• Almost, but not Superbowl Sunday
Almost, but not Superbowl Sunday
By Duane Shimogawa Jr. – The Garden Island
Without a pro football team in the islands, Kaua‘i still seems to have a keen eye on the NFL.
It’s funny that when NFL playoff time comes around and the Superbowl creeps up on us, Kaua‘i fans seem to get more and more excited rooting for the team of their choice.
I think that we have the most reasons for liking an NFL team. Just because we don’t have a pro team in Hawai‘i, it doesn’t mean that we aren’t football fans, instead we root for maybe the team closest to some of our family members on the mainland, or where we went to school, or we’ll even cheer for the team who has the nicest color of uniforms.
But the teams that are closer to us in the west coast, like the San Francisco 49ers, the Oakland Raiders, the San Diego Chargers, and even the Seattle Seahawks are usually the ones we root for.
When those teams aren’t present in the playoffs or in the Superbowl, we go for the underdog or even the team that will win us some money.
Believe me, there are about a thousand pools going on right now for the conference championship games today and for the Superbowl on February 6.
I’ll be surprised if there’ll be any type of traffic on the roads today and in fact, I’ll go as far as to say that at least one of your televisions in your household will be tuned in to the NFL playoffs today. If not, then you must not like football at all.
Today’s games are huge and will be ones to remember. Philadelphia over Atlanta and New England over Pittsburgh are the consensus.
In the New England/Pittsburgh game, it’s a rematch of an early season matchup in which the Steelers manhandled the Patriots, but you can never underestimate the heart of a champion and New England showed us that in the Indianapolis game, shutting down Peyton Manning and company.
My picks
New England over Pittsburgh, 24-17. I have to go with New England because I underestimated them against the Colts. I thought Tom Brady was just another QB riding the coat tails of his defensive crew, but it turned out to be the other way around. Brady does remind me of a poor man’s Joe Montana with the way he gets the job done, not flashy, but still darn good!
Everyone around town thinks the Patriots will win, but there are some who say that the Steelers know what it takes to beat New England and they’ll do it again. In the NFC championship game, can the Eagles win this one without star receiver Terrell Owens? Yes they can, so I will take Philadelphia over Atlanta, 34-21. The Eagles have been at this point so many times, I don’t know if they could handle another NFC championship loss, so I’ll go with Donovan McNabb and that great defense.
This game seems to be the “up in the air” game with each team having a great chance to win the contest. Everyone loves Mike Vick and his exciting style of play. Heck, I love the way he plays too and it’s going to be even better watching he and McNabb against each other in the bird bowl. For the Superbowl, I must go with Brady and the Patriots, 28-17. They’ve been there before and they will do it again. Experience is huge in these types of games, just ask the Joe Montanas, John Elways, and now Tom Bradys and they’ll say that experience is the trump card, plus if the Red Sox can win the World Series, why can’t we have New England in there too, but what’s next, the Celtics?
Well, maybe not, but now that my picks are on the table or at least on paper, let’s all enjoy the games today because we can pick ‘em all we want, but until the final seconds tick off the clock, we really have no clue what the final score will turn out to be!
