DETROIT - Man, does it feel like the Steelers are poised for an ambush tomorrow. The only thing worse than all the fawning "Jerome Bettis! Bettis Jerome!" stories last week is all the "Why is Seattle so overlooked?" stories this week. My team plays best with a chip on its shoulder. In fact, I'd go so far as to say they've only won when they've had a chip on their shoulder. Seattle is too solid for anything less than my boys' focused best, and I have a sneaking suspicion "anything less" is precisely what's forthcoming. I hope I'm wrong. I hope this is just the bad day talking. I hope the statistics Seattle amassed at the expense of the league's worst division are as misleading as I hope. Yes, I hope for my own hope, now. That's how nervous I am.
My affection for its people notwithstanding, there's no way Detroit should be hosting a Super Bowl. I'm not unaccustomed to such events. A quarter-million Buckeye fans descended on Tempe in 2003, but at no point did it feel utterly out of control like Detroit does. I love my fellow Stiller fans, but they have overwhelmed Detroit. Everything's clogged. There is no organized mass-transit to the stadiums. You can't eat. You can't drink. You can't get out of the freezing rain. Blowing your nose requires a 30 minute wait. It is, in one made up word, unfun. Win or lose, I'm looking forward to leaving.