Super Bowl XLV, and the Elephant in the Stadium

originally uploaded by Fixed Image on Flickr

As soon as the Patriots were eliminated, my preferences for the rest of the playoffs were never really in doubt: for the Steelers to knock off the Jets, because if the Jets even made it to the Big Dance at the expense of the Patriots, we'd never hear the end of it around here. And then for the Green Bay Packers to eliminate the Steelers -- there would be no love lost between them and Patriots fans, either.

There's plenty of on-field history between the Patriots and the Steelers over the last decade to account for that. As with the Jets, there is also a bit of a culture clash between the Patriots and the Steelers as expressions of their home cities / regions, just to add an extra chip to the proverbial shoulder. All of that was enough to have me watching last night, and with a definite side I was rooting for.

But what had me hollering at my father's television during last night's tense second half, as if my team were actually in the game, mostly had to do with -- you guessed it -- the guy playing quarterback for the Steelers.