Why I am rooting for the Giants to win Super Bowl XLVI

I am not a big football fan.
I don't DISLIKE football. I enjoy a good football game. But I don't follow it like I follow the NBA. (Obviously not like I follow baseball.)

But I do get into the playoffs. And I don't really have a dog in the fight (insert Michael Vick not in the playoffs this year joke here.)

I am supposed to be a Patriots fan and if they win it all I won't mind.
But the Lions have never won a Super Bowl... Neither have the Falcons nor the Bengals.
The Texans have never won a playoff game.

Another title would mean so much to Denver, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Green Bay and Baltimore fans.
And a new generation of San Francisco fans can experience a 49er title.
I would have no problem with literally none of those scenarios.

And yet I am rooting for the Giants.

Why?

1. I actually was a Giants fan when I lived in New York all those years.

2. I like the idea of the Giants being the first team to win a Super Bowl in 4 consecutive decades.

3. Tom Coughlin has been rumored to be fired all year long. It would be cool to see him go from "Fire his butt" to "He's delivered multiple Super Bowl titles to the Giants" in one month.

4. I love that nobody can predict this team. One minute they look awful. One minute they look great. They are like the St. Louis Cardinals of football teams.

and finally...

5. I'd love to see Eli have 2 rings to Peyton's 1. That would make the Manning BBQs more entertaining.


So, for old time sake (like this picture of me at Candlestick Park cheering the Giants winning the 1991 NFC title) let's go Giants.

Here's why I am rooting for the Packers today

I decided to root for the Packers today for a few reasons.


- Ben Roethlisberger seems like a jerk and the idea of his winning three Super Bowl rings is kind of crappy.

- Many of the Steelers already have a Super Bowl ring. For most of the Packers this is their first show.

- Aaron Rodgers winning will make him one of those "beloved forever" legends in Green Bay... you know, like Brett Favre.

- As I wrote before, I think Packer fans need to open their hearts up to Favre again. Having the Packers win a Super Bowl after his departure would go a long way in healing any wounds.

- I think a region with multiple teams should win at least one title every decade. For people in Wisconsin who root for the Brewers, Bucks and Packers, the wait has been since 1997 when the Packers beat the Patriots. 14 years is long enough. Using my "you don't follow a team until you are 7 years old" rule, there are kids who can legally buy a drink in Wisconsin without a memory of one of their pro teams winning. That's too long. Give them a reason to drink!

- Green Bay is called "Title Town." Unless you win some recent titles, that moniker is kind of sad.

- With the Steelers winning the Super Bowl in 2006 and 2009 and the Penguins winning the Stanley Cup in 2009, Pittsburgh fans have had their share of parades.

- As always I have a soft spot in my heart for the Pittsburgh Pirates because of my obsession with the 1979 World Series. If the Steelers win AGAIN then there will be no fan urgency for a Pirates contender for another decade!

In truth I want a good game. I'll be watching it with good friends and my kids and hope that it goes into Overtime.

But in the end, I want the Cheeseheads to prevail.

It will make the Green Bay winters go by much quicker for another generation at Title Town.

New Sully Baseball Video - "A Parody of Parity"

Football has parity?

The same baseball teams win every year?

That's what conventional wisdom tells us... but which sport actually has the greater variety of champions?

It's the subject of the latest Sully Baseball video.

Sully Baseball Endorses a CHARGERS - SAINTS SUPERBOWL

I don't usually write about football on Sully Baseball and there are two very good reasons for this.

First of all, it's Sully BASEBALL not Sully Football or Sully Sports in General.

Secondly, I don't really follow football. It's not that I don't like football. I do. I enjoy a good football game and yesterday's Packers/Cardinals overtime "don't bother playing defense" masterpiece was great to watch.

But I've never followed football so closely that I even know who all of the top players are.

And my loyalty to any NFL team is so fluid that I casually switch allegiances based on not confusing people instead of any passion.

But that being said, the NFL playoffs tend to be exciting and this year with the Patriots and Giants out, I want a team that has NEVER won the Super Bowl to win it.

And specifically I would like to see San Diego play New Orleans.

It isn't because of any love for the players (other than Brees, Tomlinson and Rivers, I can't name a single player on either team... is Natrone Means still playing?)

But San Diego has sports futility that is underrated. The Padres have given their fans agita, as I wrote in 2008.

And the Chargers haven't won since 1963. And no, that wasn't a Super Bowl.

That wasn't even an NFL title.

That was an AFL title.

When you think of it, San Diego has been waiting for a title longer than the fans of Cleveland.

The weather is a little better in San Diego.

As for the Big Easy... the Saints not only have never even been to a Super Bowl, they never even won a single playoff game until 2000.

And with neither the Jazz nor the Hornets ever able to win an NBA title game in Louisiana, the grand total of New Orleans titles has been zero.

And of course a big celebration for a Super Bowl would probably do a lot for New Orleans' psyche after what we can all safely call a miserable decade.

They have earned a good party.

Then again, I was in New Orleans just 7 months after Katrina hit, and there were no shortage of parties there.

So no, I don't want to see the Cowboys tack on another title.
Nor see Peyton Manning pad his resume.

And yeah it would mean a lot to Minnesota and to Arizona... but the Twins won in the 1990s and the D'Backs won in 2001... so those fan bases should be patient.

Have it be San Diego vs. New Orleans.

And if it isn't... I'll go right back to writing about baseball.