GSPN Guide to Super Bowl XLVIII

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Get in the game with The Commish’s Guide to Super Bowl XLVIII!
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GSPN Guide to Super Bowl XLVIII

It is that time of the year again. The time has come for the big game. The Super Bowl. It is the most watched sporting event of the year in America. Millions upon millions across the country will tune into the game. It is a cultural phenomenon. It is also a professional football game that will decide the champion of the National Football League. Some of you may be super excited for the game. Some of you may go to a Super Bowl party and be excited to see the commercials. This may be the first (or only) football game you watch. So we want to help you out and share some things to look out for in the game.

Super Bowl XLVIII (or Super Bowl 48) is being played in New York this year (well technically the stadium is in New Jersey but the football teams that play in the stadium are “New York” teams). This is the first year that the Super Bowl is being played outdoors in a “cold weather” city. Most years the game has been played either in warm weather cities or inside of a dome. The weather could be a factor in the game so the radar and the temperature gauge will be something to watch for as well as the field of play.

The two teams in the Super Bowl are the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks. For the Broncos they are led by Quarterback Peyton Manning. Many of you may recognize Peyton as that guy from the Papa John’s Pizza commercials or the Oreo commercials or even the time he hosted Saturday Night Live. As well as being a good pitchman, he’s an even better football player. He led the league in passing with 5,477 yards and 55 touchdown passes. The Broncos’ offense as a whole was the top offense in the regular season in both yards gained and in points scored. They have plenty of talented players on offense besides Peyton. They include Wes Welker, Eric Decker, Julius Thomas, Demaryius Thomas and Knowshon Moreno.

Their defense is decent and have some pretty good players led by veteran cornerback Champ Bailey. They also have a defensive lineman with the nickname “Pot Roast” (Terrance Knighton). However, they have injuries to several of their top defensive players including Chris Harris Jr. and Von Miller. They will not be available to play in this game. For the Broncos, they win with their offense.

On the other side, there are the Seahawks. They are known for their defense. It was the top defense this season. It led the league in fewest yards allowed, fewest points allowed and most turnovers caused. This is the first time that a team with that kind of defense has played in the Super Bowl since 1985 season (so yeah that’s been a long time ago). Usually great defenses have a nickname and this team is no exception. Their nickname is the “Legion of Boom”. This nickname (which is a nice takeoff on the Legion of Doom) applies to the secondary of the Seahawks. The Legion of Boom is led by safeties Earl Thomas and Kam “Bam Bam” Chancellor and cornerbacks Byron Maxwell and Richard Sherman. Sherman should be well known to everyone by now after his postgame interview following the NFC Championship game along with his Beats by Dre commercial. He is the top cornerback in the NFL and he likes to talk a lot.

The offense of the Seahawks is led by second year QB Russell Wilson. Wilson was drafted both in the NFL Draft as well as the MLB (Major League Baseball) Draft. He has a record in the first two years in the league of 27 wins and 9 losses (regular season & postseason so far). Last year he broke Peyton Manning’s rookie record for touchdown passes thrown. The key to the Seahawks offense besides Wilson is running back Marshawn Lynch. There are two things to know about Lynch. He tends to have times where he goes into “Beast Mode”. “Beast Mode” is when he is running with the ball and barreling over people, usually on the way to the end zone. The other thing is when he scores touchdowns, he loves to enjoy eating Skittles. Yes, he enjoys celebrating touchdowns by eating Skittles.

The halftime show will feature artist Bruno Mars along with the band Red Hot Chili Peppers. That will be interesting to watch just for how the two will coordinate along with each other as well as dealing with the elements. The commercials during the game are an event as well. Some commercials have already been announced as being a part of the broadcast. Those include a Toyota commercial featuring the Muppets and actor Terry Crews, movie trailers for Captain America: Winter Soldier, Transformers 4: Age of Extinction, your typical advertisers (beer, car, food) as well as your wild card off the wall commercials.

So there you go, hopefully this was a helpful guide for those interested in knowing something going into this big game. The main thing is to have fun and enjoy the game if you don’t have a team to root for in the game. Of course, it helps to have a team to root for so be sure to pick a team if you don’t have one.

One more thing, prediction time. People that know me can pretty much guess my pick but before that let me share with you a few more stats (since I’m a sports geek). Peyton Manning is trying to become the first QB to win two Super Bowls with two different teams (only two other QBs have ever started two Super Bowls with two different teams and neither of them accomplished this feat). Russell Wilson is the sixth quarterback to start in a Super Bowl in his 1st or 2nd year in the league (so far 3 out of the previous 5 QBs have won). This is the first time that the #1 offense faces off against the #1 defense in the Super Bowl since Super Bowl XXV (Buffalo Bills vs. New York Giants) in January 1991. This is also only the second Super Bowl in the last twenty years that pit the #1 seeds in the AFC (Denver) & the NFC (Seattle) (the last time was in February 2010 in Super Bowl XLIV with the Indianapolis Colts vs. New Orleans Saints).

I like Peyton Manning. This stems back to his time in college at the University of Tennessee. In most cases, I would like to see Peyton get another championship. However, this is not one of those cases. There is an old adage in sports: “Defense wins championships”. I think this adage will hold true again. I’m picking Seattle to win Super Bowl XLVIII. It is a pick that is as much my heart as is my head having lived in Seattle for three years and rooting for the Seahawks. So I’m going Seahawks 27 Broncos 20.

Enjoy the game and while you’re watching the Super Bowl be sure to tweet during the game using the hashtag #geekfootball so that we can all participate in the conversation.

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