It's Official: I HATE This Super Bowl

I love football. Absolutely love it. For two weeks I've tried to get excited about this game. I've talked to people about it, bounced ideas off people about it, listened to all the talking heads and read tons of articles. No matter how hard I try, I just can't escape it: this Super Bowl doesn't compel me in the slightest.

Here's why:

• The Teams - I picked the Pats on the AFC side and went with San Fran in the NFC, so to make it clear, I'm not just sore about losing my picks here, but I HATE this matchup. It really has nothing to do with the teams that made it, either. This is all about the way that the Patriots and Giants made it to the big game. In a nutshell, they both backed in because their opponents shit the bed in their respective championship games. Try to talk about the AFC or NFC title games without using these names: Lee Evans, Billy Cundiff, and Kyle Williams. Go ahead. Hell, make a game of it, it might be fun. Let's be real: the Pats and Giants got lucky. Not just one team, BOTH teams, and that's a shitty matchup in my book.
• The "Storylines" - We've had to live with manufactured storylines before big games for years now. This years are the worst. Rob Gronkowski's ankle? Really? Tom Brady's legacy? Seriously? Peyton Manning stealing the spotlight from Eli? OK, that happened a little, but again, it has nothing to do with the game itself. That, in itself, shows you how awful the story threads are here. The only story to me that mattered, the Patriots looking to avenge their "Perfect" season loss to the Giants in the Super Bowl, has taken to the back burner.
• The Cities - It's Boston vs. New York. This is the most watered down city rivarly in sports, thanks to Yanks/Sawks garbage we're fed 19 times a year during baseball season. Sure, it's a petty gripe, but just another reason I HATE this game.
• The Commercials - There's entire network programming devoted to Super Bowl commercials. Think about that for a minute. Twenty minutes of every hour is commercials anyways, and you're sitting through the other forty....of commercials. If you watched any of that dreck in the lead up to tomorrow night...I pity you.
• The "Underdog" - Quick, which team is it? The money line says it's the Giants, but all the "experts" and the money itself is on the Dog. So really, who's the favorite again?
• The "Legacy" - Ugh. Tom Brady will already be one of the best QB's of all time, even if the Pats lose this game, OK? The Pats haven't rolled anyone up in a Super Bowl yet, but Brady has been as solid as they come, and it took a miracle helmet catch to beat him the last time, so give up the legacy crap. People wrongly call Elway the greatest ever, the guy who couldn't win shit until the Broncos stumbled onto a running back during a VERY narrow window of Hall of Fame type production. People want to remember things differently and gloss over details after the fact. Nothing can tarnish Bradys three Super Bowl wins, even if it's two Super Bowl losses. Hell, even Jim Kelly is in the Hall of Fame.

So I'll be watching and hoping for a great game. The other part of me will be rooting for my pick to come through so I don't have to listen to Dre about how he "won" the season, which I could actually live with, since I've "won" seasons this way many more times than he has. Hell, I could even accuse him of stealing my move. Again, I think this is still payback for the "Garbage Time" TD call I made in Pats/Eagles. Karma can be cruel.

In all seriousness, and I don't have the numbers here to back me up, but its very rare that seasons between me and Dre DON'T come down to the Super Bowl. It has a way of always being close, and this year is no different. Now I gotta get back to watching that line deviate between 2½ and 3. Can ½ a point matter you ask? On this pick, it most certainly will....