NFL Super Bowl Prediction: Toddler Style

"Take a knee, everyone," I said, standing in the middle of the living room.

Walden and all his "guys" surrounded me.

Squinting from the mid-morning sunlight rushing through the windows, I surveyed everyone around me.

There was the huge cuddly sheep, originally a humorous gift to his mother, now one of Walden's wrestling partners.

The little frog that says the ABC's, a recent gift from the grandparents, the flaming monkey created from a sock, the quirky Yo Gabba Gabba! crew, the battery-powered yipping cat, among the others. Everyone was there.

"This is what we've been working for. All these weeks of preparation is all for this moment," I began.

Walden let out a quiet "No," but I knew it was more because he can say little else rather than a disagreement about what I was saying.

Knowing I needed to say something memorable, I began to dip into the Vince Lombardi Book of Quotes.

"Some of us will do our jobs well and some will not, but we will be judged by only one thing—the result."

I reminded everyone that their 2-0 record two weeks ago was fantastic and 36-23 was more than respectable. But none of it mattered anymore.

Thinking back to the movie City Slickers, I held up one finger.

"Your one thing this week is to go 1-0."

I looked around the room, making sure to make eye contact with every plush creature and the one actual living being in the room, other than myself.

I then turned and walked away, leaving everyone to ponder what they knew they needed to do.

The task at hand this week is the Super Bowl pick. For two weeks, people have asked, "Who is Walden taking?"

If you've missed the last few weeks, the premise is simple.

The way this system works is Dad, that's me, writes the teams on a piece of paper.

Example: "Steelers at Cardinals"

Then I hand my son the crayon and he makes his selection. The selection is determined by how long he lingers and scribbles on one team's name or the other.

Got it? Good, it's time.

Super Bowl 43 (roman numbers are too tough for an 18-month old), Steelers at Cardinals:

The recent success of one red-feathered bird has led many to believe it should replace the eagle as the national bird.

While that is debated, in the meantime, many across the nation are jumping on the underdog bandwagon of the Arizona Cardinals, led by the country's favorite former-bag-boy-turned-MVP-quarterback Kurt Warner.

Larry Fitzgerald is now America's favorite former-ball-boy-turned-"amazing hands, man"-wide receiver.

This game is the typical West Coast pizazz meets Midwest meat-and-potatoes toughness.

The Steelers name implies toughness and that is exactly what they bring. Hard hits, ignoring injuries, and playing in the cold kind of toughness.

It's been said before that Walden is a tough kid. Right this minute, he's actually trying to rip his arm from its socket. Do you think that's the kind of thing Steelers' safety Troy Polamalu does before a game? I think so.

Walden looked at this game from every angle. We've covered mascots. Hypocycloids vs. cardinals.

What about color scheme?

I encouraged Walden to look at everything. I pushed his study hard. I withheld dinner. I wanted him to be hungry.

Hungry to make the right pick. It's the Super Bowl, after all. He can eat once the game begins. (He likes to dip things, so this will be paradise for him!)

Arizona's colors are red and white. They say there's black also, but you hardly see it. In fact, you could say yellow is a team color, since the beak of the bird is yellow. But we'll stick to two colors and say red and white.

Red is an emotional color as well as the color of love. It's just a few shades from pink and you know what that means. Love is not an emotion felt very often in football.

White is innocent and pure. People that wear white often don't want to get dirty. In football, if you're not dirty, you didn't play very hard.

PIttsburgh's colors are black and gold. White is a secondary color, but it's far from dominant.

Black is the color of authority and power. It's said that priests wear black to imply a submission to God, so you could say black encourages submission. It's also a color that many villains wear. Villains are scary and lots of people fear them.

Gold is often associated with royalty, authority, and wealth.

So you tell me: Love and purity or power and wealth?

Which one wins?

Walden loves his family and his "teammates," but he also loves to win.

Walden's pick: Steelers

Waldenmania has crescendoed. He's worked hard. He's given his all. He's left everything on the table. He's ready.

He's ready to be a champ. He's resting now, before watching it all unfold.