SimonOnSports

Breakin it Down is usually 5 key stories plus a pick for each postseason game. But for the Super Bowl we'll do 5 keys for the Cardinals and Steelers and a post for what I think will occur. Pre Game Activity of Choice Drinking and Eating on repeat. Beer of Choice Typically Cold Beer is the beer of choice. However, after delicously taste testing free beer at the Harpoon Brewery in Boston, I think I will start the evening by cracking open a Leviathon Imperial IPA which weighs in at 10% Alcohol by Volume which equals delicousness. Snack of Choice So many snacks to choose from on Super Bowl sunday but I'm going with the pre-made frozen pop 'em in the oven delicousness of Bagel Bites. I don't think you can ever really go wrong with these things. Half Time Activities Not listening to the Boss. Doing anything but listening to the Boss. Hopefully, doing something involving beverages delicious golden beverages. The Rooting Interests Right now I really could care less who wins...

Bullpen catcher Mike Borzello, giving his assessment of the first throwing session for Kei Igawa, the Japanese import the Yankees brought in for $46 million to compete with the Sox' signing of Dice-K Matsuzaka: "I hope he's either seriously hurt or badly hung over, so there's an explanation for throwing like that." [The Yankee Years by Joe Torre] You have to be pretty bad for the Bullpen catcher to know you're terrible when he first catches you.

The Super Bowl is full of wonderfully meaningless prop bets. So let's lay the imaginary dollars out on the table and pick them. How many types of food will the rotund NBC analyst (John Madden) mention during the game? Under 1.5 times, just don't think food will be on the big guys mind. What Color of Gatorade will be dumped on the coach? Yellow, lemon/lime is delicious Will Jennifer Hudson take longer than 2 minutes to sing the national Anthem? Yes, it will be painful Which song will the Boss open his halftime show with? Born to Run I guess, who cares. Will the game's first TD result in a spike, back flip or muscle flex? Spike its simple Which Player Will Score? Spikey Haired Reed Will There Be a Safety? No, what a dumb bet Who Wins the Coin Toss? The Cardinals Obviously Will Anheuser-Busch (nyse: BUD - news - people ) show more ads for Bud or Bud Light? Going for the Bud Light Underdog Which Super Bowl commercial will have a higher rating on USA Today's annual Ad Met...

BOOOOO BOOOOO BOOOOO. What 22 and 10 isn't good enough? Big Al is one of only three players in the NBA to currently hold those lofty numbers. So what if his team sucks. They're improving, ha. Instead of Al Jefferson we get the same old cast of characters . Shaq, who has played significantly less games and minutes than Big Al and is averaging 18 and 9. David West, who gets the benefit of playing with Chris Paul on a daily basis and not Randy Foye is averaging 20 and 7. Pau Gasol who is on one of the best teams in the NBA, probably because of Kobe, is averaging 17 and 9. Snooze Snooze Snooze. Give me Big Al.

Thanks to the glorious production at Pro Football Reference , you can now search through every Super Bowl play ever (somebody was obviously bored). Anyway I put together a little spreadsheet of all the 4th downs attempted in the history of the Super Bowl. Why? Boredom and curiousity. The second tab has a little sum up.

It's PhotoHunt Time. Take a look at the pictures and see if you can figure out where the 5 differences are. Click on the Image to get a larger view if needed. Then when you are done check out the answers linked below. ANSWERS

Once Roddick sees Federer line up on the opposite side of the court, the result is painfully obvious. The two have played 18 total times in their careers and only twice has Roddick come away with a victory (once last year during Federer's ugly start). The two have met 7 times in Grand Slams now, and only two of those 7 times has Roddick even managed to take a set from the master. Coming into the Thursday night semi-final match, Roddick arguably might have been in the best shape of his life. He may have been playing the best tennis of his life as well, having breezed to the semifinals which included a beat down of Novak in the quarters. But all that great play and great conditioning are futile as soon as a rally starts against Federer. Federer out classes Roddick and out smarts him on almost every rally. He darts to the net to put away points, where as Roddick often tentatively charges unable to commit to his shots due to fear. Roddick's serve which puzzles and dominates th...

In an effort to make it easier to calculate just how poorly you get paid in comparison to Major League Baseball Players, ESPN has developed Salary Crunch . Salary Crunch gives you the ability to establish just how much work some of your favorite MLB players have to do in order to make your salary. So say you make 62,000 dollars a year (aka me-ish), Krod makes that for every out he records. Weeeee, see how good that makes you feel about yourself. He can throw one pitch and make my entire yearly salary. Ok Let's have fun with a generic salary, say 400K because I bet important people make 400K in a year. Only 70 years as an important person and you too can make Arod's yearly salary. Well that's simple enough.

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

It's PhotoHunt Time. Take a look at the pictures and see if you can figure out where the 5 differences are. Click on the Image to get a larger view if needed. Then when you are done check out the answers linked below. ANSWERS

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

Today I turn 26, which by my calculations puts me at slightly above 1/6th of my projected lifespan thanks to my wealth and modern technology. Anyway, I got some wonderful birthday wishes from some of my favorite people.

"UConn is 16-1 when Thabeet has a double double." UConn is 18-1 this season. So UConn is undefeated when Thabeet does not get a double double? Is that the point you were trying to make? Oh and Thabeet only has 8 double doubles, I'm confused.

Breakin it Down is usually 5 key stories plus a pick for each postseason game. But for the Super Bowl we'll do 5 keys for the Cardinals and Steelers and a post for what I think will occur. Mistake Free Cheeseburger Three games in a row with no turnovers for the Three Day Old Cheeseburger? It sounds impossible, but if it is accomplished the Steelers will walk home with the Vince Lombardi trophy. Limit the Wideout Damage You aren't going to stop Fit, Boldin and Breaston but you have to do something to frustrate and limit them. Essentially they need to pick and choose wisely who and when to double. Any of the wideouts at any time can break away for a massive play and it is imperative for the Steelers to limit that. I'd suggest breaking Boldin's face, that worked for the Jets, but I'm not sure how possible that is. Pound the Rock The Cardinals have shockingly shut down their opponents run game in three straight games, where the hell did that come from? Willy Parker...

Breakin it Down is usually 5 key stories plus a pick for each postseason game. But for the Super Bowl we'll do 5 keys for the Cardinals and Steelers and a post for what I think will occur. Protect the Warner The Warner has yet to turn into the turnover machine that he can become. He has continued to play like the MVP Warner of the Rams. But the underlying heroes of it all have been the offensive line who have given the Warner ample time to set up and hit his targets. If the Cards can keep the dirt off Warner's back and give him ample time again, he will make the Steelers pay. Get the Edge on the Edge In order to give the line a little bit of help, someone whether it be Edge or Hightower needs to get the rushing game going or at least the threat of a rushing game. If the Steelers continuously get the Cards into 3rd and long, than Troy is going to be celebrating a Pick 6. Expose the Fitzie Advantage I don't care if the Steelers double Fitzgerald on every play there will...

It's PhotoHunt Time. Take a look at the pictures and see if you can figure out where the 5 differences are. Click on the Image to get a larger view if needed. Then when you are done check out the answers linked below. ANSWERS

Let's take a quick look at the vast differences of how the coaches exited their planes when they arrived in Tampa. Ken Wisenhunt What He Most Resembles: A Senator on a Diplomatic Mission Most Impressive Attire Attribute: The United State Pin (just guessing that's there somewhere) What He Exudes: Conservatism, stuffiness, rich white guyness The Words Most Likely to Come Out of His Mouth: Lies Mike Tomlin What He Most Resembles: Puff Daddy in the Been Around the World Video Most Impressive Attire Attribute: The Spiked Hankerchief What He Exudes: Confidence, Coolness, Style The Words Most Likely to Come Out of His Mouth: Lyrics from a Biggie Smalls Track WINNER VIA TKO: Mike Tomlin

Over the next week and a half I'll be charting out the progressions of some of the Super Bowl Records. Why? Because we all want to learn. The reception record has only been set on three different occasions. First, like all receiving records, Max McGee set the standard with 7 receptions in Super Bowl I. In Super Bowl III George Sauer reset the standard at 8 receptions in the Jets upset victory. This record stood for 13 years until Dan Ross caught 11 passes from Ken Anderson in their loss in Super Bowl XVI. This record has never been exceeded and has only been matched three times. First of course by the great Jerry Rice in Super Bowl XXIII and then by two Patriots, Deion Branch in Super Bowl XXXIX and Wes Welker last year in Super Bowl XLII. Check Out Additional Super Bowl Records

I'm Going To Do Un-Speakable Things to You Ball PPPPUUUUUUUSSSSSHHHHH RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGEEEEEEE This is Gentle Dokic I'm Gonna Gut You With a Cleaver I STRIKE WITH FULL HATRED OF YOUR SOUL PIRATE DOKIC AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I think she might be dangerous...