Super Day XLIII Predictions

This is the first Super Bowl that I haven't been in the state of Nevada since 6 years ago when I watched the Tampa Bay Buccaneers destroy the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII.  I watched that game in in beautiful Sherwood, Oregon at my friend Matt Conrad's house with Jesse "Jigga" Jack and Yarrow.  For the past 6 years my brother Scott and I have ventured to Nevada (Las Vegas the first 5 years, Reno last year) with a third party, to place a wager or two on the game.  It's going to be weird this year watching the game with no action on the game.  But it will be fun because I will get to watch it with Emily and our friend Rachel, and we will be making the Hoff classic Super Nacho along with some sushi (the sweet kind that you stuff inside a little skin).  And we'll have some classic Super Bowl junk food staples that I developed at Whitman like a bag of Peanut Butter M&M's, a Costco bag of Tim's Jalepeno chips, and some Pyramid Apricot Ale.  Good times!

I don't know why I'm doing this, but I'll toss out a prediction.  I can't talk about the Cardinals - Steelers matchup without talking about the travesty that was Super Bowl XL, when our beloved Seahawks played their worst game of the year against the Steeler's, still outgained them, had a better turnover margin, AND controlled the clock more.  Yet somehow the damned Steelers won - namely because the Seahawks crapped the bed and the refs blew about, oh, 5 horrible calls.  

 

So how does all of that effect today's game?  Well, I'm saying it here first - the only way the Steelers win this time around is if the Cards play absolutely horrible and refs help them out again.  Sure they have a good defense.  But so did the Eagles, and we all know how Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald et al destroyed those foolios.  And don't forget how the head coach and offense coordinator spent about 6 years with the Steelers.  Remember the last time a head coach faced-off against his old team in the Super Bowl?  That's right - SB XXXVII - Buc (John Gruden) vs. his old team, the Raiders.  And we know how that turned out.

Final score:   Arizona 34, Pittsburgh 17