Super Bowl Prediction

Yin and yang. That’s sort of the theme for this Super Bowl, because the teams seem to be complete opposites.

In the Indianapolis Colts we have a great offensive team. They are balanced and lethal, able to score on 1 play or shove a 15 play drive right down your throat. Peyton Manning seems poised to break all sorts of QB record by the time he retires, Joseph Addai is getting better and better as he gains experience, and the WR corps (led by Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne) may be the best in the NFL.

In the Chicago Bears we have a great defensive team. They are fast and relentless, able to bring the pressure or drop back and force you to make a bad throw. They are led by their MLB, Brian Urlacher, who will go down as one of the greats. They pressure the QB, their secondary makes great plays, and everyone just swarms to the ball.

So we know what we’re going to get from these two units. Which means that for the most part this game will be decided when the Bears offense is on the field. The Bears offense has been consistently inconsistent all season, led by Rex Grossman. Through a quarter of the NFL season Grossman was the NFL MVP. By the last quarter of the season fans were about split on whether or not he should still be the starter. He has physical tools, but he’s still a young guy and gets rattled and forces things when pressured.

The Colts defense was much maligned all season long but has come to play in the playoffs. In the first 2 rounds they were nearly impenetrable, and in the Conference Championship they made stops when they had to. Led by Dwight Freeney, they are a fast and athletic unit, but they have been pushed around at times.

So what does all of this mean? Well, I think the QB matchup will tell the tale. Peyton Manning has been historically good in his career while Rex Grossman is one of (if not the) worst QBs ever to make a Super Bowl. I expect the Colts fast front 7 to get to Grossman and put pressure on him, forcing him to make bad throws and get rid of it before he has to. Then I expect Manning to capitalize on those and score enough on the Bears stout defense to bring the Super Bowl to the Colts, officially getting the monkey off of Manning’s back.

I've been a pretty strong Grossman basher all season, and I still don't think he's very good. They're in the Super Bowl, but it's mostly because of the great defense and special teams, and the fact that they've found the running game here in the playoffs in a big way. If I'm wrong and Grossman wins the Super Bowl, I'll be eating my words on Monday, and you all have the right to taunt me. However, I don't think I'll be having to do that.

Colts 27-16.

Best First Year College Basketball Coaching Hires

Now that we're in the thick of the conference schedule, I thought it would be interesting to see who [so far] have been the best college basketball coaching hires from the offseason. I picked the top 5 based on what they've done so far... this is no indication on how I think they'll do in the future. Anyway, in no order...

Kelvin Sampson (Indiana) - I was planning on having Sampson on this list anyway, but then the Hoosiers really drove the point home with their win over #2 Wisconsin. The Hoosiers aren't supremely talented right now, but Sampson has them playing excellent defense. Plus, the fact that he's gotten Eric Gordon to come to Indiana next year is a big point in his favor. Things are looking up for Indiana.

One other thing about the game... what's up with Indiana fans storming the court? I know Wisconsin's an excellent team, but Indiana was ranked and playing at home? To paraphrase Doug Gottlieb, if Bobby Knight were dead he'd be rolling in his grave right now.

Bob Huggins (Kansas St.) - The Wildcats are 5-2 in the conference, 16-6 overall, and are in contention for a Tourney bid. Of course, they don't really have any quality wins yet, and their most athletic player is hurt for the season, but that's ok for now. We'll get a good chance to see what they're made in the next two games... they play at Texas, and then at Kansas.

Jeff Capel (Oklahoma) - Capel gets a slight, slight nod over Mike Anderson of Missouri for the 5th spot. I mean, these guys are competitive and Longar Longar is their leading scorer. The same Longar Longar that scored 127 points in his first 2 seasons at OU. Plus, bonus points for his building of the VCU program (more on them later). He is in a similar situation as his predecessor Kelvin Sampson is in right now... they don't have a lot of offensive talent, but they play hard defensively. Unfortunately, their offensive talent is far too low now to make a realistic run at the Tourney, but I do like Capel as a coach.

Anthony Grant (VCU) - They finally suffered a conference loss, but at 11-1 they still lead the CAA, the same conference that produced George Mason a year ago. The pieces may have been put in place by Capel, but someone's got to coach these guys. They've got a guard-oriented attack that could pose some problems for some teams. Three guards score at least 13.9 PPG.

Tony Bennett (Washington St.) - Bennett was the natural choice to replace his father after Dick Bennett left, but they should still be commended for making the choice. Bennett has brought some offense and some excitement to Pullman in his first year. Their only 3 conferences loss have come against Oregon (in OT), @ UCLA, and @ Stanford. Not bad.

Who do you think has been the best new hire?

The O.J. Mayo Incident

Not sure if this is big news yet or not, but apparently there was a little incident involving one of the top prospects in all of high school basketball, OJ Mayo, and a referee in one of Mayo's games.

Mayo had a pretty nice dunk, then got a technical foul for taunting afterwards. After a little discussion with the referees, Mayo was given a second technical for running his mouth a bit and was ejected from the game.

As you can guess, things didn't end there. Mayo then followed the ref over to the scorer's table, and the two bumped lightly. Or at least that's what it looked like. However the referee took quite a tumble, much to the disbelief of Mayo.

You have to watch the video for yourself, but there are 2 possibilities here:

(1) The refs feet got tangled with Mayo, which could not be seen on camera
OR
(2) The ref is the worst actor in the world.

You decide: