Perfect Season or Stunning Upset, This Super Bowl Should Deliver

We are just hours away from the biggest sporting event in the world that is played in less than one turn of the earth on its axis.

Baseball is America's pastime but football is America's passion and reflects the spirit of most Americans better than the Grand Old Game. We don't like to sit around waiting for the next pitch, we face life head on, sometimes helmet to helmet. If something isn't working for us we try another formation and if we're down and the clock is ticking we may even get religion and try a Hail Mary or two.

My favorite two days before the Super Bowl is the wildcard weekend where teams with their backs against the wall, despite qualifying for a spot in a playoff game, battle it out to the end in the perfect bridge between the regular season and the playoffs. Sometimes, like both contenders this weekend have done in the past, they dig their way from the bottom of the wild card heap and go on to play in a Super Bowl.

The Patriots as of this writing are 12 point favorites with the over under at 54 points. The Patriots are looking for their fourth Super Bowl win in seven seasons, while the Giants are looking for their third Super Bowl win with four pre-super bowl era titles. Impressive as the Giants title record is, the victories are spread out over seven decades and hall of fame players like Y. A. Tittle and Lawrence Taylor, who are eras apart. The concentration of Super Bowl wins and talent on the Patriots in our time, with Bill Belichick's ability to motivate them and complement each others abilities will create a log jam of Patriots Hall of Fame contenders in the years to come.

This Super Bowl is not just history versus intensity though, nor is it tenacity versus experience. It is building up to be the second New Year's Eve celebration since January 1, 2008. If you're not a die-hard Patriots or Giants fan you can't lose with this one. Super Bowl blowouts of the past have sent fans home with almost as much beer as they brought to the party. If the Patriots blow out this one you get to see football history made. If the Giants upset, you get to see football history made; an underdog will have beat a team that has already has made football history this season.

Win or lose though, I fear that New England and especially Boston residents might suffer. With riots following a New England team's win or loss over the last few years, residents in New England metro areas have to start worrying right after the game. In the Fenway area of Boston in particular, local college students (many of them from out of state) have turned the area in to a battle zone after big games, with one recent riot after a Red Sox game resulting in a fatality. The idea of someone who's family can afford a college education that cost upwards of $45,000, turning over or destroying someone else's car who has to go to work the next morning is a shame and diminishes the joy all real fans experience from the game. The local authorities have stepped up the protection and security in these areas, I just hope the reaction to this game isn't bigger than they can handle.

With history on both sides, a ninja like coach for the Patriots, a team with a real chance for an upset and even Michael Jackson, this game may end up being the biggest spectacle of all time. For the no nonsense dedicated football enthusiast, it should be a dam good game.