Pittsburgh's going to the Superbowl

I keep trying to remind myself to post about specific things, but then other, more urgent subjects come up that I have to get out before they become old(er) news (than they already are).

So right to it then.

Say it's the year we'll get that one for the thumb.

And here we have a conundrum. I have been, without fail in all three previous rounds of the playoffs, the exact same at predicting who would win as your average quarter that isn't somehow weighted to give any particular result more often. 50% success rate all the way. So how does this work out? With only the big game remaining, how to I continue a 50% success rate in picking the victor? I've either got to be completely right or completely wrong.

While I was impressed at Seattle's performance against the Panthers, I get the sense that the Bears really should have beaten the Panthers in the first place and that the overmatch was more than most were noting. They covered Steve Smith (which the Bears didn't do at all) and got on Delhomme early and the Seahawks fans were overpowering. But the Superbowl isn't at Qwest Field, so they lose at least some of the "12th man" support. And the Steelers aren't the Panthers.

The Steelers, on the other hand, shut down a Broncos offense that had just a week before handily taken care of the Pats and made the defense look like that of Deer Lakes. Which is to say, ridiculous. Two fumbles and two interceptions (that came out of Jake Plummer playing the AFC championship like I play Tecmo Super Bowl), and Pittsburgh's going to the Super Bowl once again. And exactly ten years after their last visit (in Super Bowl XXX, which they promptly lost to the Cowboys), which means that while I have seen the Steelers in a Super Bowl in my lifetime, the last time it happened was in the winter of my seventh-grade year.

So it's been a while.

Still, I think the Steelers can pull this one out with the way the coaching staff's been behaving lately and how things have been falling. They're playing like they're meant to win this thing. And it seems (though, because no one in the media is mentioning this, I can't confirm) that Jerome Bettis might actually be from Detroit.

Plus, Joey Tolomei's from Washington. And you can't win Superbowls when you're the embodiment of sorrow. Fact.

Steelers over Seattle.

Oh, actually, more importantly, the National Anthem will be sung by Aretha Franklin and Aaron Neville, accompanied by Dr. John, New Orleans jazzman. Awesome.

And that bit about not being able to confirm that Bettis is a Detroit native was a little attempt at a joke, lest I have everyone in Pittsburgh come to my blog (Traffic!) to berate me.