Superbowl Prediction

If you are a football fan, I’m sure you saw the game last night.  New England has a perfect 16-0 regular season record, only the 3rd team to ever do this in the NFL.  Chicago did it twice in the 1940’s, and then of course the Miami Dolphins went 14-0 in 1972, eventually going on to win the Superbowl and finish 17-0.  We will see if the Pats can match the ‘72 Dolphins and win all of their playoff games and the Superbowl as well.

I was rooting for New England last night, even though I have not been a fan of theirs particularly over the years.  I think you have to admire what they have done, and their attitudes along the way.  They seem genuine and respectful (other than the trash talking Rodney Harrison).

I tend to be won over by teams or individuals who display incredible ability and skills, and go through tough times on their way to the top.  Consistent performance at the highest level is rare indeed, and I admire it. 

Being a motorsports fan, it’s very similar to Ricky Carmichael (RC) in motocross/supercross and Michael Schumacher in Formula 1.  See, I was a big Jeremy McGrath fan so I rooted against Ricky when he moved up from 125cc bikes to the 250’s.  I didn’t want him to beat Jeremy, the winningest supercross rider ever.  His first year RC really struggled with the big bikes, and had a lot of crashes.  Over time he figured them out and went on to win 6 supercross titles and 10 motorcross titles, becoming the winningest motocross rider ever, the Greatest of All Time (G.O.A.T.).  After Jeremy retired and Ricky was consistently winning everything, I started to like him.  I got the chance to meet him in Indianapolis and he was very gracious and genuine.  I became an RC fan, and enjoyed his winning for years after.  His dominance was unbelievable, and it earned him a lot of respect and fans.

Michael Schumacher (Shumi) was the same for me.  I was an Ayrton Senna fan and he was Schumi’s arch rival for a short time.  I also liked Mika Hakkinen and McLaren better than Ferrari (who I viewed as spoiled).  I was very happy when Mika won 2 F1 Championships, beating Shumi.  But then Schumi went on a tear, winning an unprecedented 7 F1 titles.  After he won his 4th I became a fan.  How could you not like a guy who is so incredibly consistent and dominant?  He at least had to be respected.  I have never seen anything like him.  In the later years, new and younger challengers would come and I always pulled for Michael.  I knew I was witnessing history everytime he raced.

Outright dominance in sports is so difficult to achieve it deserves admiration.  That’s why I watch sports at all, to see one team or one person transcend themselve’s beyond what anyone else is able to do.  When I am watching the Patriots this year I get that feeling.  The feeling that I am watching something historic.

Back to the Superbowl.  If you go to our forum at www.dadsworld.com/forum you will see that I predicted the 2008 Superbowl would feature the Dallas Cowboys from the NFC vs the New England Patriots from the AFC.  The Pat’s win 31-24 in my prediciton on September 25th, 2007.  I stand by that still.