SUPER BOWL XXIX IS HERE
With the hype kicking into full throttle, the Super Bowl is just a few hours away from kickoff. After two weeks of "Terrell Owens: Will he play or won't he?" and "Freddie Mitchell said _____", as well as talk about "is New England a dynasty if they win?" and "Is Bill Belichick the greatest coach of all time?"

Once the ball is kicked off you're going to get to hear these same stories over and over, but in a little different form. This is what I'm looking forward too...

Whenever a New England d-back makes a play and Freddie Mitchell is nearby, you know Chris Collinsworth will throw out a "you think Freddie Mitchell knows his name now?" I guarantee this happens at least five times today.

Along the lines of Mitchell, and I know I mentioned this before, but he's not funny or amusing at all. During the game though the announcers won't let you forget that he is "colorful". I bet they throw it down to a sideline reporter to give a first hand account of how "wacky" he really is. Somebody like Tony Saragusa (cue Saragusa graphic in the bottom left of the screen) will say "yeah Freddie Mitchell is really loose. He's ready to play today. It's so loud down here I can't hear myself". "It's so loud down here I can't hear myself" is how Saragusa ends 90% of his statements.

Will Fox plant their sit-com stars in the stands at the Super Bowl like they do during the Major League Baseball playoffs? Is the homoeroticism between Ryan and Seth on The OC something that carries over to real life? Will the guy that plays Ryan have his grandkids at the game? Tune into Fox tonight to find out.

We can all only hope for something close to Janet Jackson and TLake's "nipplegate" from last year's halftime show. I wish somebody funny was performing like Ashlee Simpson or Carrot Top. Why not bring out William Hung? Are his fifteen minutes of fame up yet? I want to see somebody get booed off the stage.

I know a lot of people enjoy watching the commercials, but I can only take so many commercials about four-hour erections before I lose interest. I'm sorry, commercials don't really entertain me that much. Plus the Fox telecast of the game will be one gigantic advertisement for Fox programming, so essentially we'll all be watching about six hours of commercials tonight.

Also, I can't wait to see Terrell Owens running routes in pre-game. I wonder if they'll give him the Deion Sanders treatment. One of the years when Deion was in the Super Bowl with Dallas they kept a camera on him the entire game. As soon as Owens steps on the field you know we're going to see tons of replays, coupled with announcer commentary on whether or not Owens looks healthy or not. Does it bother anybody else that EVERYBODY refers to Owens as "T.O"? There's something about John Clayton calling Owens "T.O" that just doesn't sit well with me.

...Okay, now to what I think will happen in the game.

Pretty much everybody and their cousin is picking New England to win outright, some people are picking Philly to cover, and very few think that the Eagles will win. Is this a case of "everybody is going east so you should go west?" I don't think so. I think New England will win and they will cover. This is why...

Tom Brady vs. Donovan F. McNabb
Brady has proven that he is a big game QB. He has better weapons. McNabb in general has struggled in big games. He will be without a healthy Terrell Owens. I know he didn't have a healthy Owens against Minnesota or Atlanta...But that was Minnesota and Atlanta, this is New England.

New England's WR vs. Philly's WR
The Patriots don't really have any star wide receivers, but they have more talent and more depth than the Eagles with Owens being injured. Who would you rather throw the ball to in crunch time: Freddie Mitchell or Deion Branch/David Patten/Troy Brown/Bethel Johnson/Hart Lee Dykes?

Adam Vinatieri vs. David Akers
Akers is a solid kicker, but Vinatieri has made so many huge kicks. Of course two of them were to win a Super Bowl, which nobody who isn't named Jim O'Brien can say.

Bill Belichick vs. Andy Reid
Andy Reid is a fantastic coach. He is one of the best in the NFL. But he isn't Bill Belichick, and he doesn't have Romeo Crenell and Charlie Weis on his side. Andy Reid does have Jimmie Johnson running his defense, and I'm sure the Eagles will come up with some intense blitz packages to try to mess with Tom Brady. Still, you have to go with Belichick.

The "Happy to be there" Factor
I think the Eagles are the only people happy to be in Jacksonville this year. It took so much for the Eagles to get to the Super Bowl, it's hard to believe that they aren't just happy to have not lost four straight NFC Championship games. You KNOW the Patriots aren't just content with being there. Maybe I'm wrong about the Eagles, but I know I'm right about the Patriots.

Those are all my reasons for selecting New England to win and cover. The only way I can see Philly pulling this off is if they get a few big turnovers early, maybe get a big kick or punt return, and quick jump out to a 14-0 lead over a stunned Patriots team. The problem is, the Patriots aren't a team that are going to make a lot of mistakes (except when they play Miami on Monday Night).

McNabb will throw a two INTs, and the Patriots will shut down the ground game. Brady will throw go 17-24 for 250 yards and three touchdowns, Corey Dillon will rush for 120 yards and a touchdown and the Patriots will beat the Eagles.

Patriots 34, Eagles 20