? I don't think so. Factoring in the Saints' off-the-charts karmic power and how great the recent Super Bowls have been, I'd be surprised if this game wasn't close going into the fourth quarter. But, you know, Peyton Manning and stuff. I really can't pick against him.

It's probably annoying when we only focus on the stars in sports. Like, yeah Kobe is great, but he was great for a long time before 2009. He's not winning that championship without Gasol/Fisher/Ariza, etc., yet 95-percent of the coverage was slanted Kobe's way. We're probably in for the exact same thing if Indy wins, only I actually think it's completely justified in this case.

Peyton is a one-man wrecking crew. You can't point out a flaw in his game. He's maybe the best ever, yes, we get it. But if football had VORP, can you think of someone who would score higher in our lifetimes than Manning this season? Replace him with an average quarterback - David Garrard (Pro Bowler!) let's say - and I really don't think Indy even makes the playoffs. Instead, they're the odds-on-favorite to win the Super Bowl.

Remarkable, no?

BOBBY: Quickly: Peyton is a one-man wrecking crew. You can't point out a flaw in his game.

He runs funny. Done.

Anyway... It's really pissing me off how much weight people are putting into the title games. "The Saints looked bad against the Vikings! They coulda lost! OMG!!!! Look at Brett Favre's sore ankle pic!!!!*"

Look, the Colts looked better than the Saints, that's for sure. But come on. The Colts haven't been tested in these playoffs. I know seeds and records might say otherwise, but the best teams that could have played the Colts in the AFC title game were probably the Pats, the Steelers, and the Chargers. Somehow (massive chokes by these three aforementioned teams), Indy was able to duck all of them. I'm not saying Indy didn't earn the Super Bowl -- they totally, totally did -- but beating the 6-seed and the 5-seed wasn't exactly earth shattering. They beat defense-first teams with average passing games. And no one in the media seems to be talking about this. The Saints took the best shot from the actual second best team in their conference -- a team that could pass, run, stop the run, and rush the passer -- and they won the damn game. To me, that's a bigger accomplishment.

Still, I'm picking the Colts to win the Super Bowl. It's a hard pick to make, simply because I'd really, really like to see the Saints win... and that's kinda clouding my judgment. Had we not been discussing this game, I may have even posted a Texas-style "don't write off the Saints!" post. They're totally capable.

I guess the biggest things I'm thinking going into the game are this...
1) The Saints are not as bad as people think -- the gambling line is way too high.

2) The Colts have not lost a game this year when playing their starters.

3) The Colts could have lost several games this year when playing their starters.

4) Peyton Manning is good.

And that, my friends, is some earth-shattering analysis.

(* - Seriously, who leaks pictures of their injuries to the media? Why are there people who want him to continue living?)


RICKY: "I'd really, really like to see the Saints win."
I wonder: what percentage of that thought is because of Katrina, what percentage of that thought is because a Colts win would be another feather in the cap of Peyton > Brady, and what percentage is something else. Do tell.

Have you been reading a lot of the Manning profiles this week? There's been lots of really good/weird stuff to come out.

For example, do you remember this skit from when Peyton hosted SNL?

BOBBY: I'm not really a tragedies guy, so the Katrina thing doesn't really do it for me. It almost makes me like the Saints less because everyone is being so stupid about it. My allegiance to the 'Aints pretty much comes down to the Manning/Brady debate with a tinge of "New Orleans has sucked forever" thrown in.

I guess, as a Brady guy, it's been a little upsetting to see Manning get so much praise this week. I get that he's one of the best ever, but are we so sure he's that much better than Brady? I mean, Brady kills him in the ring debate (not always indicative of greatness)... but even in the "monster kill death season" category, Brady also beats him. It's like the Pats losing to the Giants wiped Brady's 50 TD regular season from the record books. He threw 50 touchdowns! In one season! Nuts. Manning also threw way more interceptions this year than people are mentioning. I just wonder how much of the praise stems from the fact that Edge and Marvin "Guns Playoff Fail" Harrison are gone. If that's why Manning's getting so much credit, then it makes sense. The "he's winning with WRs we've never heard of!" storyline is incredible. I don't even care how played out it is. Also, Bob "IR" Sanders being out for basically the whole year is another reason why Manning deserves the credit he's been getting. Your Garrard point just hammers it home.

The old cliche was comparing Manning to Wilt and Brady to Russell. But maybe it's more of a Kobe/LeBron-type debate. The rings aspect doesn't really work, but maybe Manning is the Kobe mold (maxing out potential, super intelligent, total technician) while Brady is in the LeBron mold (gets a chunk of his potential but not all, has a few incredible skills no other player has)... but that might be a total stretch. Maybe Brady is like Wilt, and Manning is like Russell. Eh. I guess my point is this: don't write off Brady in this debate. Not yet. Please? I have so few things left to believe in.

So yeah. Saints for history, for Sean Payton, for Drew Brees, Reggie Bush, Pierre Thomas (my favorite Illini football player of all-time), Kim K., and those crazies on Bourbon Street.

If you're really looking for outside crap to base your opinion on, how about the Saints scheduling a parade, win or lose? So weird.

Well, enjoy the Super Bowl, everyone. My only regret is this post failed to incorporate a BANG GANG reference.


BobbyStompy is the assistant editor of Tremendous Upside Potential. He can be reached at stompaberdeen [at] aol.com. Follow him on Twitter @bobbystompy.