Consolation Prize: Picking a Super Bowl Team if Your Team Isn't Playing

Okay, so chances are approximately 1/16 that the team you root for week-in and week-out made it all the way to the Super Bowl.

If you, like me, are among those who bade farewell to their team’s season long ago, you may be stuck rooting for a team you’re marginally satisfied with making the Super Bowl.

As such, you may not have an incredibly invested interest in who emerges victorious from the biggest sports spectacle in America.

For you, my unfortunate brethren, I write this ode: how to pick your Super Bowl team, even if you just don’t care.

Location

This one’s easy: just pick the team that plays its home games closest to where you live.

It’s not always the most fool-proof, though. Folks from Atlanta rooting for New Orleans could soon find themselves victim of more than a few death stares.

Likewise, folks in the northeast who are rooting for Indianapolis might find headhunters with pitchforks outside their doorstep.

This one’s pretty pointless, and not all that fun or interesting. Unless you plan on driving out to the home team’s Super Bowl parade, there’s really no personal pleasure in this decision.

Which leads me to my next method for picking a Super Bowl team...

Which Team You Hate The Least

Ah, the old “lesser of two evils” tactic.

I’m not sure how anyone could hate the Saints, after all they’ve been through, though fans of their division rivals may find it comforting that the Saints have to beat one of the top three franchises this past decade.

But if you’re a hater of Seyton Manning and the Sindianapolis Colts, then raise your glasses and holler “Whodat!” till your lungs are sore.

Color/logo

Don’t care about any of the players in the game? It doesn’t matter! Just pick the team with the prettiest uniform.

Some might be intrigued by New Orleans’ shiny gold helmets. Others might enjoy the simplicity of a white helmet and blue jersey.

A female co-worker of mine chose the Saints because their logo is the Fleur-de-lis. No other reason. What more would you expect from a girl with absolutely zero interest in sports?

Whatever floats your boat, pick it and stick with it!

Story/history

If you have a little free time on your hands between now and Super Bowl Sunday, read up on the teams. Believe it or not, Wikipedia is actually a pretty good source of information for the history of any team in the NFL.

Many people are already on board with the Saints for their drastic turnaround from the ‘Aints of years past.

Who, though, wouldn’t be enchanted by their symbolic connection to Hurricane Katrina? They do, after all, play in the Louisiana Superdome, which housed thousands upon thousands of New Orleans natives during the horrific natural disaster.

To top off all those effected by Katrina, both teams feature one player with family in Haiti: Colts wide receiver Pierre Garçon and Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma.

As for the Colts? Perhaps you can appreciate one of the game’s best quarterbacks going for a second trophy to further adorn his already illustrious career.

And to top it off, they’re being led by only the fourth African-American coach to ever make it to the Super Bowl, in his rookie year no less. This is only three years after former Colts head coach Tony Dungy became the first African-American head coach ever to make it to the big game.

Well-founded reasons to root for either team. Which one tugs harder at your heartstrings?

Your (Other) Favorite Players

Most true fans have players of interest even on teams they don’t root for.

Certain competitors exude the charisma that calls for nothing short of your fullest support. Both teams play with such an intense level of heart that it’s easy to find these type of players on the Super Bowl rosters. Diminutive quarterback Drew Brees gets his team riled up before every game, chanting at the top of his lungs, barking like a wild animal ready to ravage his opponent.

Sometimes, however, people follow athletes who were successful on the college level at their favorite schools.

Let’s face it: in this day of digital media, athletes are hardly contained to that single-word description any longer. They are role models and media personalities, asked to smile for cameras, sign autographs, and kiss babies on as frequent of a basis as our President.

When a favorite player doesn’t boil down to stats, style of play, what team they play for, or where they went to college, it could be based on media image.

Colts quarterback Peyton Manning is a media darling; from Saturday Night Live to Sony commercials to Visa and so many more that slip my memory at the moment, Manning can be seen on television sets across America even outside the uniform that gave him so much fame in the first place.

Saints running back Reggie Bush, on the other hand, is fiancée to the famed dame Kim Kardashian. Girls want him, guys want to be him. The ultra-talented former Heisman Trophy-winning running back hasn’t exactly lit up the media outside his relationship with Kardashian, but he has starred in a couple of funny commercials.

The Spread

Everyone loves an underdog. It’s a story of a team or person who was never supposed to make it as far as they did, and isn’t supposed to have a fighting chance against their opponent. Yet somehow, by magic or tactic, they find a way to come out on top.

Some people, however, want to see things play out the way they’re “supposed to” and would rather see the favorite walk away with the win. Although there’s always hope for the feeble hero, some people might take pleasure in seeing utter dominance prevail. Fans of the sport may call those people “bandwagoners” but really, it’s all personal preference.

And at that point, is there such thing as someone who’s not a bandwagoner?

Conclusion

By no stretch of the imagination am I telling you to bet money based on any of the selections made by these methods. This is more for the purpose of personal enjoyment.

If all else fails, pick the team that everyone you're watching the game with is rooting for so they don't beat you up. Or choose against the team everyone is rooting for so you can rub it in their face when your team wins. Just watch out if your team loses, though...

Here’s hoping everyone has a happy Super Bowl Sunday!