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01/24/2003 Archived Entry: "Who will win the Super Bowl"

STEVE PICKS THE SUPERBOWL WINNER...GET TO VEGAS NOW!: It's a truism in sports that a good defence beats a good offense. That will be tested on Sunday with Tampa Bay's 1st rated defence against Oakland's 1st rated offence.

According to conventional wisdom, Tampa Bay will be able to shut down Oakland's offence -- or at least limit it to a great degree -- with Brad Johnson winning the game with a couple of touchdowns. Look what happened to Michael Vick and Atlanta when Tampa Bay played them. They stuffed the line and forced Vick to throw to a sub-par core of receivers. That's conventional wisdom of course, and you don't hear too many people arguing it do you? That's because Oakland ain't Atlanta and Rich Gannon isn't Michael Vick. Steve's (and I guess most people's) wisdom says that Oakland's passing game -- and I predict Rich Gannon will be changing his last name to Canon on Monday -- is going to be in full force this weekend not because Tampa Bay will shut down the running game, but because Gannon loves to throw the ball and he's damned good at it.

With the offensive weapons that Gannon has access to he won't suffer the same problem as Vick did. He's going to throw the ball so many times they'll have to replace his shoulder from being worn out. I don't expect them to run too often just because they don't want to.

The official line on the game favours Oakland by 3.5 points which I consider to be a little low. Steve's prediction? Oakland 24, Tampa Bay 10.

Now run out and put your entire lifesavings on a bet based on that prediction. It's your lock of the week.

(Disclaimer: The information in this post is simply meant to show how stupid Steven Martinovich is and should not be construed as advice in placing wagers with legally sanctioned gaming authorities. Statements within this posting are forward looking and may not reflect what actually happens in Super Bowl XXXVII.)

Replies: 4 comments

I noticed that spelling but I didn't want to call you on it :-)

Posted by Steve Martinovich @ 01/27/2003 04:15 AM EST

Did I really just call the Super Bowl the Super Bowel? I'm a Pats fan, it must have been a Freudian slip...

Posted by W. James Antle III @ 01/27/2003 12:29 AM EST

I wasn't just wrong, I was wrong. Well, that just goes to prove that conventional wisdom is called that because it's usually true, and in the case that a superior defence always bests a superior offence, well, the exhibition Tampa Bay put on tonight proves its validity.

I knew I was wrong even as I wrote the original post predicting Oakland's win, ha ha.

Posted by Steve Martinovich @ 01/26/2003 11:07 PM EST

Yes, I would say that it didn't reflect what actually happened in the Super Bowel. :-)

Posted by W. James Antle III @ 01/26/2003 10:23 PM EST