The Lunatic Fringe

I’ll say it: I’m really bored with this Super Bowl matchup.

Now that the Bay Area is hosting a Super Bowl in my (adult) life, I’m realizing how weird it is.  We’re hosting a championship game with no local interest.  That’s actually unusual for the Bay Area right now, who, 5+ years into the decade, has had five Championship games/series our teams have competed in.  But I went into the Conference Championship not caring much about any of the teams.

Sure, the Carolina Panthers are deserving.  Cam Newton is a legitimately exciting QB…even if he is boring, and his “controversies” are really what should be…not controversies, even by baseball fan standards.  And the Broncos have the literal elder statesman in Peyton Manning…and I guess it’s cool that they are going for a Super Bowl record sixth loss.  (Sorry, Buffalo, you even lose at losing.)

(Although, I approve of how Cam Newton has pissed off Seattle fans…)

This Super Bowl could’ve had Bay Area-born superstar Tom Brady come to his home area for a Super Bowl win…although if you thought 89% of the United States is saying “Where?” when we mention Santa Clara, imagine their response when we would’ve tried to explain San Mateo.  This Super Bowl could’ve had former San Francisco 49ers #1 overall pick Alex Smith come back to the 49ers’ new stadium after getting dumped for a now-benched flash in the pan.  But now, the return we get is…Vernon Davis.

And that storyline is, quite frankly, just about as uninspiring as Vernon Davis’ career so far.

Oh, wait, there’s Ted Ginn, too.  I guess his 49ers notoriety wavers between either being the guy who wasn’t healthy enough to keep Kyle Williams from failing to return punts in the playoff, to the guy who caught two passes in 13 games over an entire season.

Sure, the Panthers have a great defense, and a legitimate superstar quarterback in Cam Newton.  But I look at the Carolina Panthers, and still wonder How in the hell did the NFL put a team further east than Atlanta in the NFC West?

And the Broncos…as a Bay Area and (yes) Raiders fan, I should want to hate the Raiders’ rival.  But right now, the only ones who the Raiders seem to be making a rival of is the city of Oakland.  So how the hell can I get fired up about the Broncos?  I’m half expecting the Raiders to play next season in San Juan.  (Wait, has anyone seen Mark Davis and Jeffrey Loria in the same room at the same time?)

The NFL may have abandoned Los Angeles for damn near 30 years, but right now their northern California teams sure are laying a dump on this area, and it shows in the apathy around here.  The 49ers owner is a braindead, cash-grabbing whore who built a new stadium that’s three-parts erector set, one-part office park, and no-parts personality.  And he’s coming off as the more loyal NFL owner out of the two.

Most of the bay area sports fans I know are very unexcited about this Super Bowl.  That’ll only inspire more complaining about street closures and traffic.  The NFL will market the hell out of it to the rest of the country, and I’m sure CBS will find three orphans, five comeback stories, someone somewhere who actually said that the Panthers sucked because, apparently, they feed off the lack of respect.

It’s not a lack of respect.  I respect what the Panthers did this season.  It’s a lack of excitement.  *yawn*

Oh, well, it could be worse.  Imagine if the Cardinals had made it.  Zzzz.