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As I am writing this rant we are about a week and a half into the two-week hiatus between the NFL conference championship games and the Super Bowl. I am already starting to fall into my off-season depression and facing the prospect of having to watch arena football and reruns on the NFL Network.

Adding to my depression was the “Pro-Bowl” game played this last Sunday in beautiful Hon-a-roo-roo, Hawaii. It is obvious that these guys only go there for the free vacation and perks for themselves, their families, and assorted hangers-on. The efforts put forth by the players on the field were atrocious. I’ve seen better action when, back in the day, I played flag football for the Jester’s Lounge in Aurora, Colo. In case anyone is interested, it turned out to be a real defensive battle and the AFC beat the NFC by a score of 59 to 41. You have got to be kidding! That is not a professional football score, it’s a college basketball score.

In an effort to increase the intensity of play, the NFL offered $50,000 to each player on the winning team and $25,000 to each losing player. Here again, are you kidding me? These jock-strappy millionaires pay more than that in fines for illegal hits and uniform violations. I say it should be a “winner-take-all” format and make the losers pay back the “all-expenses-paid” perks for them and theirs.

The two weeks between the conference championships and the Super Bowl are filled with predictions, player evaluations, and human interest stories ad nauseam. Every sportscaster, pundit, analyst, and ex-jock with a microphone will be discussing, discoursing, disagreeing, disparaging, disputing, and even dissecting the teams, the coaches, the players, and the fans.

Who is the better head coach? New England’s Bill Bellichick is appearing in his fifth Super Bowl and has already won three. His overall record as a professional head coach is 192-103-0. New York’s Tom Coughlin will be in his second Super Bowl as a head coach and, in Super Bowl XLII, his Giants beat Bellichick’s previously undefeated Patriots. His overall record is 139-110-0.

Who is the better quarterback? Tom Brady has played 12 years in the pros, has won three Super Bowls and was MVP of two of them. Eli Manning has been a professional for eight years, has won one Super Bowl (against Brady), and was MVP of that game.

Who is the better quarterback in the Manning family. The father, Elisha Archibald “Archie” Manning played from 1971 to 1984 for the Saints, the Oilers, and the Vikings. Eli’s older brother, Peyton has played for the Baltimore Colts for 14 years and has one Super Bowl win where he was the MVP. He has four NFL MVP awards and has been selected as an NFL All-Pro 11 times. Younger brother, Eli, has already been discussed above. Oh, by the way, the Mannings’ eldest son, Cooper, would probably have been an All-Pro wide receiver except that his athletic career was cut short by a condition called “spinal stinosis.”

Will the Baltimore Colts draft Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck in the first pick of the upcoming NFL draft? If so, will he be willing to understudy under Peyton Manning for a year or two? Will Peyton get medical clearance to play football by March 8 when his 28 million-dollar option bonus will be due and payable. Can Colts owner, Jim Irsay, afford to pay Peyton’s huge salary plus option bonus plus Luck’s huge signing bonus and salary and still have lunch money left?

We should all be thankful that the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers both lost those aforementioned conference championship games. I say this because John Harbaugh is the head coach of the Ravens and his younger brother, Jim Harbaugh, is the head coach of the 49ers. They are the first brothers to ever be head coaches in the National Football League and the human interest stories for these two weeks would have been overbearing. They would have been as bad, or worse, as the media overkill on Tim Tebow (bless his orange-crush heart).

Think about it! Jack and Jackie Harbaugh have three children — John, Jim, and Joani. Everything in their house was monogrammed “J.H.” Jack played college football, played some professional ball, and coached high school and college football for 35 years. John played college football, spent 22 years coaching at various universities and the Philadelphia Eagles. Jim played college football, played 13 years in the pros, and was Head Coach at Stanford University. Joani didn’t play college football but she did marry the head basketball coach at Indiana University. Jackie didn’t play college football either — her main job has been keeping the scrapbooks and dusting the trophies for her husband and kids.

When the 49ers and the Ravens played each other on Thanksgiving Day this year, the media dubbed it the “Harbaugh Bowl.” This was the day after Jack and Jackie celebrated their 50th anniversary and they watched the game from an office in the stadium to avoid camera exposure. If anybody cares, big brother’s Ravens beat little brother’s 49ers, 16-6.

The Harbaughs are often compared to the Ryans. Buddy Ryan coached for many years in the NFL and his twin sons, Rex and Rob, both coach in the NFL. However, there are two distinct differences: (1)Rex is a head coach (N.Y. Jets) but Rob is only a defensive coordinator (Dallas Cowboys); (2) The Harbaughs are winners!

This Super Bowl is Number XLVI (that’s 10 from 50 plus 5 plus 1 = 46). It must have been really tough for those old Romans to do Algebra with a numbers system like that. By the time this rant appears, the hooplah will be over but here are my bold predictions: the Budweiser Clydesdales and the E-Trade Baby will be the best commercials; Madonna will not have a wardrobe malfunction (she will have dressed that way on purpose); the Giants will win the coin toss and elect to kick off; and the final score will be Giants - 23, Patriots - 20.

See ya...

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Dick Platt is a Daily Sun columnist. Want to “Soundoff” on this column? Email: soundoff@corsicanadailysun.com