John's Super Bowl pick

The big game is finally here. As you may have heard, close to 100 million are going to be watching the Patriots and Giants on Sunday, and the stakes couldn't be higher — will I finish the postseason above .500. So far, I'm 5-5 and if I pick the Super Bowl correctly, I'll go home a winner, and if I miss I'm going to have to live with it until September.

Since, like me, you're probably tired of listening to everybody and their brother break this game down and give you their picks, I'm going to keep this pretty short.

NY GIANTS @ NEW ENGLAND (in Arizona, of course)
I like being right. Hell, who doesn't? This season, I've picked the Patriots to win 18 times, and 18 times I've been right. Why in the world would I change that now?

I've enjoyed listening to people (analysts, fools that call into sports radio talk shows) talk themselves into the Giants winning this game. They mostly point to Brady's ankle and the tough game the Giants gave the Pats in the regular season finale. First off, if you think Brady is going to be anywhere except at the top of his game for a Super Bowl (where his team has a chance to finish 19-0) then you're more than a little crazy. Also, look for his offensive line to be extra protective even if he's a little hurt.

As for the second point — congratulations Giants! You proved that you can ALMOST beat the Patriots. Seriously though, that final regular season game was pretty much the best the Giants could possibly play against the Patriots, and they lost. Now imagine the Giants playing the best they could possibly play and the Patriots playing the best they could possibly play, which I expect because the Pats are a team that has played a ton of big games already, and they're now going into the biggest game of their lives.

So if both teams play their absolute best (which isn't unreasonable to expect), who do you like? That's what I thought.

The pick: New England 45 New York 20

Super Bowl MVP: (surprise) Tom Brady