Super Bowl Sunday

So, it's here. The biggest day for sports in America, perhaps the world. The media has been talking nonstop for two weeks about the Pats and Giants. Friends and family will all gather 'round the TV all afternoon and evening to watch the Super Bowl. I, myself will be watching the game. But to be honest, I really don't see what the big deal is. I like football. I just have a hard time with the fact that, if the Patriots win, they will have won the championship, all the while only having to play 3 playoff games!

If you only win 3 games in the Stanley Cup playoffs how far will that get you? It will get you all the way to the golf course! I've never understood why football teams play so few games. Do their bodies really get beat up that much more than hockey players? The football season is 16 games (coincidentally, that's the number of games you must win to hoist the Stanley Cup). The NHL plays 82 games, plus a two month playoff. You can't tell me that there is THAT much difference in the contact that the players go through. Now, I'm gonna get in trouble for saying this, but hockey players are tougher than football players, that's what it is. I'm sure most will be angered by this comment. You just have to accept the truth.

Football is such a big deal because it televises well. Let's be honest though, there is very little action. You will have a play, for maybe 10 seconds, and then you wait 40 seconds until the next play. Repeat this process for the enitre game. When you read it sounds kinda boring doesn't it. Hockey on the other hand, is nonstop action. Players will have a shift for about a minute, then have to come off the ice because they have sprinted the enitre time. They are replaced by teammates that do the exact same thing. Repeat this process for the entire game. When you read it sounds kinda EXCITING doesn't it.

I didn't mean this to be an anti-football column. It just cannot stand up to hockey. When you watch the game and see the winner tonight, look into his eyes as he lifts the trophy (that gets fingerprints all over it almost instantly). Tell me if you see the same passion as you saw in Ray Bourque's eyes as he lifted the Cup for the first time in 22 years. Tell me if you see the sacrifice that you saw as Shjon Podein openly wept over the joy of winning it all. It's not that football players don't care or have no passion. The point I'm trying to make is it takes two months of playing a game every other day and two months of blood, sweat and tears to win the Stanley Cup. You can win the Super Bowl by playing three games over the course of a month. The final game is also in a neutral site. Take it from someone who has been to both a Super Bowl and a Stanley Cup final game, there is no comparison. Imgaine if the Thrashers made it to the final and it was played in Phoenix. The Super Bowl is not only lacking the passion from the players compared to hockey, it is also lacking the passion from the fans.

So, as the entire world watches football tonight, let's take a moment to realize how wonderful our game is. Don't let it bother you that it is not as popular. It's our game, and if the majority of the world doesn't understand it, too bad for them.