SU is not one to follow the hype leading up to the Super Bowl. Let’s face it: it’s the silly season where hundreds of media people are grasping at anything to make it a story. The Cam Newton drama of last week provided some good copy. SU’s take on Cam: great player and having a great year. Loves the attention and does everything he can to make sure the camera is on him all the time. Even when he talks, any attempt to talk about the “team” is forced. He is much more comfortable saying “me” than “we” (literally). Does this make him a bad guy? Is everyone up in arms because he is Black?
SU says get over it. If Odell Beckham Jr. was here for the Giants, it would be no different. There are a ton of players out there who are about themselves first and love the spotlight. The NFL culture promotes this type of behavior and many step up to fill that role. I choose not to listen to it and frankly, I don’t like it. SU says act like you’ve been there before when you score a touchdown. Low key is cool to me, not jumping into the stands and running up and down the sidelines by the stands drawing attention to yourself. I am sure the Panther fans love him and a lot of others hate him. It shouldn’t be a race issue – it’s the NFL culture. Hey, if Donald Trump was an NFL player, don’t you think he would be doing the same thing? Time to move on.
As for the game, SU says Denver will win 23 – 21. They need to keep the score down as Peyton Manning can only have so much scotchtape applied to his body and still be able to throw the ball. Denver will score once on defense in this game, and will win on a late field goal. SU also predicts that Brock Osweiler will play a key role in the 2nd half and will play the last quarter and a half. Manning will either be injured or ineffective and Osweiler will make the difference in the 2nd half and down the stretch.
A couple of other thoughts today:
- SU is a big Novak Djokovic fan and what he did last year and now in winning the Australian Open is really over the top. This is the golden era of men’s tennis with so many great players. For him to be dominating the game as he is now puts him in the conversation of Greatest of All Time. SU will enjoy his run.
- SU caught the Michigan – Penn State day-night doubleheader at MSG on Saturday for basketball and hockey. This was a great day and reinforces why I like college sports more than the pros. It’s just a better atmosphere. What could be more fun that spending a day watching games? SU was joined by many members of the SU intergalactic subscriber base including L. Levine, B. Levine, S. Levine, S. Fink, J. Silver, J. Zaro, A. Cohen, A. Rosenberg, K. Rosenzweig, E. and M. Rifkin, and S. Taylor and his wife. Truly a who’s who at the Garden.
- Finally, bad news for Yankee fans as Greg Byrd goes down with shoulder surgery and will miss the season. True, he would have spent much of the year in the minors anyway but SU likes the young guys and will now have to watch the older version of the Yankees slog through another boring season.
OK, time for you all to step up with your Super Bowl score predictions and be counted. SU will give props to whoever comes the closest come Monday. Time to weigh in!
Sports Update Intergalactic 
31-20 Panthers, with Cam winning MVP in a good but not virtuoso performance.
Panthers 44, Broncos 6.
28-17 Broncos winning with Cam throwing an INT, Peyton throwing two, and Robert McClain giving up 2-3 big plays
Panthers 31 Broncos 13. Got to go with the head and not the heart. They are the better team and father time has caught up to Peyton. Cam gets the MVP in a good but not great performance.
Newton thinks that fans love what he does. They may love sharing in his happiness but I imagine they’d be just as happy with the the on-the-field results minus the celebrations and braggadocio. Other fans find it obnoxious and juvenile. This is not new. This is not racial. Jim McMahon may be another example and that was 30 years ago and he was white.
I’ll be rooting for the Broncos but don’t like their chances. Like everyone else I’m stumped by the QB situation and I think the Broncos are too. It’s like everybody in the world thinks Osweiler gives them a better shot and that’s what’s confusing me. I’m not sure that the Super Bowl is the place to reward someone for past performance. It’s likely that most of the Broncos will never be in a Super Bowl again. They have to know that. Things could get very ugly if there’s even the slightest sign of Manning faltering. Panthers 27-10.
Sorry to hear about Byrd but unless he hurt himself learning to play a new position, he wasn’t going to be around much this year anyway. He proved that he could be the kind of guy to hold down the position but I’m not sure he is a long term solution. When you look at the names playing 1B for the Yankees over the past 30 years (Mattingly, Martinez, Giambi, Texiera) you have to imagine that this isn’t going to be the position where they’re going to go with the value play.
Donkeys 21-17. Their defense just shut down possibly the best QB ever (even though he only has one person to throw to on that team) and extinguished any running game they had. Two weeks for Captain Kangaroo… I mean Wade Phillips… to prepare that defense is a lot of time. Plus, I like the “experience” of the Broncos since they were just in the Super Bowl two years ago (hard to believe, right?), and have some hungry horses on defense to prove that loss was not indicative of their team. I know you say that Osweiler will make a significant contribution, but I think it will be the forgotten Vernon Davis who will make an unexpected impression on the game.
As for tennis, you are correct. The game is outstanding right now and Djokovic cannot be stopped. I think he’ll stumble on the way to the 2016 Grand Slam in one of the finals, but 3/4 is not too shabby. And, how does Roger Federer keep hanging around? Amazing.
The answer to today’s trivia question is Marcus Allen.