Briggsy reminisces, makes predictions on Super Bowl

THE SKEWED REVIEW | SPORTS & RECREATION

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Before the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers convene in New Orleans on Sunday for Super Bowl XLVII, let’s take a moment to think back on the last time the Super Bowl took place in New Orleans.

The year was 2002 — a time when I was 14 years old, and I was doing 14-year-old things. Tom Brady and the miracle New England Patriots entered the Louisiana Superdome looking to win what would be the first of three Super Bowls. Kurt Warner and the St. Louis Rams came in as the ultimate powerhouse of Stay Puft Marshmallow Man proportions.

The Rams had won the Super Bowl in 2000, and Brady was the Cinderella story of the year. Starting Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe got hurt earlier in the year, and Brady became the starter. No one expected the Patriots to make the playoffs that year under Bledsoe, let alone Brady. Yet, here were the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

After a hard-fought battle, it ended with a game-winning field goal from Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri — launching the start of the Patriots dynasty.

Fast-forward 11 years, and the Super Bowl once again will take place in New Orleans. In addition to that, the Patriots dynasty that started in that city 11 years ago seems to essentially be finished with their recent loss to the Ravens in the AFC Championship game.

The Ravens are led by quarterback Joe Flacco, who’s career seems to be like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s recent film “The Last Stand.”

So often fans and analysts rip Flacco during the regular season, giving many to question whether he’s a legitimate franchise quarterback. Yet Flacco has never missed the playoffs in his five seasons in the league, and has played in the AFC Championship game three times — with of course the most recent being a win over the Patriots to make it to the Super Bowl.

Much like “The Last Stand,” getting through the first hour and 20 minutes is well worth it to see the awesome shootout at the end. Flacco is fun to watch in the playoffs, and this year in particular he’s having a 2011-Dirk-Nowitzki-type postseason, where he just seems destined for greatness.

However, Flacco’s great postseason is being ruined by the fake holiness of The Rev. Ray Lewis. The over/under of how many times Lewis mentions God is his post-game press conference if the Ravens win was set at 3. Thank goodness this will be Lewis’ last game before retirement because I can’t take another year of Ray Lewis features on SportsCenter about his greatness. He’s a phony, and I’m sick of it.

On the 49ers’ side, it’s all about the defense. Navarro Bowman, Patrick Willis, Justin Smith and Aldon Smith will be the key in trying to stop Flacco’s destiny. Ravens’ running back Ray Rice will not be able to run very well against this powerful 49er defense, so it’s up to Flacco to throw against it. And anybody who watched the first half of the 49ers/Falcons NFC Championship game should know that this 49er defense is a little shaky when teams want to throw the football. It’s only when the Falcons decided to get conservative and try to run the clock out that the 49ers made their comeback and won the game.

If Flacco has the kind of game he had against the Denver Broncos a few weeks ago in the divisional round of the playoffs, things could get hairy for the 49ers defensive backs.

Now on to my favorite part of this year’s Super Bowl, and that’s 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, a.k.a. Sleeves (because of his awesome tattoos), a.k.a. Kaeptain America. He took over in the middle of the season because starting quarterback Alex Smith missed time with a concussion. Once Kaepernick stepped in, it was his show from then on (reminiscent to the Tom Brady story in the 2001-2002 football season).

Kaepernick’s breakout game came against the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football when he torched them through the air and with his speed on the ground. This dual-threat quarterback has the chance to be the second dual-threat quarterback to win a Super Bowl. Seriously. We’ve been talking about these guys for years — guys like Michael Vick, Cam Newton, Robert Griffin III, and all the way back to Randall Cunningham. However, the success rate of this type of quarterback winning a championship is slim to none.

The last one (and only one) to win a championship was Steve Young. And of course he played for the 49ers. Perhaps there’s something in the water in San Francisco that gives running quarterbacks the ability to throw the ball well and win championships. Perhaps Barry Bonds’ steroid needles are in the Frisco water. Who knows?

Finally, the most talked about portion of this year’s Super Bowl has been about the two brothers competing against one another as head coaches — John and Jim Harbaugh. John, the coach of the Ravens, and Jim, the coach of the 49ers, are brothers separated by just 15 months. I have two brothers (twins), who are 15 months younger than I am, and then I have another brother who is three and a half years younger than I am. We were competitive growing up, and I usually made it a point when competing to not only beat them at stuff, but also make them look silly. And if I knew I couldn’t beat them at something, then I refused to compete against them.

Don’t underestimate the brother factor here. They love each other dearly, but as an older brother I have to give the edge to older brother John and the Ravens. There’s no way in hell I’d let any of my younger brothers beat me in the most watched event event in the history of television.

Prediction Ravens (+3.5) over 49ers. Vegas is giving the Ravens 3 1/2 points, so I’d take the points with Flacco guiding the Ravens’ offense. And the 49ers’ kicking woes with David Akers make any game-winning field goals in doubt. Throw in the “Screw you, little brother, this is mine” effect, and it’s Ravens all the way.