Super What?

Hello and welcome to the non-competitive phase of the National Football League season. 

I could be talking about the flag football distraction that will be taking place during the "Pro Bowl," the NFL equivalent of an all-star game. Not that this contest was ever particularly contested. It was a chance to see all your favorite stars on the same field, and maybe run the old Fumblerooski just for show. The grim intensity that tends to exist on the sidelines of most of these exhibitions is missing. This is partly because it takes place at the end of the season, after the playoffs, and the participants are playing for the fun of it. Not for seeding, or home field advantage. These are professional athletes playing a game for the chance to be seen one more time, without the aid of any of the players who still have a game left to play: The Super Bowl.

"I only watch for the commercials." This is the refrain heard most often over the next couple weeks as rooting interests are shuffled and combined and forgotten. Certainly the hometown fans of the cities represented by the franchises lucky and talented enough to land themselves a spot in the "world championship game" are pleased. And excited. And, in my experience, resigned. 

One team will win. And they will get to keep the T-shirts and caps printed up special for them. The other team will go home without ever seeing what might have been their championship swag. Second place is absolutely no place to be on Super Bowl Sunday. 

"I'm just hoping it will be a good game." This is another frequently uttered phrase in the days leading up to the hype which none greater can be imagined. This allows the average fan a chance to take in the spectacle while remaining impartial. Appreciation for a good catch or a nice run, masking the inner turmoil that wishes that it was their team that was playing on Super Sunday. What could have, might have been. I guess your team wasn't so super, after all. 

Ultimately, it is just that: the last game. Unlike other sports which allow several opportunities for teams to get a shot in a series, alternating arenas, best of seven, one more chance to stretch the inevitable end date of the season by one more game. 

Not in the NFL. This is sudden death, and you'll forgive me if I don't buy in completely on the idea that this is the best possible game under the best possible conditions. It's not flag football, true, but is it really Super? 

And as a fan of a team whose chances at playing in the Big Game were done back in September, I can assure you that those grapes have been sour this whole time.