Greetings sports fans, and welcome to Super Bowl Sunday. The long, seemingly endless journey to Inglewood has reached its destination, after an extended regular season (by one week) and a memorable postseason. In a few hours, we'll get to kick it off one last time this season.
Last year at this time, the big game had just wrapped up in Tampa, with the home team actually winning in what was a Super Bowl first. This year, another team will be home for the Super Bowl, the Los Angeles Rams, trying to win their second title in franchise history (and first as the LA Rams). Their opponent, the Cincinnati Bengals, a team not many people expected to even have a winning record let alone an appearance on the NFL's grandest stage.
There are plenty of rooting interests on both sides. From the Los Angeles perspective, they're attempting to become the second straight team to win on their home turf. There's Matthew Stafford, who after many lost seasons as the quarterback of the Detroit Lions, has a chance to cement his legacy among the game's great signal callers. There's wide receiver Odell Beckham, Jr., who was picked up from the Cleveland Browns via trade in the middle of this season, finally getting his opportunity to play in the big game. There's offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth, the NFL Man of the Year and elder statesman of the league now that Tom Brady has hung up his cleats, who has done so much to tackle homelessness in the greater Los Angeles area. And there's Cooper Kupp, who is coming off one of the greatest regular seasons for a wide receiver ever.
From the Cincinnati side, it's their Cinderella story that has been their focal point. From their wins over Tennessee and Kansas City on the road, to even Harambe. There's also their clutch kicker Evan MacPherson, a rookie out of Florida who has made kick after kick, and from distance too. Come to think of it, I remember another rookie from Florida who was critical to Cincinnati's success in 1981, and he'll happen to call the game later today. There's Eli Apple, the oft-maligned cornerback looking for redemption Sunday evening, and a former teammate of OBJ in New York with the Giants. And of course, there's Joe Burrow, the quarterback from Athens, Ohio that the entire Buckeye State and most of the country is pulling for. He carries a "swag" that hasn't been seen since probably the days of Joe Namath, when he guaranteed the Jets would win Super Bowl III in Miami.
The REAL highlight of the game might be the halftime show, which this year features a who's who of hip-hop. Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar. Now that's a lineup right there! Plus, the commercials should be interesting to watch; I saw one sneak preview of the Alexa ad featuring Scarlett Johansson and her husband, Colin Jost of SNL fame. Quite hilarious.
As for the game itself, I don't really think the game will be all that close. The Rams have too many weapons on offense, and their defense on paper should overpower Cincinnati's offensive line and get to Burrow. For the Bengals, the only way to win in my opinion is to force Stafford into making mistakes throwing the ball, and somehow prevent Aaron Donald from getting to Burrow and allowing him to work his magic. My heart is with Cincinnati, but my head says:
Los Angeles 35
Cincinnati 20
So, Los Angeles gets its Super Bowl, and tomorrow, I hope to have a great day at the SuperbOwl. Get it?
Enjoy the game!
CT
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