Settle It: Who is going to win Super Bowl XLVII, Baltimore or San Francisco?
A general view of the Vince Lombardi Trophy and the helmets for the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers at the commissioner’s press conference in preparation for Super Bowl XLVII at the New Orleans Convention Center. (Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports)
The Super Bowl has become far more than a simple game between two NFL teams. No longer do a mere few cameras record the precision passes of men such as Bart Starr, Johnny Unitas and Joe Namath. The mighty hits of mammoths of the game are no longer witnessed merely by those men and women in attendance.
No, in 2013, countless high definition cameras of all shapes and sizes will capture every movement of every single player on the field from every possible angle and equally as many speeds.
But no matter how many cameras are shooting and how many people are watching, not a single, solitary person knows who is going to win Super Bowl XLVII until the final whistle blows on Sunday night.
Whether or not San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick continues his magical run from benchwarmer to Super Bowl championship is total conjecture at this point. The exact same can be said for whether or not his counterpart, Joe Flacco, and his moonballs will carry the Ravens to the Lombardi Trophy and Flacco to a new mega-contract.
Which running back will carry their team and carry the day? Frank Gore is the most prolific rusher in San Francisco history, but can he outclass Ravens star and fantasy football legend Ray Rice?
The Niners boast the most tenacious and talented defense in the entire league. However, Baltimore has two future Hall of Famers playing on the type of pure adrenaline 99-percent of the world will never feel and never experience. Will linebacker Ray Lewis and safety Ed Reed stand supreme at the end of the day?
Finally, what will happen to the Harbaugh household after this one is all said and done? John, the Ravens head coach, faces Jim, his brother and lead man for San Francisco, in the first all-brothers coaching showdown in Super Bowl history.
Will older brother John reign supreme, sending his li’l bro crying to his mom in Wisconsin, or will Jim shake off his brother’s shadow to lead San Francisco to NFL glory?
The answer to any one of these question is a mystery, but together they will lead to a far larger one. It is one that we are asking you, the erstwhile fan who has been frothing at the mouth for this New Orleans showdown for two weeks now.
Forget the new-school quarterbacks and the talented running backs. Toss out the elite defenses and the Hall of Fame players — even the familial coaching ties. Forget everything as kickoff approaches.
It all comes down to this.
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