Predict the NFL Super Bowl Champ. Win Big, Big Prizes*!

An interesting article on the subject from Time.com

Is there any way such risks can be avoided given the nature of the game and the audience?

Starting linemen from a standing position would be a start. Severe penalties for the purposeful head butt.

They are investigating helmets with a new, different shape that are supposed to cut down on this drastically.

Cycloptichorn

First--define "standing position". And how many snaps would result in sacks?

And think of the absence of the display of bottoms in tights.

There was a story on NPR this morning involving the star and captain of the Pakistani cricket team. Correct me if I am wrong regarding details of the scandal, Spendi.
Pitchers (if that is what they are called) routinely and legally moisten the ball with spit or sweat and shine parts of it up on their trousers. This gives them the ability to throw what would be in baseball a curve ball that is harder to hit.
It is "poor cricket" to make any scratches in the ball with, say, fingernails or a bottle cap.
The player from Pakistan was caught on camera (ready for this): ...biting...into...the...ball.
The match was against, I believe, AUS. But the Indian media (India and Pakistan don't get along well) made a really big deal of it, showing the incident over and over on television.
The offending player escaped with a two-match suspension.

no, i think you are on the right track pursuing baseball.
statistically your career will be longer (less chance of injury), and i believe the average baseball player makes more $$ than his football brethren.

of course you'd also be playing practically every day for 6 months, travelling a lot, and devouring a gazillion sun-flower seeds, Seed...

That's ridiculously oversimplified Johnnie. If I have a couple of hours to spare tomorrow I might take it upon myself to explain the rudiments of the bowler's dark arts.

But don't count on it.

Top class batsmen would smack curved balls into the crowd about 99% of the time. Shahid Afridi's error was being caught on camera. I presume the ball was doing nothing either in the air or off the pitch.

Why do NFL players squeeze air out of the ball?

I am a simple person, Spendi. What do I know about many things? Including bowler's chewing on cricket balls.
(The story, by the way was on NPR's Morning Edition on Wed, reported by Phillip Reeves from India. He is, I think a Brit. You can check my reporting if you have the time.)

It might have been an over simple explanation of the art of bowling, but then again RJB was just giving a recap of something he heard

My goal at this point, Seed, is to try to keep this thread as active as I can until the action starts on Sunday. I have, I think, learned how to do that sort of thing over the years. I brought up Peyton's millions and that generated a few comments. Cricket and a bowler biting the ball? I thought that would draw some quips. Nothing from anyone yet except Spendi.
I think I understand his sense of humour. But perhaps not.

Yea I guess you're right.

Salary caps... pros cons thoughts?

For the first time in a long time, I haven't bought any Super Bowl squares.
I usually play small-time, a couple or three squares at ten bucks or so a square.

Anybody here buy squares?
What numbers did you get?
I always seem to wind up with a 2 or an 8.

Anti-evolutionary I would think.

I rehearsed describing a cricket bowler's job description in my head last night but gave it up as a bad job.

Of course that's ridiculously oversimplified.

Here is something we can discuss: how each of us make our predictions.

I always use an automated football simulator to make my predictions.

The post goes well with the signature, JW.

My method:
1. Always pick the Patriots.
2. Never pick the Giants or the Jets unless they are playing each other, and in
that case pick the Jets.
3. Look at the match-ups and pick the obvious mis-matches.
4. Read a couple of sports-oriented websites and go with whatever predictions
sound well thought-out.
5. Play a couple or three hunches.

I'd've done better with that vibrating football game.

What do you mean squares?

The way it works, you make a 10x10 grid, giving you 100 squares. Across
the top you write one team's name, let's say "Colts". Down the side you write
the other team's name, let's say "Saints". Next you "sell" the squares to
people. So maybe I buy the third square in the fourth row and the second
square in the ninth row. You buy the fifth square in the sixth row and the
seventh square in the eighth row. Eventually all the other squares are sold to
other people. We each have our names written in our squares, and everyone
has tossed $10 into the pot for each square we bought, making a pot of
$1,000.

The squares now look like this:


Now we put the numbers 0 through 9 into a hat and draw them out
randomly. As we do so we write them across the top, one number over
each column. We put the numbers back and du the same thing down the
side.

The squares now look like this:

The numbers match to the last number in a team's scor for each quarter
and for the final. So I have the squares for Colts 1/Saints 7 and for
Colts 5/Saints 5. You have Colts 9/Saints 4 and Colts 7/Saints 9.

The payout is $200 per quarter and $200 final score. At the end of the first
quarter the score is tied 7-7. Neither of us wins. But after the second
quarter, it's Colts 21, Saints 7. I win $200! At the end of the third it's
Colts 21, Saints 20 and again neither of us wins. But the final score is
Colts 27, Saints 29. You get $400, $200 each for fourth quarter and
final score.