Super Bowl Eve (And there are more things that I'm worried about)

As a fan of the once mighty San Diego Chargers, part my says to root against the Steelers tomorrow in Super Bowl XLIII and hope that the Cardinals can put Pittsburgh back in its place.

But the NFL fan of me says that it'd be a travesty for the Cardinals--long the League's laughing stock--to win a Super Bowl period (and before Chargers). It's as if the Los Angeles Clippers or (godforbid) the Chicago Cubs ever won a championship (again in the case of the Cubs).

However, if the Cubs were in the World Series next year, I'd root for them to win it. A century is a long time to wait and if any professional team deserves it (if pro teams are deserving of our adulation) it's the Cubs.

But I digress.

This year's Super Bowl seems more muted than usual. Maybe it's because of the recession and the United States' troubling economy. Maybe because all of our country's excitement was zapped from a two-year long battle for the Presidency which ended in the party of all parties that was Inauguration Day for Barack Obama.

And then maybe it's because these are two teams you really can't hate, nor love, nor get behind. It's Pittsburgh and its Terrible Towels. It's Arizona and its...old retired people. And the game is in Tampa, which isn't the most exciting place in the world.

No, this game doesn't excite me. And no matter how much NBC or ESPN or even Ketih Olbermann hype this game up, I will watch it reluctantly (and with tired eyes).

With Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer doing battle at 12:30 a.m. my time Sunday morning for the Australian Open Final and Liverpool and Chelsea going at it at 8 a.m. my time later that Sunday morning, I'm pretty sure that I'll be all but excited for the Super Bowl.

And if that's not enough, the two teams are really not that exciting.

The Steelers' quarterback (Ben Roethlisberger) is as ho-hum as you can get, while Arizona's is a has-been that has found a renaissance (every old man is rooting for you Kurt Warner).

There are no controversial wide recievers--just likeable ones in Larry Fitzgerald and Hines Ward.

And the best storyline coming into the game belongs to the awkwardness that comes from the head coaches. Arizona's Ken Whisenhut should have been Pitttsburgh's guy after Bill Cowher left, but the guys in suits picked Mike Tomlin instead. Oh the intrigue (and oh how you cannot discern the sarcasm in my voice).

But it is still the Super Bowl. Millions will tune in, throw a party and spend an entire Sunday forgetting about life for awhile.

Because in the end, the Super Bowl (and all of sport) is about that--distraction. It doesn't matter who wins. It doesn't matter who loses. It doesn't matter who is the game's MVP or if the game was a blow out or the second greatest game ever played.

Sport and the Super Bowl are a tool, a little bit of joy amidst a time of harrowing prospects. And that's why, even if this is the most boring Super Bowl in it's 43-year history, that's why people will watch. Even if they will (like I) reluctantly.