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By Justin Brisson

We are now just over a week removed from Super Bowl XLV, and I’ve had plenty of time to reflect on what transpired during the game.  Boy, have we been lucky lately.  This year’s championship marked the fourth such enthralling game in a row.  In 2008, the rebel New York Football Giants wrecked the New England Patsies’ hopes of going 19-0 on an incredible fourth-quarter touchdown drive.  The following year, we were given the great pleasure of watching the Arizona Cardinals come up just barely short of achieving the unlikely, thanks to an insane fourth-quarter touchdown pass from Ben Roethlisberger to Santonio Holmes.  Last year, the New Orleans Saints bore the city on their back en route to the team’s first Super Bowl championship.  Cornerback Tracy Porter sealed the deal with a late TAINT that all but put Peyton Manning, er, I mean, the Indianapolis Colts out of their misery.  Then, miraculously, the football gods graced NFL fandom with another nail-biter.

Oh, John. You make the world smile.

For once, the experts were right.  For whatever reason, most people on sports syndicates predicted that Aaron Rodgers would lead the Green Bay Packers to a close victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Undoubtedly you will see people on television gloat about their correct prediction for the next year.  I guarantee you there would be no mention of it by most, however, if those same men and women picked the Steelers.

My prediction, naturally, was wrong.  If I side with my brain, my gut feeling ends up with the honor of being correct.  If I side with my gut feeling, my brain is given the distinction.  Welp, if you can’t beat yourself, beat someone else!  So ha-ha John Clayton — I knew the Steelers wouldn’t want to go four- and five-wide all day!  I told you they should run, run, run!  So there!  Take that….

By Justin Brisson

Troy Polamalu is the most valuable defensive player in the NFL, but he wasn’t the player of the year.

Polamalu may not be 100 percent on Sunday.

I was rather surprised to learn yesterday that Polamalu won the Associated Press 2010 NFL Defensive Player of the Year award.  As ESPN’s Adam Schefter said, it’s somewhat of a lifetime achievement award for Polamalu considering he’s never won the award before.  He’s been one of the best players at any position for a handful of seasons now.  But the last time I checked, the DPOY award isn’t actually a lifetime achievement award.

Sure, Polamalu is deserving of the honor, but not at the expense of guys who had better years for their respective teams.  Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews and Chicago Bears defensive end Julius Peppers were the best defensive players in 2010.  While most people would have voted for Matthews, it is my understanding that if the award was given out by NFL players, they would have selected Peppers.  Matthews definitely had the better year statistically, but the players will tell you that Peppers impacted the game immensely even when he wasn’t picking up good numbers.

Also, why was there no love for Miami Dolphins linebacker Cameron Wake?  I don’t care if he’s a household name or not, this guy played with just as much of a mean streak as anybody in 2010.  Did you see Wake play this season?  He dominated even some of the best offensive lines in the league, notching one sack against New England in Week 4 and two against the Jets in Week 14.

So why vote Polamalu as the DPOY?  I would call Polamalu the defensive MVP, but that is not what the award represents.  I suppose this is a philosophical question on how awards should be looked at when voting.  But if you asked me, Matthews deserved the nod instead of Polamalu, and I’m pretty positive he’s going to use that as even more motivation for the Super Bowl.  Matthews doesn’t need any more motivation, but he just keeps getting disrespected.  I would hate to try to block him on Sunday — he’s probably going to be bloodthirsty.

By Justin Brisson

The majority of male Americans are addicted to sports.  I don’t have to have an intervention to know that I have a problem.  I don’t just want to watch, discuss and analyze sports — it’s a necessity. For Americans, I believe this reverence for sport is due to one major factor that sets it apart from almost every other institution in the world:  sports take place on a level playing field of competition.

Or at least they are supposed to occur on a level playing field.  In war, enemies don’t give a damn about their opponent — and the battles being fought can mean life or death for thousands of lives.  In politics, opposing parties try their best to slander their opponents.  In social life, the myth of a level playing field is laughable at best.  If every tax-paying citizen had the same opportunities, then there wouldn’t be an increasing financial gap between the upper and lower classes of society.

Success fluctuates, but dedication is constant.

But in sports, the same set of rules for all players, coaches and teams, means the same opportunity for everyone.  Americans are particular suckers for this idea of common equality because of the many struggles the nation has faced in its short existence.  The sporting world was originally the materialization of the virtue of equality.  Every man could attend a sporting event, and anybody could succeed, no matter what background you came from. This kind of “build your own legacy” mentality is as American as apple pie, hate crimes and Tumblr.

Unfortunately, like the idea of complete social equality, the idea of a level playing field for all athletes is more of an idealistic notion than an actual reality.  Yes, the rules of each sport are applied to every team in every game, but not even the rules are applied consistently.  Referees are just as human as the athletes and the spectators.  Judgment calls are made in every game in every sport, and not every official interprets rules the same.

If every team had the same owner, the same fan market, had the same players, played the same schedule and was based in the same location, then everything would be equal.  Every owner has a different business model that he applies to the functioning of his organization.  Every city has its own unique fan base.  Each team has different players with their own attitudes, abilities and ideas.  And in most sports, each team plays a different schedule than every other team.

Sports fans face an increasingly tough reality — that not all is created equal.