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Folks, I can’t believe we’ve already reached this point.
We are mere days away from Super Bowl Sunday and that means two things: we are approaching the end of football season, as well as the end of this year’s Can Connor Cover? series.
I had a lot more fun writing the column this year than I had in year’s past. Only picking five games allowed me to really take the time to flesh out my introductions and make them the best they could be. I hope you all enjoyed reading as much as I did writing.
Now, I sit here on a cold February day, waiting for the final football of the season. If you told me back in September that the Seahawks and Patriots would be the final two teams standing, I probably would have laughed in your face. Although, if you had told me a 16-0 Indiana team would beat Miami for a national championship just weeks before, I probably would have tried to get you institutionalized. Shows how much I know.
Before we pick the big game, we have one more intro to write. Ironically, even though we are just days away from crowning an NFL champion, as I sit here and type, football is probably the last thing on my mind.
I blame the Bears. For many years, my team would be absent from the playoffs, allowing me to treat it as a second season. I could find a new team to cheer for, new teams to cheer against, and with the Bears completely out of the picture, I didn’t feel any guilt doing so.
This year, on the other hand, is a different story.
With the pride and joy of Illinois finally playing some meaningful postseason football, everything flipped for me. I did still watch all of the other games intently, but through a completely different perspective. Everything was through the eyes of “how does this affect the Bears.” Any team that won, any player that got injured, all of it. I was looking at everything through orange and navy tinted glasses.
When the magical ride was over and my boys lost to the Rams, a lot of wind escaped my sails. Yes, I still watched both championship games, and while the NFC championship in particular was a great game, the juice was missing. No matter how badly I wanted to, I just couldn’t care.
I know what you’re thinking, and yes, that feeling remains today. Of course I’m going to watch the Super Bowl, but I just am not ready and excited for it like I usually am. Sorry to end this volume of the series on such a downer, but I can’t escape the truth. None of us can.
So, instead of football, we are going to talk about something else today. Here is everything I am excited about that is going to occur between the Super Bowl and the beginning of the 2026 NFL season. For the most part, I am going to try and stick to sports.
Hopefully after Sunday, we have at least one girls basketball team competing for a regional championship. As I write this on Wednesday afternoon, only four area teams remain. Luckily for us, three of those four have put together tremendous seasons already and two of them have been ranked No. 1 in their respective classes at some point this season. To Warsaw, Whitko, Tippecanoe Valley and Triton, good luck the rest of the way!
I’m excited for March Madness. We got a bit of a chalky tournament last year, but I don’t see that happening this time around. We have possibly the greatest freshman class of all time playing some phenomenal basketball, and that will lead to some unpredictability come tournament time. I'm very excited to see how that shapes out. Also, I have friends that would be very angry at me if I mentioned college basketball and not what the St. Louis Bilikins are doing. Seriously, go check them out.
I’m excited for the NHL playoffs. Every year, I watch what I consider to be the best postseason in sports and say, “you know what, next year is the year I finally start really getting into hockey.” Like clockwork, next year comes and goes, and all I really watch is the playoffs again. The Blackhawks have been very fun to watch this year, and they have got me to tune in more than usual, but still not nearly as much as I’d like. Come April though, I won’t miss a game. I will also be locked in to the Olympics! Almost forgot to mention that.
I’m actually excited to watch the White Sox this season. I know, shocking! While they haven’t gone out and lit the world on fire spending on free agents, they actually have brought in some serviceable players to the south side. Combined with the fact that they have the No. 1 pick this summer and some pretty sweet giveaways, it looks like 2026 is the year I break my three-year hiatus of attending a game.
Last but certainly not least, I am excited for the summer time. Not because of any sporting event in particular, but because it is when all of the theme parks in the midwest are open and I can finally ride some roller coasters. I have been itching to get on one for over a month now, and we are not too far away from getting some more rides in. I am still a member of the American Coaster Enthusiasts, and am excited to get out to some events this summer. Among others, I’m hoping to get out to Hersheypark and Knoebels in Pennsylvania for the first time.
That pretty much covers it. Barely missing the cut is my friend Mike getting married in California, but that is not until October and after football season starts. If I had to mention everything I’m excited about for the rest of the year, we’d be here all day!
Anyway, let’s come full circle and make one final pick. I clinched a great record for myself a few weeks ago, but I’d still like to go out on a high note. Let’s do this.
SUPER BOWL LX
Seattle Seahawks (-4.5) vs. New England Patriots
Full disclosure, I’d like the Seahawks to win this game. I think it would be a great story for Sam Darnold to overcome a ton of demons in the early part of his career to bounce back and win it all. I like the way Seattle plays, especially on the defensive end. That, and the Patriots have won so many titles in my lifetime already. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a Tom Brady superfan and rooted for them more than I rooted against them, but now that he’s gone, let’s give someone else a chance.
When I look at this game, what stands out to me is how good both of these defenses are. Both quarterbacks are in for a long, long night. The Patriots have not looked good offensively in any of their three playoff wins, but the other unit played so well, it didn’t particularly matter. Now, an argument can be made that a lot of that is due to the quarterbacks they’ve gone up against. Justin Herbert, CJ Stroud and Jarret Stidham aren’t exactly a murderer’s row.
The edge offensively has to go to Seattle. Even if you like Drake Maye more than Darnold, there’s no denying that the Seahawks have the better weapons by a pretty solid margin. Guys like Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Kenneth Walker and Rasheed Shaheed are nightmares to gameplan around individually, but as a unit, good luck. If they come out in a rhythm and are firing early, this game might not be competitive for long.
I want to go against the grain here. To me, the Seahawks winning is so obvious that I’m starting to think that it’s not going to happen. They are the better team, but we all know in the NFL, that doesn’t mean anything. It’s any given Sunday for a reason. But, with everything on the line, I’m going to go with my initial gut reaction.
The Pick: Seahawks -4.5
It’s been a fun ride to go on with you all this season. I look forward to picking this series back up in the fall, and who knows, maybe I’ll write a one-off column every now and again over the summer. Either way, you’ll still see my game stories in the paper almost every day. If you see me in the wild, come say hi.
Cheers.
Last Week’s Record: 0-2
Season Record: 46-36
