...the NFL struck two blows for equality?

And I do mean 'blows'.

Okay, first: the Saints/Bears game. Not fantastic; like everybody else without a particular dog in that fight, I liked the idea of the post-Katrina Saints going to the Big Dance. They've been a feel-good story all year, and after some of the stinking that Grossman has done I really just felt that they deserved it more. But whatever; I like the Bears, I love hard-nosed defense, and there was some good ball being played out there. Good job, Lovie. Chi-town advances. Fair enough.

Second: Pats/Colts. This was one of those 'hang on ... huh?' games. It went against all history, all logic, and everything we know about both teams. Colts stifle the running game? Brady screws up in crunch-time? Manning craps the bed as usual, can barely stay on his feet, and yet totally fails to blow the game? Huh?

Well, whatever. It's a little disappointing -- like the NBA finals last year, none of the top three teams actually made it to the championship. But it's historical for two reasons, one of which you'll hear about a billion times in the next few weeks and one of which you won't:

1/ No African-American coach had ever made it to the Super Bowl before; this year, two did. And that's pretty cool. Expecially when you consider that this year also marked the beginning and end of Art Shell's resurgent coaching career. In a field where minorities are habitually overlooked, 2006 produced both the most and the least successful Black coaches in history. Which just goes to show ... something. I guess.

2/ The great Tom Lehrer, on finishing a brief and unintentional stint in uniform, once remarked that "the Army has carried the American ideal to its logical conclusion: not only do they prohibit discrimination on the grounds of race, creed and color, but also on ability." Which I mention as a segue to my particular Bowl-peeve for this year: that, with apologies to Ben Folds, the Bears/Colts QBs are going to be fighting the Battle of Who Could Suck Less.

I mean, isn't that going to be the deciding factor here? Either Manning will get pressured a few times, revert to form, and start throwing interceptions ... or else Grossman will be dropping the ball like it's the opposite of soap-in-prison. It's a battle of the choke artists: Manning, holder of the Golden Lawnchair award for lifetime achievement in the field of folding under pressure, versus Grossman, who doesn't receive awards because he'd drop them.

Seriously, how can you get excited about this game? Has there ever been a Super Bowl in which the defensive units were more likely to outscore their offensive brethren? Whatever. My prediction:

Colts - 27
Bears - 31

Then Grossman fumbles his ring; Manning recovers it and slips out in the resulting chaos to do a commercial for Summer's Eve. Intimate freshness, thy name is Peyton.