In the Colts and the Saints, football has the Super Bowl match-up it deserves. The obvious best team in each conference has advanced to the championship game. The winner can be seen legitimately as football's best team this season.
From a storyline perspective, though, I suspect a lot of folks--especially our friends in the media--were pulling for yesterday's losers. Brett Favre may be an exasperating narcissist, but he makes for copy. And the Jets, well coached by Buddy Ryan's son (!) and quarterbacked by a charming, good-looking rookie, would have been the underdog you just couldn't help but root for.
By contrast, Indianapolis and New Orleans are dull teams whose defining characteristic is not charisma or roguishness but talent. Borrrring. A few years ago the Saints might have parlayed the Katrina tragedy into something compelling, but it all feels a bit too far in the past to speak of a football team healing a city. (To be fair, those in the Crescent City almost certainly feel differently.) And while Peyton Manning is perfectly genial in the TV commercials his success has earned him, he's hardly Joe Namath.
I'm not complaining, though. I don't have to spend two weeks filling newspapers, broadcasts, and websites with compelling human interest copy. I just want to see a good game. | PRS
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