So this is it. Two agonizing weeks until football's final moment of glory. What then? Sports fans will once again wander in the desert for the dark months to come. Why?

Actually, Base10 always thought the XFL was a good idea--albeit poorly executed. The opening game of the season got pretty good ratings but they deteriorated after a few weeks. Football in February is great! Why didn't the NFL think of that? The XFL did do a few things well. They eliminated the fair catch rule (but they kept the halo) and they created a "scrum" do decide first possession where your best athlete and their best athlete would race for the ball twenty yards away. What a great idea! An athletic contest being decided by athletic ability. How novel!

But why can't the NFL have a winter league? NFL Europe seems played out. Can we have the same type of thing with younger players in February? Just an idea.

Anyway, we have two teams that are facing each other a week from Sunday: the Seahawks and the Steelers. Both teams are deserving. While the Steelers have been somewhat more successful in the post-season, fans of both teams have been out in the cold as far as championships go. There's no good vs. evil theme to play here like when the Bills would play the Cowboys. Both teams are good, they worked hard, and they are deserving of a win. The Seahawks should be commended for not letting a first round bye let them get complacent. The Steelers look quite formidable given that they are the only team in history to win three straight playoff games on the road to go to the big game. Both teams are firing well on both sides of the ball. Both have a healthy pass/rush mixture. Both are capable of scoring big (Seattle maybe a little more so), and both teams are capable of containing a high scoring team. For the casual fan, Super Bowl XL maybe may not be that great, but rather it could be the sort of boring ball-control game Base10 likes, "Three yards and a cloud of dust. Hee Ha!"

At least there's always the commercials.

- posted by Base10 @ 12:32 PM