Super Bowl XLIII

Well, it's upon us. The most important game of the year. The reason you bought an HD TV.

For the third time since Hunter S. Thompson's timely demise, I am attempting to fill the void he has created by voicing my opinion on this year's Big Game. So far, I am 1-1, and last year's defeat has cost me huge.

Football, unlike hockey, basketball and baseball, holds its Final in a one-game Super event. And, like on any given Sunday, anything can happen. We saw that last year, when the New York Giants, who had barely made the playoffs, beat the perfect-season-having New England Patriots in the final minutes of the game.

Again this year, a true underdog, the Arizona Cardinals, face off against the heavily-favoured Pittsburgh Steelers, who are going for a league-leading sixth title with the best defense in the league. And, apparently, defense wins championships. Even Barack Obama is rooting for the Steelers - they can't lose.

But they will. In a best-of-seven series, yes, the cream eventually likely rises to the top, but in a winner-takes-all one-game finale, the team that wants it the most and that commits the fewest mistakes wins. And after over a hundred years of messing up, these guys know this is their only chance at ever winning a Super Bowl.

They have a Super Bowl MVP in Kurt Warner, and an unstoppable force in receiver Larry Fitzgerald. Warner is far superior to his overrated adversary Big Ben Roethlisberger, and no one will be able to touch Fitzgerald, who broke an old Jerry Rice record just last week. Yes, he is that good.

The Steelers' only hope is to get through the Cardinals' offensive line and injure Warner. If he has even a second to find Fitzgerald, the game could turn ugly very fast. Most Las Vegas bookies are giving the Steelers a 6-to-10 point edge in the spread. Worst case scenario is you'll need it, and that would make it a nice, tight game in which logic and common wisdom will have prevailed.

But if all goes well, Cinderella will realize that the shoe fits and we'll have an interesting and spectacular game instead, one that will make a betting man rich.