super bowl xlv

Tomorrow is one of the most anticipated days of the year: Super Bowl Sunday. This is the 45th time two teams will match up in a Super Bowl to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL). Super Bowl Sunday is a crazy phenomenon. Millions of Americans will be attending parties to watch this game; even people who normally could not care any less about football. A big part of the draw is the commercials (since the commercials are the real star of the show for anyone who's not a fan of the two teams playing, this will be the subject of tomorrow's blog post) but people will watch the game too (as long as it remains competitive). So, I thought I'd take today to look at the football side of Super Bowl Sunday. And no, I don't mean that I'm going to be breaking down the game plans or anything. I just want to make a point regarding this match-up.

As most (if not all) of you know, I am a fan of the New England Patriots. I'm disappointed that my team didn't make it to the Super Bowl after such a promising regular season, but only two teams make it and only one will win, so I'm not losing sleep over it. I bring this up because as a fan of another team, I won't pretend that I don't have biases. That being said, I want to take a look at this game as neutrally as I can.

Before we take a look at tomorrow night's match-up, let's take a brief peek at some NFL history. In any sport, dynasties come and go. Football is no different. The NFL has seen different teams "own" each decade throughout its history. Here is a look at the dynasties of each decade in the Super Bowl era (with Super Bowl victories for that decade in parentheses):

60's - Green Bay Packers (2)
70's - Pittsburgh Steelers (4)
80's - San Francisco 49ers (4)
90's - Dallas Cowboys (3)
00's - New England Patriots (3)

Super Bowl XLV (45) will feature the Green Bay Packers vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers. These are two of the most storied franchises in NFL history. The Packers have 3 total Super Bowl victories and the Steelers have 6 (more than any other team). This match-up is the team of the 60's vs. the team of the 70's. These teams are known to have some of the most faithful fan bases in all of sports. Many experts thought these two teams were destined to meet in a Super Bowl in the 90's, but it never panned out. Well, those experts can rest easy now, because they'll finally get to see the match-up they've been waiting for. In fact, I think the NFL has been waiting for this match-up. They've got to be thrilled with the way things played out for them. Let's just hope the game lives up to the hype surrounding it.

Alright, so on to my prediction. As an individual who has an extreme dislike for the Steelers (and many of their fans), I am hoping for the Packers to pull out a victory. And let's face it, it would also be nice to see Aaron Rodgers silence Brett Favre fan-boys by winning a Super Bowl with the Packers. With that being said and as much as I hate to say it, I think the experience factor for the Steelers (the have many of the same contributors from the two Super Bowls they've won within the last 5 years) will give them the edge. I'm thinking 20-17. Of course, that won't stop me from rooting for the Packers!