A closer look at Super Bowl XLVIII

It all comes down to this coming Sunday in East Rutherford, NJ., as the Seattle Seahawks will play the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII.

As of Jan. 29 at noon, according to weather.com, the projected temperature for the outdoor stadium was 41 degrees as a high and 28 degrees as a low. Brrr.

It is a great day to hang out and, if you are of age, have a drink with your friends. It also gives people, like myself, the opportunity to pull out some great game day foods and recipes to consume while watching the game. I will be cooking up some of my famous barbecue pulled pork so it should be fun.

I for one think that the Super Bowl should either be played in a dome, where you can control the temperature, or put it somewhere in the South. Now some will argue that ‘Football is a cold weather sport’ and they have their merit but as someone who played high school football in a state where the beginning of the season is hot and the end of the season is freezing cold, in Va., I would rather be playing in weather where I can’t see my own breath.

That is one of the aspects of this year’s game that is being blown up by the media. Yes, it will be cold, we get it. No one expected the weather in New York to be the same as it is here in Miami in February.

The halftime show is pretty decent this year which also puts me against a lot of people in that I do like the fact that both Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers will be playing together. Even though it is not my favorite part of the night.

Another thing that is being blown up is the media activity on the side of the Seahawks players in cornerback Richard Sherman and running-back Marshawn Lynch. These players are polar opposites when it comes to speaking with the media. Sherman is outspoken, and as was seen after the NFC Championship game, is not afraid to speak his mind. On the other hand, Lynch, who recently signed a promotional deal with Skittles – they will donate $10,000 for each touchdown he has in the big game – was assessed a $50,000 fine for his closed-door policy during the season. That was put on hold however when he agreed to speak with the media during Media Day for the Super Bowl. He did the least possible though, speaking to reporters for just under seven minutes.

Now the most important part of the actual Super Bowl is the game, but I will get to that later.

I do want to say something that is on my mind every year. The people who watch the game just for the commercials anger me greatly as a football fan. The men on the field, this year in the freezing cold, have worked all season long, if not their entire lives for this game and for people to say ‘Oh, I don’t care about the game I just want to see the commercials;’ those people make me sick in a way.

The game is kicking off, if weather permits, at 6:30 p.m. It will be the first time in a while that the number one overall offense (Broncos) will be facing off against the number one overall defense (Seahawks) in the Super Bowl. My prediction for gameplay hinges on the weather however. I believe that the Seahawks have a stronger running-back in Lynch than the Broncos do in Knowshon Moreno and Montee Ball. So if weather doesn’t permit a good pass game from quarterback Peyton Manning and the Broncos offense, it should be an easier outing for the Seahawks, whose defense is led by Sherman. If the weather permits passing, Manning, who has 55 passing touchdowns on the season as compared to Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson’s 26, it will give a better chance for the Broncos to win but I am still taking the Seahawks to win with a score of 31-27.

One cool fact though for FIU Football fans is that former offensive lineman Caylin Hauptmann is in the game as a Seahawk. He started off this season as an undrafted rookie signing for the Cleveland Browns but was traded to the Seahawks.

-rhys.williams@fiusm.com