After a very successful season — 24 games over .500 is pretty solid when betting the spread — we see this year come to a close tonight. While I’m excited about the game, I’m worried about it coming — next week will be the official end of football, unless you count the Pro Bowl, which no one counts. So a part of me is, “Yay, the Super Bowl’s tonight!” and a bigger part of me is like, “Great, nothing but NBA and college.” College is good. NBA is pretty boring.

So. . . tonight will be the Super Bowl, featuring the No. 5 team from the NFC vs. the No. 1 team in all of football maybe ever. The Patriots lead the league in wins, points, defense, and spygates. They’re coached by a genius, quarterbacked by a perfectionist, and have an old, aging defense that never seems to break.

That said. . . the Giants have a great front four on defense. They have a guy in Brandon Jacobs who can pound away (just ask Charles Woodson and Rodney Harrison) at anybody, and then Bradshaw is a cut away from a touchdown every time he touches the ball. Their quarterback is known for being erratic, but in the playoffs has only been consistent. Their best wide receiver has played injured all year, and one of their best players, Jeremy Shockey, won’t be playing. Their secondary is questionable, and they gave up a touchdown every time the Pats touched the damn ball five weeks ago.

But the spread is 12.5. The Pats haven’t covered the spread in eons, and I’m wondering if the Spygate thing is hanging over their head at all. Furthermore, I’m wondering if they’ll have as easy a time when they’re unable to film the Giants practices before hand.

18-0 is nice. 19-0 is better. I hate listening to the ‘72 Dolphins about as much as anyone. But we’re going to keep hearing from ‘em. What’s the worst thing about 18-1? That one loss was the only game that mattered. Pats are great. Giants will be better. You take the Giants to cover. I’ll take them to win.