Super Bowl open thread

I really don't have a rooting interest in either team playing in this year's Super Bowl. I am glad to see the long-suffering New Orleans Saints (who were in the league 21 years before posting their first winning season) reach the Big Game for the first time. Peyton Manning leads his Indianapolis Colts back to the championship spotlight. The Colts have had better teams during the Manning era that failed to make the Super Bowl, but this season advances Peyton's credentials as the Best Quarterback Ever. Peyton is also the genuinely good guy that his public image suggests. Peggy had the chance to chauffeur Manning to a kids' football camp during her limo days, and she said that he was great with the kids, spending over an hour signing autographs at the end of the day. For once the league's two best teams play for the championship. The Colts started the season by winning their first 14 games, the Saints their first 13; either team could well have gone undefeated had they any incentive to do so.

I'd love to see a shootout, but if tradition holds, both teams will come out cautious and the defenses will take over. Once again, for no good reason this time, I'm going against my common sense in picking the result. Saints 35, Colts 31.