Finding the Hacky Angle

This past weekend the participants for the upcoming Super Bowl XLVI were determined in close AFC and NFC Conference Championship Games. The New York Giants defeated the San Francisco 49ers 20-17 and New England edged Baltimore 23-20, meaning the same two teams who met in the Super Bowl four years would again be clashing, this time in Indianapolis.

It seemed like before the games were even done, the term ‘rematch’ was already being thrown around as though The Pats having been waiting to get to the championship until the Giants had a chance to get there. After all, what good would a Super Bowl win be if you didn’t also ‘avenge’ your defeat from 4 years ago. Well, it would still be a championship, of course.

This approach wasn’t terribly surprising since the media hacks always have to find some sort of story in which to frame each and every contest, especially the ‘big game’. The angle they used was so obvious; it was just too easy to pass up on. It was obvious and also terribly irrelevant.

When I later heard how many of the teams’ players actually played in the previous game, I laughed at how ridiculous it was to call the game a ‘rematch’. The Giants have only 15 players on this year’s roster that were members of the team for the ’07 season. Only 8 of those are starters. The Patriots have just 7 remaining from that year’s team, including only 2 starters. When you consider teams have a 53 man roster you realize they’re both pretty much different clubs.

Really it’s only going to be a rematch of logos and not much else. You might have the same number of players who played in the ’08 Super Bowl if different teams were playing. I seriously doubt Tom Brady’s heart has been burning, just waiting for the chance to turn the tables on the Giants in the last game of the season. Does anyone really think a win would mean any less to Brady, Wes Welker, Kevin Faulk or Eli Manning, for that matter, if they weren’t playing each other? Not a chance.

Reporters and columnists should cover the game and the players. Those things will more than sell themselves without having to add some kind of a ‘witty’ tag line to them.