Super Bowl is Set

Man, that was a hell of a game in Indy. If you think about it, it was tied at 21-21 with five minutes left in the third quarter, but ended up being 38-34. That's a lot of action to pack into the last 20 minutes of the game.

I still can't believe that Peyton didn't choke, that Brady was the one with the game ending interception, and that the Colts finally friggin' beat the Patriots.

All that I care is that the Patriots aren't going to the Super Bowl and I was really, really, really dreading a Pats-Bears match-up. Once again, look at the ugly game they played on Sunday night earlier this season. I didn't want to see another one of those.

And, this is going to make me sound like a racist or an asshole, but I'm a little upset that an African-American coach is going to win the Super Bowl by default. It's big news that one finally made it (after Denny Green did his best Cowher impression for the Vikings all those years), but I wish that Lovie Smith was able to outduel Bill Bellichick to win the honor. Or, the other way around with Dungy and Payton.

Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about it. I think it's monumental. I hope Mike Tomlin becomes the second African-American coach to win the Super Bowl. I just wish the first time was a victory that had to be fought for, not something that was inevitable.

Then again, minority coaches have been fighting for a long time. I'll shut up.

And, to prepare you for the Super Bowl, here are the storylines that will be beaten to death in the next two weeks:

1. The Bears have a great defense. The Colts have a great offense. Discuss. Until your ears bleed. And your brain numbs. And you no longer want to think about the Cover 2. Or the Tampa 2. Or the fact that, when you were a child, you did a number 2 in your pants.
2. Did you know that Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy are close friends? Really. Smith was on Dungy's staff in Tampa. And they coached together. And they're still close. Lovie was at the KC-Indy game. Seriously, he was! I know they didn't cut away to him at all when there was a break in the action, but he was there. And they're both great people. And they were coaches together. And they still talk. And they get along. And Lovie was at the KC-Indy game. And Jerome Bettis is from Detroit.
3. Lovie is his real name. He's named after his Aunt (or maybe his grandmother). His Mom decided, before she knew he was going to be a boy, that she would name her first child Lovie. And she stuck to her guns. At least she didn't name him Sue.
4. Both teams are happy to be at the Super Bowl. It's a dream come true. May the best team win. They're going to go out, practice, work on the game plan, and give it their all on the field. They might even give 111%. We don't know. The one thing that we do know is that each team's players know that they're playing a great team with a great record and a lot of talent.
5. One thing that makes the NFL happy, but is going to make the press miserable, is that I don't think there's a guy on either team that's going to start mouthing off, say that someone on the other team molests goats, and then gets arrested. I don't think there will be a lot of trash talk and I don't think there will be any arrests. Which is a bummer.
6. Can Peyton win the big one? Is it enough that he just made it to the Super Bowl? Do you trust Rex Grossman? How many stories can we do about the quarterbacks? I put the over/under at 315. And I'm taking the over.