Super Bowl Prediction Time

I will begin this post by bragging, just a little.  In predicting the winners of the NFL playoff games this year, I sport a record of 8-2.  Of course, I just picked a winners with no point spreads, but, still, if I say so myself, that's a pretty good record that I will be putting on the line as I  select a winner for Super Bowl 50.

Everyone, it seems, is picking the Carolina Panthers to win, and many of them, and this includes smart guys like Steve Young and Ron Jaworski, are picking them to win big.  Personally, I get a little leery whenever EVERYBODY says that Such-and-Such team will win and that the Other Team has No Chance of winning.  This is still professional sports, both sides are getting paid, so unless you are talking about the 2010 Pittsburgh Pirates, it's foolish to say that a team like the Denver Broncos has no chance of winning.

Yep, I know that Peyton Manning is pretty ancient and often ineffective these days, but he and his Broncos beat the Steelers, which I didn't think they would do, and then they beat 

Tom Brady and the Patriots, which I didn't think that had a chance of doing, and they have a terrific defense. So while Manning may be pretty much washed up, who can't be rooting for a storyline where the beloved veteran somehow summons up his past greatness for one last time before riding off in the sunset with a Lombardi Trophy in tow?  I know that's how I will be rooting tomorrow.

However, on the other side of the field, there is this guy:

Cam Newton, the presumptive NFL MVP, is truly a force.  Yeah, I know he dances, and struts, and dabs (whatever that is!), and does stuff that drives cranky old guys nuts, but what football player!  Watching him in these playoff games has been enough to make your jaw drop.  While the favored storyline might be the Broncos Wining One For the Old Guy, I think that the more likely storyline will be the Longtime Face of the NFL, Manning, passing the torch on to the New Face of the NFL, Newton.

So, who wins?

However, I think that we are going to see a much closer game than most people expect.  The line I saw this morning is Denver +5.5.  So, if you want to bet like the big boys in Vegas, I say that it's the PANTHERS to win the game, but the Broncos will cover the spread.

Enjoy the game and the commercials, everyone, and, as always, watch, but don't bet.