Road to The Big Game

It happens every year. No sooner has Championship Sunday ended when the “telly pundits” (as I once overheard a British couple in a bar once call sports commentators) begin spouting off on potential storylines leading up to the Big Game. It all seems so manufactured - so geared towards raising our expectations only to see the reality fall so far short. If this past week was the calm before the storm, look out America, there are so many plots going into this Super Bowl, and yesterday's media day in Glendale resembled the opening of the doors at a Toys-r-Us on Black Friday.  I could just picture Terry Bradshaw vaulting over Stuart Scott to get the first crack at Randy Moss, while Chris Berman and Troy Aikman play tug of war over Plaxico Burress.

Which begs the question – do we need all this hype? Not this year, in this humble blogger’s opinion. This game can sell itself on its own. No, this isn’t the Yankees and Red Sox meeting in the ALCS, but who doesn’t like to see New York and Boston go at it – FOR ANYTHING! – much less the NFL title. You don’t have to be a football fan to know that this has already been a historic year for the Patriots and should the Giants knock them off, it will be the greatest upset in NFL history. 

So why the media hype?  Regardless of “spy-gate,” the “other Manning,” or Brady’s “boot” making a guest appearance in SoHo, this game has the elements of a Super Bowl for the ages.  No matter what the scribes and talking heads conjure up as the “story” behind this year’s game, we’ll watch it because it’s an event:  it’s the Super Bowl.  People will tune in regardless of whether their favorite team is playing or whether there is a feel-good story in the works. 

Now will XLII break the all-time Nielsen rating high of 49.1 set by the San Francisco 49ers and Cincinnati Bengals back in 1982?  Doubtful.  But it has the potential, depending on how the game unfolds, to be the highest viewed in quite some time.  

If the game is 17-3 going in to halftime, we’ll all be disappointed.  But honestly, will we stop watching?  Probably not.  But we won’t be glued to the screen because we’re waiting around to see if Belichick’s hoodie will grow any longer, or if Eli will fall short of expectations. We’ll watch because it’s what we do as sports fans – and as a county – on the first Sunday in February.  It doesn’t need any more hype than that.

by Tom Ziangas, Nielsen Sports