Super Bowl Preview (sort of) and more

Three questions, answered by Jared and Jered from The Chanticleer:

Who is more dislikable, the Patriots or Giants? Also, give a prediction for the game.

Staubs: Similar to the presidential election that will soon be contested in this country, the Super Bowl is - for me, at least - a matter of hoping for the lesser of two evils.
I can’t stand Boston fans - expect a column on that sometime in February - and I like rooting for the underdog. But I’d root for the Taliban against the Giants.
OK, that was probably in bad taste, considering the Giants’ location. Oh wait, they don’t actually play in New York. That would make too much sense. (How does Artie Moreno get crucified for calling his team the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and New Jersey doesn’t even campaign for the Giants to be called the New York Giants of New Jersey?)
But here’s the thing. I couldn’t root for this guy under any circumstances. I still can’t forgive him for the total weasel-move he pulled on the Chargers a couple years ago.
I love that the Chargers have been better than the Giants every year since, including this year. Meanwhile, Archie is Richard Williams-level unlikable.
Peyton has personality. I don’t like the Colts, but I was happy for Peyton when he won the Super Bowl last year.
You can tell Peyton wouldn’t be the guy who wanted to come back from Vegas a day early because he's out $500. Eli's that guy. His interviews are horrible, and sometimes I wonder if his dad is holding up cue cards.
The only guy I even remotely liked on the Giants was Shockey, and he’s hurt. He’ll be missed against the Patriots, because a big-time TE is one of the few ways to exploit them.
Anyway, the teams who have proven to be great over the course of a season - 1985 Bears, 1990 Niners, mid-90’s Cowboys - have made statements when playing an obviously inferior team in the Super Bowl. I expect nothing less from the Pats here, especially now that there is no reason to save anything.
A couple Manning mistakes, the fact that Bellichick doesn't lose with an extra week of preparation (or any other time really), and I can see this one being over really early. The 4th quarter will only matter to those playing square boards.
41-14 New England.

Gravette: This is an easy question for me to answer. It's the Patriots. First of all, they are undefeated and have won the Super Bowl three times in the last six years. Nobody likes that kind of dominance. It's boring.
Second of all, they cheat. Does anybody remember Spygate? All I hear about is the pursuit of perfection. That's garbage. They should have had to forfeit their week one contest against the Jets.
But the biggest reason that the Pats are more dislikable, for me, is Tom Brady. He acts like the world owes him something because he was the 199th player taken in the draft. We all know you're good Tom, but why do you have to be so cocky?
As for my prediction of who will win the Super Bowl, I am going with the G-Men in a close one.
34-31.

Staubs: There should be a special layer of hell for people who use the term ____gate. C'mon, Gravette. You're better than that. And Tom Brady's ratio of cockiness to deserved cockiness (where Freddie Mitchell checks in at a perfect 10 and John Stockton is a 1) is about a 2.5. If I had accomplished what he has (on and off the field), I'd probably get tennis elbow from patting myself on the back.
Oh, one other thing. It’s high comedy that only 59.5 percent of espn.com voters are picking the Patriots to win this game. Umm, they’re 18-0 and played their toughest two playoff games the past two weeks, winning both without too much trouble.
Now they’re supposed to stumble against the Giants, because New York fluked a couple wins over highly flawed teams from a greatly inferior conference? Yeah, OK.

Which new Texas coordinator will be more greatly missed by their former Alabama school?

Staubs: I’ll give you an actual quote from my friend who attends the University of Alabama.
“As a student at the university, I haven’t talked to one person who was upset with the departure of Major Applewhite.”
As we all know, anyone who likes the University of Alabama is incompetent, and therefore the very opposite of an expert on the subject.
But seriously, here’s the thing. Muschamp was a quality defensive coordinator. He’ll do fine at Texas. But there was no noticeable difference in his defenses and Chizik’s, and this Paul Rhoads will pick up where he left off.
Actually, considering Pitt’s joke of an offense last year, the work Rhoads did with that defense may have been as impressive as what any coordinator did with their respective unit.
Anyway, Applewhite is the real deal. His creative genius was hampered by the fact that both he and Saban were (rightly) petrified of putting the game in JPW’s hands.
But look what he did at Rice, when he actually had a QB with the talent to start at a Division-I school.
You say, “But that was at Rice.” Yeah, it was. But here’s the thing. In 2005, Rice went 1-10 and scored 241 points. In 2006, Applewhite was there. He took an option offense and turned Chase Clement - drafted as more of a running QB - into one of the most efficient passing QBs in the nation.
Oh yeah, Dillard became an All-American and Rice went to a bowl game for the first time since 1961.
As an Oklahoma fan, I’m legitimately terrified of the Applewhite Era (assuming he eventually becomes OC, which I would assume is a mortal lock). Luckily, Mack Brown - and hopefully, his idiot stepson - will still be on the sidelines screwing things up.
Which brings me to a larger point … how could Applewhite go coach for the guy who stabbed him in the back when he played there? Truly amazing.

Gravette: I'm going to argue that Will Muschamp will be sorely missed by the Auburn Tigers. During his two seasons as defensive coordinator on the Plains, Muschamp's defense was one of the best in the country.
In 2006, the Tigers ranked seventh nationally in scoring defense. In 2007, Auburn ranked sixth in the same category.
Against Arkansas, the Tigers held the nation's top running back, Darren McFadden, to only 43 yards.
As for Applewhite, I'm glad to see him go. I'm an Alabama fan, and I was getting pretty fed up with Applewhite calling running plays on first and second down only to have to pass on third and long. He was too predictable.

Should the word "Super" be inserted/re-inserted in front of the San Diego Chargers and Seattle Sonics' team names?

Gravette: I'm going to answer this question a little differently. With the Chargers, it's a yes for me. Just to hear Chris Berman say, "San Diego Super Chargers" makes my day that much better.
Plus the Chargers do have LaDainian Tomlinson, Antonio Gates, and Shawne Merriman. In my opinion, these three are the best in football at their respective positions.
They are nothing short of super.
As for the Sonics, there is nothing super about them. Other than Kevin Durant, they've got nothing.

Staubs: I literally have nothing to add.

Introduction

We, the sports staff of The Chanticleer will use this blogspot to discuss current events in the sporting world. Our mainstay will be a debate on a few topics in a back and forth manner.

Until next time, we leave you with this.

MLP RULES!