There are always plenty of storylines heading into Super Bowl week.
Questions about the game itself will arise:
• Does Pittsburgh deserve to be considered as a modern dynasty with a win?
It would be the Steelers’ and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s third Super Bowl win in the past six seasons, so the answer is ‘absolutely.’ The New England Patriots, with its three Super Bowl titles since 2002, are the only other team that should be considered a dynasty right now and Pittsburgh should join them with a win.
• Will Aaron Rodgers finally fully emerge from Brett Favre’s shadow in Green Bay with a win?
Yes. It is only Rodgers’ third full season as a starter, after playing second fiddle to Favre for two seasons, and he has been one of the best quarterbacks in the league all three of those years. He took a team rife with injury problems all season and turned it back into a contender with his play down the stretch and in the playoffs thus far.
• Will Green Bay’s offence or Pittsburgh’s defence control the game?
This will likely determine the outcome of the game, as Rodgers’ high-powered offence will face one of the league’s best defences, led by all-world safety Troy Polamalu.
Prediction: I took Green Bay as my pre-season pick to win the Super Bowl, so I’m sticking with it. I believe it will turn into an offensive game and that Pittsburgh will end up bringing knives to a gunfight.
There are questions relating to game day viewing protocol:
• Do I stay at home, go to a friend’s house or go to a bar?
Each person will have to answer this on their own, but if you actually care about the game, the commentary, etc. staying at home is the solution.
Just remember to not accept an invite from somebody who has a smaller TV than you.
• Who will have the best commercials?
Most Canadians will have to wait until after the game to actually see them, due to CTV’s annoying reluctance to give in to American advertising, but the perennial frontrunner has to be Bud Light.
They always seem to pull out all the stops. Prediction: Make it a Bud Light.
There are also questions about the inane details:
• Who will win the coin toss?
Even the teams probably don’t care, as the first possession rarely amounts to anything (except when Devin Hester took the opening kickoff for a touchdown in 2006). The only people who care are those who are in one of those monster-sized square pool sheets. Prediction: Pittsburgh. Or Green Bay.
• Could the NFL not have hired a better halftime performer than the Black Eyed Peas, who played the Grey Cup halftime show way back in 2005?
The answer is probably yes, even though BEP are one of the biggest groups in the world.
Most football fans are not fans of chart-topping pop stars and would prefer something more in the lines of classic rock, as in the past several years of halftime performers. But, of course, it is impossible to please everybody and even aging rockers, think of The Who last year specifically, have been less than outstanding.
Prediction: It will be the most-asked and useless question not relating to the game to be which nobody should really care about. If you don’t like the performer, change the channel or be useful and go top up the beer fridge.
• Will Ben Roethlisberger behave himself during the after-party if the Steelers win?
Big Ben looked truly happy, relieved and poignant after Pittsburgh held on to beat the New York Jets in the AFC Championship game on Jan. 23.
He has also been a model NFL citizen, which is a significant accomplishment, since his four-game suspension at the start of the season (for indecent conduct and sexual assault accusations).
But he’s been known to have a myriad of off-field issues during his seven-year career and winning another Super Bowl title could unleash the ego-driven wild side he seems to have buried.
Prediction: Roethlisberger will become drunk on a lethal mixture of success and champagne after the game (if Pittsburgh wins), put President Barack Obama on hold and phone Charlie Sheen for party advice. This will be the last game he ever plays.
