Junk Food Nation, Super Bowl Sunday is HERE!  Woot woot.  Actually, to tell the truth, I’m not a huge fan of the Super Bowl. Yes, it’s the largest sporting event of the year, across ALL sports.  I just like the Wildcard and Divisional Weekends better – more games, more junk food to be eaten, that’s all.  The Super Bowl is a good game one out of every three to four years…hopefully, this year’s Baltimore/San Fran matchup will be a good one.  I mean, Flacco vs. Kaepernick.  We all saw that coming, right??

TV isn’t missing a chance to SUCK EVERYTHING IT CAN from this once a year football spectacle.  ALL WEEK, ridiculous shows about the Super Bowl like, “Road to New Orleans,” “The Ray Lewis Journey,” “What’s in Joe Flacco’s Poop?” and “Where the Saints Will Be Watching Other Teams Play In Their Stadium.” NFL Network began it’s day-of coverage this morning at FOUR FRIGGIN AM with a show called “First on the Field,” hosted by Melissa Stark.  Four AM?  Seriously?? “Guys, we need to be the first to report the sun rising…and….and….NOW! CUT TO SUNRISE!”

If you didn’t get up at 4:00am to watch the NFL Network, no worries.  ESPN has the idiots on Sunday NFL Countdown from 7:00am until 2:00pm.  That’s SEVEN HOURS of Berman muttering nonsensically while everyone chuckles along.  Somebody shoot me.

I ignore those Morons.  For me, there are only FOUR things I’ll be concentrating on during this game:

1) THE READ OPTION.  Colin K. employs this offense.  I’m not going to explain option offenses to you, you can Wiki it on your own.  All you need to know is that the NFL has a new breed of QB, and those QBs run the read option.  Guys like Robert Griffin III, Russell Wilson, and Colin K. are all read option guys.  It requires QBs not only smart and quick enough to read the defense but also ahtletic enough to gain chunks of yardage if the read is to run.  IF COLIN K. STAYS POISED ENOUGH TO RUN THE READ OPTION, THE NINERS WILL WIN.

2) FLACCO DEEP BALLS. Joe Flacco throws a pretty perfect deep ball.  Just out of cornerbacks’ reach, his rainbow throws have become an exciting part of the game.  But his short passes?  PUKE CITY.  Who is he, Donovan McNabb??  Stop throwing at peoples’ knees, Joe!

3) RAY LEWIS EFFECTIVENESS(?).  Did anyone else watch Ray Lewis SPECIFICALLY during the Ravens-Patriots game?  HE JUST STOOD THERE.  Yeah, he’s great on secondary tackles.  But he CLEARLY could no longer create on his own.  Whenever a running back would cut towards his zone, he kept doing that arms out, slight hop backwards motion, avoiding the ball carrier completely until a teammate had him wrapped up.  TACKLE THE GUY. Ray Lewis has lost a step.  And he’s become a caricature of himself.

Yeah, Baltimore fans hate me. But c’mon…it’s damn funny. Plus the rest of your defense is awesome, so shush.

4) THE JUNK FOOD GAL JINX.  The Junk Food Gal is from the Bay Area, and she stated that whenever she roots for the Niners in a big game, they lose.  My eyes will be on her the whole game – if she gets excited and Colin K. fumbles, I’ll be marching her out of the room and into the hallway.

MY PICK?  It’s a tough one, to be honest.  I am a big believer in personnel wins games, and quite frankly, I just think the Niners personnel is better.  Better players, with the exception of the wide receivers.  But QB, I give Niners the nod. Defense, Niners – 4th in the league for keeping down opponents passing and rushing yards.  And if they can take away Flacco’s deep ball….well, this game will be over.

Of course, I am ALSO a big believer of being battle tested on the road, which the Ravens are.  Previous Super Bowl champs the Giants and Packers all had to win on the road.  The Ravens have played one more round of football than the Niners, and besides that first game at home vs. Indy, all remaining games have been on the road.  Don’t discount the heart factor.  The Ravens have it.

So for me, it comes down to personnel (Niners) vs. heart (Ravens).  And to me, that comes down to Kaepernick – will he execute and let his personnel be successful? Or will he let the Ravens emotional defense get to him?

The Niners are favored by 4.5 points.  If I HAD to pick, I think I’d take the RAVENS just because I’m not sure Kaepernick has faced a defense like the Ravens yet.  While I’m sure the Niners will give Flacco fits, the Baltimore might be the best D Kaepernick has faced all year.  Except for Houston.  Oh yeah, the Niners lost to Houston.

Enjoy the game, Junk Food Nation!

OH, BTW, wanna interact with me during the Superbowl?  Well, there’s many ways you can do it – I’ll be tweeting during the game, so you can always hit me on Twitter @junkfoodguy.  I’ll be posting on my Facebook Page, too, you can always get me there.  Or, like last year, you can post a comment below, and I’ll reply to that too!  Of course, this all depends on my effing server holds up. Let’s do this!

Sincerely,

Junk Food Guy