Horizons Online Edition

Issue date: 2/3/10 Section: Sports

Super Bowl XLIV is finally here. After a long record-breaking and untraditional season of NFL football, the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts stand alone at the top with one game left to play. This game is full of intrigue and excitement. The game has the promise of being full of non-stop action and scoring.

Both of the teams in the Super Bowl are the number one seeds of their respective conference; the last time that this happened was in 1993 when the Dallas Cowboys played the Buffalo Bills-a long time ago, because not many students can remember a time when the Bills were any good.

The Colts and Saints are in the top five in the NFL in passing offense. While New Orleans is number six in rushing, Indianapolis is dead last. Neither of the teams' defenses are in the top 15 in the NFL.

Peyton Manning is arguably one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history and already has a Super Bowl ring to his name. Drew Brees is one of only two quarterbacks in NFL history, the other being Dan Marino in 1984, to throw for over 5,000 yards in the regular season. He is playing for his first Lombardi trophy. These are just a few of the great storylines developing before Super Bowl XLIV.

The Colts were 14-2 for the regular season; arguably they could and should have gone 16-0, but they rested their starters for large portions of the last two games after starting 14-0. The Saints started the season in similar fashion, winning their first 13 games before losing the last three to end up 13-3 for the year. Manning is a master of clock management and grinding out games at the end. Brees and the high-flying Saints are capable of scoring points in a hurry.

This should be a very exciting, fast-paced game to watch. The pigskin will be flying up and down the field as these two pass. Unfortunately, the halftime show does not promise to be as exciting as the NFL continues it's anti-Janet Jackson performers by again choosing an aging band. The Who will be performing at halftime this year, and while it should be good music and a good show of flashing lights, the football game will be much more exciting.

After taking a quick poll of almost 50 students, 18 rooted the Colts, 15 for the Saints, and the rest said the Super Bowl is all about the commercials-most of these did not even know who was playing. The line has the Colts as four-point favorites. A 56 point over-under is shaping up for this shootout, which would be a Super Bowl record. I'd be willing to wager Colts 32 - Saints 24.

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