Tuesday, January 31, 2012

46 predictions for Super Bowl 46 (or XLVI for you Romans out there)

Many sports media personalities this week, in honour of the Super Bowl, are putting together lists of 46 things to watch for, or 46 things that will happen before the Super Bowl. Since is this the 46th Super Bowl coming up, it makes reasonable sense that the length of the lists would be that number.
Here is a list of 46 predictions for the Super Bowl game between the New York Giants and New England Patriots in Indianapolis (a rematch of Super Bowl 42/XLII)

1. Kelly Clarkson singing the national anthem will get a better reception than Steven Tyler. Tyler's rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner" before the Pats' AFC Championship against Baltimore got some poor reviews from fans. Clarkson's voice is significantly better than Tyler's, and she doesn't have the whole aging-rockstar angst about her. Plus she's a whole lot more fun to look at than the Aerosmith frontman.

2. Wes Welker's moustache will not get more camera time than Brett Keisel's beard in last year's Super Bowl. It is still worthy of a mention, which it will likely get, but no way will it get more camera action than Keisel's facial hair in 2011. That beard could eat Welker's moustache for breakfast and still be hungry. And could probably eat Welker, too.


3. Rob Gronkowski will score a touchdown. Not many teams have been able to stop this from happening this season, and the Giants won't in the Super Bowl.

4. After scoring a touchdown, Gronkowski will spike the ball. Really hard. To quote Tom Brady in an interview with ESPN earlier this season, "I think the ball deflates about three pounds every time he spikes it." Let's hope they pump those Super Bowl balls up real heavy when the Pats get into scoring range.

5. Victor Cruz's 99-yard touchdown against the New York Jets in week 16 will get replayed at least once. To be fair, it was the play which is credited with turning the Giants' season around and inspiring them to the Super Bowl push. It also led to it being the most re-played highlight during every Giants game since then.

6. Jason Pierre-Paul will get at least one sack, inspiring a montage of every time Tom Brady was sacked, hit, or hurried in the 2007 Super Bowl.

7. Peyton Manning will be mentioned no less than 5 times.

8. Eli Manning will be compared to Peyton no less than 3 times.

9. Tom Brady will not be compared to Peyton.

10. The Super Bowl will be won in the final minutes. According to ESPN's Gregg Easterbrook, the last three meetings between the Pats and Giants have seen the teams combine for 8.2 points in the first three quarters. The fourth quarter has averaged 24.7 points scored. (In the 2007 Super Bowl, which New York won 17-14, 21 of the 31 total points were scored in the fourth quarter).

11. The 2007 Super Bowl (which actually was played in 2008), or Super Bowl 42 (or XLII) will be mentioned or referenced more times than you will be able to count.

12. Bill Belichick will smile if he wins. But only once, so if the Patriots win and they put the camera on him, don't blink or you might miss it.

13. Bill Belichick will not smile if the Giants win.

14. Tom Coughlin's job security since he won the Super Bowl will be discussed by the broadcasters. They will come to the conclusion that the Giants were right in not letting him go at any point over the past four years. Duh, they're in the Super Bowl.

15.  The AFC and NFC championships' pivotal screw-ups by the losing teams will be mentioned briefly, but then forgotten in the hype about the rematch of the 2007 Super Bowl.

16. Madonna won't have a wardrobe malfunction. (Hopefully.) And will also be better than last year's Super Bowl halftime show, the disaster that was the Black Eyed Peas.

17. Still, the NFL will still get an aging star to play next year's Super Bowl halftime show. Since Janet Jackson's infamous mishap (which she still claims is Justin Timberlake's mishap...he was there too, remember), the average age of the Super Bowl halftime show performer has been around 60 years old.

18. David Tyree's catch with his helmet from the 2007 Super Bowl will be replayed in slow motion from every conceivable angle, causing Rodney Harrison to break something inside NBC's broadcast studio.

19. The Oreo commercial from a couple of years ago which featured Eli and Peyton Manning in a one-on-one Oreo icing licking competition won't be among the Super Bowl ads. Which is a real shame.

20. Among the Super Bowl ads will be at least ten movies, five kinds of beer, twenty nearly-naked women, and one hundred and eighty-five automobiles.

21. Aaron Hernandez will have more receptions than Gronkowski. This is a bold prediction, but Gronkowski's hobbled with an ankle injury, and his full status for the Super Bowl is uncertain. Hernandez has really been forgotten about all season even though putting up pretty decent numbers.

22. The commentators will attribute an arbitrary play in the first quarter as potentially being the turning point in the Super Bowl. They will turn out to be wrong.

23. At least five comments will be made about how nobody is looking forward to playing in potentially cold weather in next year's Super Bowl in New York. Two words: Man up.

24. If Chad Ochocinco plays, he won't have a reception but will still be the most vocal Patriot player after the game whether they win the Super Bowl or not.

25. If Chad Ochocinco doesn't play, he won't have a reception but will still be the most vocal Patriot player after the game whether they win the Super Bowl or not.

26. Chad Ochocinco will tweet after the game about how great/terrible the Super Bowl and his season have been.

27. Wide receiver Julian Edelman will line up for at least one series as a defensive back for the Patriots.

28. Eli Manning will go after Julian Edelman.

29. Hakeem Nicks will have a touchdown catch (maybe even on Julian Edelman).

30. Chris Berman will say either "WHAM!", "POW!", "BOOM!", "WA-BAM!", or "WOAH!" during the showing of some highlights in the Super Bowl pre-game show. Those of you looking for fun drinking games to play during the Super Bowl can use this; if he says one, drink. If he says all of them, chug your drink.

31. NBC's Tony Dungy will be asked what he thinks will happen with Peyton Manning in the off-season. Seeing how he was wrong about what he thought would happen to Jim Caldwell, you should expect the opposite of what Dungy says.

32. Vince Wilfork's gut will hang out of his jersey at least five times. (If you're playing a Super Bowl drinking game, drink every time this happens)

33. Randy Moss's name won't come up for the duration of the entire Super Bowl broadcast. (If it does, chug your drink.)

34. The next trailer for The Dark Knight Rises will play during a commercial break, leaving all of North America speechless for the next few moments after it ends.

35. The phrase "Manning to Manningham" will get screwed up at least once by the commentators.

36. Someone will start a rumour saying that Brett Favre is going to make a comeback to the NFL in 2012 with the Indianapolis Colts.

37. The phrase "Super Bowl 46" (I know, XLVI...) will be said over 100 times on-air during the broadcast. "Super Bowl" will also trend on Twitter, while appearing in your Facebook newsfeed an annoying number of times.

38. Because of the Super Bowl, academic institutions will record lower scores on tests in the following week than any other week of the year.

39. Eli Manning will punch the first reporter who asks him if he still thinks he's an elite quarterback after the Super Bowl game. Win or lose.

40. During the Super Bowl, something will happen to inspire a TSN Top-10 List ("Top 10 media encounters during the Super Bowl," anyone?"

41. Brandon Jacobs will break at least five tackles on first and second downs, and only one on third and fourth downs.

42. This Super Bowl will see an all-out aerial attack between Brady and Manning, who will combine for over 500 yards passing

43. This will be the most watched Super Bowl ever.

44. Kyle Williams and Billy Cundiff won't watch the Super Bowl.

45. Tim Tebow will be mentioned more than Lawrence Tynes or Stephen Gostkowski (they're the two placekickers playing in the Super Bowl.)

46. I will use the term "Super Bowl" 46 times in this column (including the title). Super Bowl.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

An introduction to me

Since this is my first blog, I'm going to take the opportunity to properly introduce myself. At least, more in detail than in the "About me" that you can find on the right-hand side of the blog.
At this point in time (January 2012) I have just begun the second semester of fourth year at Mount Allison University (more on that place later). I am a History major, minoring in Religious Studies and English.
The first thing most people know about me when they meet me is that I love football. I have been in love with the sport since the tender age of six, when Eric Lapointe was running the show for the Mount Allison Mounties football team in my hometown of Sackville. I became close to Eric and his teammates, and long story short it ended up with eleven year-old me becoming the water boy for my beloved Mounties. I have stayed with the team ever since, and for the past five years have been the team's equipment manager.
In addition to my working for the Mounties, I have been an assistant coach with the Tantramar High School Titans for the past three seasons, coaching special teams and various positions on offence.
My sports experience does extend beyond football, as I have served for the past three-and-a-half seasons as the statistician for the Mounties' Womens' Hockey team, who I have covered extensively during that time.

In terms of journalism, I have spent the past few years writing for Mount Allison's Independent Student Newspaper The Argosy, the past four years on staff as the Sports Writer.
In the summer of 2011, I worked for the Sackville Tribune-Post as a reporter, writing on a variety of topics and news.
One of the many possible career options I have been thinking about is a sports journalist, and with the emergence of social media and blogging, I realized this might be a good way to get my name out into the sports journalism community and help improve my skills as a sports writer.
My blog will focus on some popular (and sometimes not-so-popular) sports topics ranging from the National Hockey League to the Canadian Football League to Canadian Interuniversity Sport. The columns will be informative and thought-provoking (hopefully) while also portraying my opinion or insight on the topic at hand. It will not be daily, weekly, or monthly, but whenever there is an appropriate topic which I think is worth writing about. I will be open to suggestions on things to write about, either through my Facebook profile, Twitter, e-mail, or comments on previous blogs.
I hope you enjoy reading my blog over the next while as I test the journalistic waters and share my thoughts on the sporting world.
Of course, all contents on this blog site will be of my own opinion and will not reflect the opinions of or represent the publications of any organization, including The Argosy and the Sackville Tribune-Post.