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Bears and the Super Bowl; Bear with me for a week or so........
Topic Started: Jan 25 2007, 09:14 AM (320 Views)
JoshFormerRoomie
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Taken from the Chicago Sun-Times 1/25/07
************************************
A game of real simulation
After much analysis, Accuscore knows the score -- and it's closer than you think


January 25, 2007
BY ROMAN MODROWSKI Staff Reporter

The game is over. Super Bowl XLI has been played -- more than 10,000 times. It has been played in various weather conditions with evolving injury reports and thousands of game situations.

P>Bears fans shouldn't necessarily plan on attending a victory parade, but it appears the game will be much closer than what many experts are predicting. The Colts might be a seven-point favorite in Las Vegas, but there is a dissenting -- and powerful -- forecast.
The game was played by a simulation engine called Accuscore, which is so accurate that several pro sports teams are on board as clients.

''The median margin of victory is around 3.5 points in favor of the Colts,'' Accuscore chief operating officer Gibby McCaleb said. ''This game has a good chance of being very close, down to the wire.''

Accuscore is not designed to provide any type of betting line. In fact, it was designed by Stephen Oh -- while he was pursuing a masters in biological anthropology at Michigan -- to simulate human evolution.

''There is a lot of statistical modeling, forecasting and simulating done for the science community or the financial world,'' said McCaleb, a Chicago native. ''We do the same thing -- only for sports, which is far more interesting than genetics and world commodities to most of us.''


Impressive track record

On Dec. 13, with three weeks left in the regular season, Accuscore predicted the Bears would host the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Championship Game. It wasn't exactly going out on a limb, considering both teams were atop the NFC standings for much of the season, but Accuscore was on a limb last week. ESPN.com listed predictions by eight of its human experts and Accuscore. Only Accuscore predicted a Bears victory.
''We had predicted the Bears to [beat the Saints] by at least 10 points, assuming bad weather, and that was back on Dec. 13,'' McCaleb said. ''If you look at the analysis, we about nailed it dead on.''

The Bears won 39-14 in a light snow.

Accuscore analyzes other sports with even more success.

''On our site, we were 75.6 percent for NCAA football and 62 percent for the NFL on ESPN.com,'' McCaleb said.

Accuscore powered the NFL Harmon Forecast for CBS last season, and Harmon's number of victories went from 126 in 2004 to 146 in 2005. And that was against Vegas' spread.

Aside from ESPN and CBS, Accuscore is used by Yahoo!, Cingular, Head2Head and Athlon/Grogans.

There's also discussion of using Accuscore as the basis of a television show matching up NFL teams next season.


How it works

Accuscore doesn't use the same type of formula utilized by popular video games.
''We don't input any stats into our engine,'' McCaleb said. ''I can't go into too much detail because of our intellectual property, but we actually play the game one play at a time.

''Stats are completely misleading. Weather, field position, score, time on the clock, coaching tendencies -- you name it, it's in there. This is why our simulation engine is so complex and takes days to run a full NFL season.''

It's a far cry from how the engine originally was conceived.

''In studying evolution, I worked on ... simulations where a population's segment of DNA was modeled one generation at a time,'' Oh said. ''Each generation [featured] things like mortality rates, birth rates, mutation rates and population movement rates, which were used to simulate how each generation 'lived.'

''To determine what these rates are, we reviewed extensive research by geneticists, mathematicians, archeologists and anthropologists. The evolutionary program would use the average rates and variability to simulate a single generation. It would then simulate the same sample for a predetermined number of generations and output how this population looks 'genetically.'''


Super Bowl XLI

According to Accuscore, the Bears have a 39 percent chance of success, and the score looks like it might be in the mid-20s.
''If we add up all the points the Bears scored in the simulations and divide by 10,000, you get 23.4,'' McCaleb said.

''For the winning percentage, we basically take all the games won by each team in the 10,000 simulations and turn that into a percentage.

''So we have the Colts at 60 percent and the Bears at 39 percent. We don't do overtime, so 1 percent ended in a tie.''

One variable that puts the percentages nearly even is the Bears' special teams and returner Devin Hester.


''I don't think the data says specifically that Hester needs a return touchdown as much as it says Hester and special-teams performance is a huge boost to the Bears,'' McCaleb said.

''There were some simulations we ran where Hester did not score a TD, but the Bears' chances are still much improved due to better field position.

''So you could interpret that by saying that if the Bears' return teams perform as well as they are capable, Chicago's odds of winning improve almost a full 10 percent -- making this a coin-toss game. Factor in one or more of the other data points, and the Bears start to take the advantage.''

Despite Vegas' spread, Accuscore doesn't see this game as easy to predict as the NFC title game.

''This is an interesting matchup from the looks of our data, and it does not appear as cut-and-dried as the Bears-Saints game,'' McCaleb said.

And this time, that's good news for Bears fans.
"Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable."

-John Kenneth Galbraith
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JoshFormerRoomie
Jan 25 2007, 08:14 AM
Taken from the Chicago Sun-Times 1/25/07
************************************
A game of real simulation
After much analysis, Accuscore knows the score -- and it's closer than you think


January 25, 2007
BY ROMAN MODROWSKI Staff Reporter

The game is over. Super Bowl XLI has been played -- more than 10,000 times. It has been played in various weather conditions with evolving injury reports and thousands of game situations.

P>Bears fans shouldn't necessarily plan on attending a victory parade, but it appears the game will be much closer than what many experts are predicting. The Colts might be a seven-point favorite in Las Vegas, but there is a dissenting -- and powerful -- forecast.
The game was played by a simulation engine called Accuscore, which is so accurate that several pro sports teams are on board as clients.

''The median margin of victory is around 3.5 points in favor of the Colts,'' Accuscore chief operating officer Gibby McCaleb said. ''This game has a good chance of being very close, down to the wire.''

Accuscore is not designed to provide any type of betting line. In fact, it was designed by Stephen Oh -- while he was pursuing a masters in biological anthropology at Michigan -- to simulate human evolution.

''There is a lot of statistical modeling, forecasting and simulating done for the science community or the financial world,'' said McCaleb, a Chicago native. ''We do the same thing -- only for sports, which is far more interesting than genetics and world commodities to most of us.''


Impressive track record

On Dec. 13, with three weeks left in the regular season, Accuscore predicted the Bears would host the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Championship Game. It wasn't exactly going out on a limb, considering both teams were atop the NFC standings for much of the season, but Accuscore was on a limb last week. ESPN.com listed predictions by eight of its human experts and Accuscore. Only Accuscore predicted a Bears victory.
''We had predicted the Bears to [beat the Saints] by at least 10 points, assuming bad weather, and that was back on Dec. 13,'' McCaleb said. ''If you look at the analysis, we about nailed it dead on.''

The Bears won 39-14 in a light snow.

Accuscore analyzes other sports with even more success.

''On our site, we were 75.6 percent for NCAA football and 62 percent for the NFL on ESPN.com,'' McCaleb said.

Accuscore powered the NFL Harmon Forecast for CBS last season, and Harmon's number of victories went from 126 in 2004 to 146 in 2005. And that was against Vegas' spread.

Aside from ESPN and CBS, Accuscore is used by Yahoo!, Cingular, Head2Head and Athlon/Grogans.

There's also discussion of using Accuscore as the basis of a television show matching up NFL teams next season.


How it works

Accuscore doesn't use the same type of formula utilized by popular video games.
''We don't input any stats into our engine,'' McCaleb said. ''I can't go into too much detail because of our intellectual property, but we actually play the game one play at a time.

''Stats are completely misleading. Weather, field position, score, time on the clock, coaching tendencies -- you name it, it's in there. This is why our simulation engine is so complex and takes days to run a full NFL season.''

It's a far cry from how the engine originally was conceived.

''In studying evolution, I worked on ... simulations where a population's segment of DNA was modeled one generation at a time,'' Oh said. ''Each generation [featured] things like mortality rates, birth rates, mutation rates and population movement rates, which were used to simulate how each generation 'lived.'

''To determine what these rates are, we reviewed extensive research by geneticists, mathematicians, archeologists and anthropologists. The evolutionary program would use the average rates and variability to simulate a single generation. It would then simulate the same sample for a predetermined number of generations and output how this population looks 'genetically.'''


Super Bowl XLI

According to Accuscore, the Bears have a 39 percent chance of success, and the score looks like it might be in the mid-20s.
''If we add up all the points the Bears scored in the simulations and divide by 10,000, you get 23.4,'' McCaleb said.

''For the winning percentage, we basically take all the games won by each team in the 10,000 simulations and turn that into a percentage.

''So we have the Colts at 60 percent and the Bears at 39 percent. We don't do overtime, so 1 percent ended in a tie.''

One variable that puts the percentages nearly even is the Bears' special teams and returner Devin Hester.


''I don't think the data says specifically that Hester needs a return touchdown as much as it says Hester and special-teams performance is a huge boost to the Bears,'' McCaleb said.

''There were some simulations we ran where Hester did not score a TD, but the Bears' chances are still much improved due to better field position.

''So you could interpret that by saying that if the Bears' return teams perform as well as they are capable, Chicago's odds of winning improve almost a full 10 percent -- making this a coin-toss game. Factor in one or more of the other data points, and the Bears start to take the advantage.''

Despite Vegas' spread, Accuscore doesn't see this game as easy to predict as the NFC title game.

''This is an interesting matchup from the looks of our data, and it does not appear as cut-and-dried as the Bears-Saints game,'' McCaleb said.

And this time, that's good news for Bears fans.

WHOA
“Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place.”
Frederic Bastiat
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JoshFormerRoomie
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For degenerate sports gamblers......
www.covers.com
*************************************************************
Wise Guys take Chicago, but is it the right play?

The Super Bowl still is more than a week away, but already a curveball has been thrown in the betting pattern.

While the vast majority of bettors prefer to wait until closer to game day before making their play, wise guys already have shown their hand. They are on the Chicago Bears.

The public are expected to back the Indianapolis Colts next weekend, possibly pushing the number from Colts -7 to -7 ½. But sharps aren’t waiting. They’ve taken +7.

That`s why a number of sportsbooks now are down to Indy -6 ½. The total, incidentally, remains 48 ½.

Why the early move on the Bears?

Peyton Manning’s right thumb is fine. So rule that out. You’re not going to try to middle a 7 as you might a pointspread of 3, so count that out. The odds aren’t good enough on the Colts winning by exactly 7.

Nick Harper, the Colts’ best cover cornerback, may not play because of a sprained ankle suffered against New England. But that’s not enough to make a move.

So, just what is it?

“What we have heard is some of the ‘math’ guys have played Chicago,” said long-time professional sports bettor Dave Malinsky. “This makes some sense based on a full-season of statistics.

“But it does not make any sense at all if you view the Bears without (Mike) Brown and (Tommie) Harris and the Colts with (Bob) Sanders.”

There’s no hidden information with the Super Bowl. It boils down to handicapping one matchup. Whoever accurately processes all the information should end up with the winning side.

Those who like the Bears point to the Colts’ NFL-worst run defense, spotty kickoff coverage that appears especially vulnerable to Devin Hester, and Peyton Manning’s mediocre postseason history.

Manning’s passer rating is down 10 points in the playoffs compared to the regular season. He’s averaged an interception once every 19 attempts compared to once every 62 throws during the regular season. He has a 2-6 touchdown-to-interception ratio in three playoff games.

If you go strictly by numbers, Manning has an inferior quarterback rating in the playoffs compared to Chicago`s Rex Grossman. Manning’s rating is 66.8. Grossman’s passer rating is 75.4.

Would you rather have Manning or Grossman? That’s why you can’t always handicap strictly by numbers.

Going by statistics, Grossman hasn’t been that bad in the playoffs. But when you watch him, you see how many bad passes and poor decisions he makes.

Judging just by the regular season, the Colts had far and away the worst run defense, giving up an average of 173 yards on the ground. This was nearly 30 yards more per game than the next worst team. The Colts allowed a staggering 5.3 yards per rush.

But with star safety Sanders back after missing nearly the entire regular season, Indy has held Kansas City, Baltimore and New England to an average of 3.6 yards per carry. No other team stopped Larry Johnson the way the Colts did.

When Sanders was healthy last season, the Colts were second in the NFL in fewest points allowed. So, yes, he does make a difference.

Again, judging by the entire regular season statistics, you’ll find the Bears ranked fifth overall in total defense, giving up an average of 294.1 yards and third in scoring defense surrendering 15.9 points per game.

However, in the four regular season games in which the Bears didn’t have both Harris and Brown – two Pro-Bowl caliber players – they allowed an average of 26.2 points and 372.5 yards. This was against St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Detroit and Green Bay.

If you discount the matchup against the Packers, which was the regular-season finale and a game the Bears didn’t care about, Chicago still gave up a combined 907 passing yards and nine touchdowns to Jon Kitna, Tim Rattay and Marc Bulger while coming up with only two interceptions.

The numbers are there. You can twist and turn them. It just comes down to how you interpret them if you want to find the right Super Bowl side.
"Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable."

-John Kenneth Galbraith
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taken from the Chicago Tribune 1/28/07 (Up With People? Carol Channing?!)
************************************
THE BIG SHOW
The Super Bowl has become a colossal showcase for bands. But this unparalleled exposure comes with a warning: Rock, but don't rock the boat.


By Greg Kot
Tribune music critic

January 28, 2007


The New Kids on the Block -- remember them? In 1991, they made history of sorts: The boy band turned punch line was the first contemporary pop act to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show.

It wasn't a particularly memorable moment even by New Kids standards, but it was a step up (barely) on the pop-culture buzz meter over such previous halftime fare as Up With People, Carol Channing and the Rockettes.



Ever since, the National Football League has been acting as the country's biggest single-event concert promoter. Even with only 12 minutes to perform and a five-second tape delay, major rock, pop and country acts such as U2, Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones have proven more than eager to play by the NFL's rules. That's because more than 140 million people in the U.S. watched the Super Bowl on television last year.

Of course, halftime really isn't about music at all. Almost without exception, the performances are dull, carefully choreographed spectacles, long on fireworks and flash. Lacking is the drama of a great live performance, which in part hinges on the possibility that anything can happen. In the one instance where spontaneity intruded -- the Janet Jackson-Justin Timberlake "nipplegate" affair in 2004 -- the NFL recoiled in horror and sent halftime-producer MTV packing.

The NFL pooh-bahs hate surprises. They're in the business of selling advertising time, and they want a halftime show anchored by celebrity artists who won't cause them or their corporate sponsors any trouble. Last year, Sprint shelled out $12 million to sponsor an appearance by the Stones. Next Sunday when the Bears play the Colts, it's Prince's turn. Though he once specialized in sexually explicit performances, Prince is now the ideal Super Bowl halftime entertainer: A born-again Christian and Vegas act with a trove of hits ready to be dusted off.

Here are some notable (or notorious) halftime appearances:

I (1967) Universities of and Michigan bands

II (1968) Grambling University band

III (1969) Florida A&M University band

IV (1970) Carol Channing

V (1971) Florida A&M band

VI (1972) Ella Fitzgerald, Carol Channing, Al Hirt and U.S. MarineCorps Drill Team

VII (1973) University of Michigan band and Woody Herman

VIII (1974) University of Texas band

IX (1975) Mercer Ellington and Grambling University bands

X (1976) Up With People

XI (1977) Los Angeles Unified All-City band and Crowd Participation

XII (1978) Tyler Apache Belles, PeteFountain and Al Hirt

XIII (1979) Ken Hamilton, various Caribbean bands

XIV (1980) Up With People

XV (1981) Southern University band, Helen O'Connell

XVI (1982) Up With People

XVII (1983) Los Angeles Super Drill Team

XVIII (1984) University of Florida and Florida State University bands

XIX (1985) U.S. Air Force band: "Tops in Blue"

XX (1986) Up With People

XXI (1987) Southern California-area high school drill teams and dancers

XXII (1988) Chubby Checker/Rockettes and 88 grand pianos

XXIII (1989) South Florida-area dancers and performers and 3-D effects

XXIV (1990) Pete Fountain/Doug Kershaw/Irma Thomas

XXV (1991) New Kids on the Block performs; soon after, its streak of top 10 hits ends.

XXVI (1992) Gloria Estefan gamely tries to make "winter magic" with ice skaters Brian Boitano and Dorothy Hamill.

XXVII (1993) A decade before he faces child-abuse allegations in court, Michael

Jackson vows to "heal the world" while performing with 3,500 schoolchildren. In attendance is O.J. Simpson, the game's honorary coin-tosser.

XXVIII (1994) After Clint Black, Tanya Tucker, Travis Tritt and Naomi and Wynonna Judd perform, fans send what appear to be SOS signals with flashlights stashed in bags under their seats.

XXIX (1995) Disney: A train wreck in which Patti LaBelle, Tony Bennett, Arturo Sandoval and Miami Sound Machine recast "Indiana Jones" as a musical.

XXX (1996) Diana Ross sings "Take Me Higher," then is lifted off the field in a helicopter.

XXXI (1997) The fake Blues Brothers try to prime the pump for a new movie, with the late John Belushi replaced not only by brother Jim Belushi but also by John Goodman.

XXXII (1998) Motown celebrates its 40th anniversary, but no one tries to moon-walk.

XXXIII (1999) Gloria Estefan, again. Stevie Wonder tap-dances with Savion Glover, sort of. Swing band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy compresses its 15 minutes of fame into a couple of cutaway camera shots.

XXXIV (2000) Another lifeless Disney production, with Phil Collins reduced to shilling for the "Tarzan" soundtrack while actor-narrator Edward James Olmos invites dumbstruck viewers to enter the "gateway of time" to feel "the rhythm of our hearts" inside a "tapestry of magic."

XXXV (2001) MTV makes its debut as halftime producer and creates Frankenstein: Aerosmith, Britney Spears and 'N Sync merge rock and cheese on "Walk This Way."

XXXVI (2002) With Bono opening his leather jacket to reveal a stitched-in American flag, U2 pays tribute to 9/11 victims and promotes its latest album.

XXXVII (2003) Gwen Stefani duets with Sting and, miraculously, no Police songs are seriously harmed.

XXXVIII (2004) The first halftime show more famous than the game itself. Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" eclipses one of the best Super Bowl games ever and leads to stricter decency guidelines for TV and radio.

XXXIX (2005) Paul McCartney used to get busted for smoking pot and wrote a song called "Why Don't We Do It in the Road." Now he's the artist the NFL picks to restore its post-Janet family-friendly dignity. McCartney dutifully complies with a feel-good set topped by "Hey Jude."

XL (2006) The Rolling Stones fail to sneak a couple of risque lyrics past the censors, but still do a decent job of rocking the house with a trash-compactor guitar sound courtesy of Keith Richards and Ron Wood. It's the best, nastiest Super Bowl halftime performance by far.
"Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable."

-John Kenneth Galbraith
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taken from the "Chicago Tribune" 1/29/07 (how can you not smile?)
***************************************************************


Still rooting at 103
Arguably the oldest living Bears fan handicaps Sunday's big game

By Melissa Isaacson


MIAMI -- Bears by two.

That's Marion Wood's Super Bowl prediction, and you don't argue with a 103-year-old woman who saw Red Grange's six-touchdown day in person, holds a pretty strong claim on the distinction of oldest Bears fan and makes an awful lot of sense when she talks about Rex Grossman.

Wood, living in her own apartment at the Belmont Village Assisted Living Community of Glenview, does not miss a game. Ever. Not the Sunday night games. Not the Monday night games. "Especially not the Arizona game," she said of the come-from-behind thriller. "I saw it from beginning to end."

That was the game in which Grossman threw four interceptions and fumbled twice, which drew Wood's ire. "Many times I lose patience, not with the team but with Rex," she said. "I think for a time he thought he was pretty good and I think he had to be pulled down to size to get him focused on the fact that this is a defensive team, not an offensive team."

This is not to suggest, however, that Wood is not behind Grossman's resurgence. "As I said to somebody recently, poor Rex has been eating beans all this time," she said. "His first two years he was injured, then he had to come up the hard way and now he's ready to graduate to eating skirt steak.

"I think he's practiced hard enough, I think enough that he's going to pull it off if he will just stay focused. But he's the kind of fella who goes off on tangents."

Wood has been a student of the game since she was a little girl, growing up with brothers who played football. "I'm fairly strong and had no sisters, so therefore every activity in our house was geared to boys, whether it was ice skating or roller skating, bicycling or football, so I became interested when my two brothers played football. You begin to learn things and as you learn, you kind of store them away."

Wood has been a Bears fan "long before there were Bears [in 1922], when they were the [Decatur and then, for a year, Chicago Staleys]. The men played football on Sundays then for $25 a game."

It was at the same time the Staleys were bought by George Halas that Wood went off to college at the University of Illinois. As luck would have it for a girl passionate about football, Red Grange also went to school there.

"I didn't know him but I just worshipped him," she said. "And I worshipped that new stadium when they built it. Before that, they had a wooden stadium, which was primitive, and when they built the new stadium, it was so exciting."

More exciting, however, was Grange's most famous day of all. "It was a gorgeous day, the dedication of the stadium, and here was this young boy from Wheaton, the son of an iceman who had not played much football, score seven (he actually scored five and threw for a sixth) touchdowns that one day. And oh, was I there to see it."

Wood, who graduated from Illinois in 1925 with a bachelor's of science and is the oldest living U of I alum, taught at Senn High School for 39 years. She has seen her love of football and the Bears grow even stronger through the years.

"I loved some of those early players like Grange and Bronko Nagurski, then [Walter] Payton and the Fridge," she said. "I loved the Fridge. He was the laziest, lumbering person, but he was good."

One of her favorites was Jim McMahon, who recently visited Wood. "I worshipped him when he played, with that headband of his," she said. "I thought he was God on wheels. When he visited, he gave me a great big kiss and hug. We talked about the headband."

Wood's new favorite is Brian Urlacher. "He's got his eyes set on the stars and he's going to go no matter what anyone says and he is a star right now," she said. "He always seems to be the difference in the game. Urlacher will change positions (as he did for one play, lining up at corner against New Orleans) and they rally."

That doesn't mean, however, that Wood advises this again Sunday against the Colts. "No," she said, "don't change anything right now. But let's just stay focused and not turn cartwheels either yet. If they pay attention, they'll be in line for a victory. It might be more than two points, but that's my prediction. It will be tied two or three times and it will be exciting."

Wood will be watching the Super Bowl with one of her grandsons in her apartment and she will be focused like she hopes Grossman will be. "I don't go to the big game room upstairs with the big screen," she says, "I did that once, but I like my own television, in my own room where it's quiet so I can concentrate. I can't stand watching the game when everyone has their own ideas. I have my own ideas and I don't want to be disturbed. I want to be focused on the game."
"Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable."

-John Kenneth Galbraith
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taken from the "Sun Times" 1/31/07 (and to Joey Reeves, I'm sorry. Kids can be such pricks when someone is different.)
******************************************************************
Breaking through Adrian's wall
Peterson never lets impaired speech get in his way


January 31, 2007
BY ROMAN MODROWSKI Staff Reporter

MIAMI -- The television camera was about a foot away, pointed at his face, while the microphone was tilted toward his mouth. And there was silence.
Adrian Peterson was trying to answer the question, but his stuttering wouldn't allow the words to escape. He was struggling, but he wasn't giving up.

Tuesday was Super Bowl media day, which meant reporters from around the world converged on Dolphin Stadium to get a one-hour shot at the Bears, followed by an hour with the Indianapolis Colts.

Some with Peterson's condition might have found a way to sit it out, or at least find a nook or cranny to avoid reporters. And nobody would have blamed them.

But that's not Peterson's style. The Bears' third-string running back and special-teams standout was front and center, answering every question and not feeling sorry for himself.

''This is great, a great experience,'' Peterson said when asked if he's enjoying all the interviews. ''I'm enjoying it all.

''I did a lot in college [at Georgia Southern], so I'm accustomed to it.''

And he's accustomed to talking about his speech impediment, whether with reporters or children.

''I go out to speak at schools all the time,'' he said. ''My advice to them is don't allow it to hold you back from achieving your goals.''

Peterson's work has not gone unnoticed by his teammates.

''My brother [Bernard] had a little bit of a stuttering problem, so I've known about it first-hand from him,'' said long snapper Patrick Mannelly, whose brother played football at Notre Dame. ''[Peterson] speaks about it, and he's a super guy for doing it. He's a great guy with a great family, which has helped him.''

Peterson worked with a speech therapist at Georgia Southern, and he's comfortable with how he's handling the situation.

It wasn't always that way. Childhood can be traumatic for kids who are different.

''Growing up, it was hard,'' he said. ''But it's who I am.


''I mean, I don't even see it as anything. I've dealt with it my whole life, so it's no big deal. But working with a speech therapist helped a lot.''

Some days are better than others for Peterson. Tuesday might have been difficult at times, but it didn't stop him from enjoying his moment. He's on one of the sporting world's biggest stages, and he's loving every second.
"Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable."

-John Kenneth Galbraith
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from USA Today 2/1/07
***********************************
With Colts vs. Bears, all bets are on


By Michael McCarthy, USA TODAY

The giddiest people about the matchup of the Indianapolis Colts vs. Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI are the bookmakers in Las Vegas.
The Colts vs. the Bears represents a dream matchup that should drive total betting past $100 million for the first time, predicts Frank Streshley, senior analyst of the Nevada Gaming Control Board. Fans wagered a record $94.5 million on the game last year.

Average bettors, or "squares" in betting lingo, love to bet on stars such as Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and high-scoring offenses, says Chuck Esposito, assistant vice president of race and sports book operations at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Robert Walker, race and sports book director for the MGM Mirage, has listed the Colts as seven-point favorites.

The Colts will generate more "action," or wagers, than the three-time champion New England Patriots. "The Patriots would be like, 'Been there, done that,' " Walker says.

Professional gamblers, or "wiseguys," know proposition wagers are sucker bets. But bettors love "prop bets" come Super Bowl time.

Sports books are offering hundreds, ranging from which player scores the first touchdown to which team wins the coin toss. So-called "crossover props," which link two sports with one bet, are popular this year, Esposito says. Caesars is offering a crossover asking gamblers to pick the winning team in the Super Bowl and the winning driver in the Daytona 500.

The favorites: the Colts and Nextel Cup champ Jimmie Johnson at 6-1.

Across the USA, bettors will bet $8 billion illegally through online sports books, office pools and bookies, USA TODAY sports analyst Danny Sheridan says.

"Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable."

-John Kenneth Galbraith
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much to my chagrin.....taken from 360monster.com (1/31/07)
*********************************************

Madden 07 Superbowl XLI Prediction
Posted on: 31 January, 2007 00:38 GMT
Written by: Lee Matthews




So here we are finally at Superbowl XLI. Two teams but only one prize, the chance to lift the Lombardi a feat not yet attained by the master himself Peyton Manning who has struggled in the playoffs in recent years and started this seasons playoffs in dramatically bad style with 3 Interceptions against the Kansas City Chiefs. Then that match was followed by yet another sub-par performance by number 18 against the Baltimore Ravens. Luckily for him the Colts defence was on hand to save the day on both occasions. Then there was the amazing spectacle that was the AFC Championship match, which saw one of the biggest rivalries in the NFL between Colts QB Manning and the Pats QB Brady end in one of the greatest playoff matches yet seen in the NFL. With the Pats leading 21-3 the Colts made a miraculous comeback to topple the playoff kings 38-34 and the result sent them on their way to the Orange Bowl and Superbowl 41.

As for the Bears in their case the Lombardi hasn’t seen the Chicago trophy cabinet since 1985. The Bears first playoff match saw them up against the Seahawks who had managed to beat the Cowboys a week before due in part to Romo and his butterfingers. Yet again the ‘Hawks fought tooth and nail but were edged out by the stronger Bears with the final score being 27-24 in a match that ended up going into overtime. Then they had to face the fairytale team that was the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Championship game, but sadly for the Saints their story ended with the Bears whose Defensive might once again shone through and left the Bears on there way to Miami after a 39-14 victory.

So now we come to the match itself, the Bears and the Colts one extremely strong Defence against and equally impressive Offence and at the same time a flawed Offence against a flawed Defence. Well we at 360Monster mainly due to the fact we simply couldn’t wait one whole week until the kick off at Miami, we decided to use good old Madden to predict the outcome of this years Superbowl. We took out the annoying HOF free agents out of the rosters and we updated the latest rosters online and we then simulated the Superbowl just so we could get some idea of the outcome of the upcoming match, so onto the Superbowl.

The game starts with the Bears kicking to the Colts and straight away the Colts offence explodes, Manning and Addai both help the Colts get first blood thanks to a 5yd touchdown pass from Manning to Clark. After a couple of drives which lead to punts the Colts yet again get the ball moving at the beginning of the 2nd, luckily for the Bears cornerback Tillman manages to get a vital swat to force a 4th down Field Goal which Vinateri converts for 29 yards.

The Bears then make it all the way to the 50 only to find themselves punting once more. Luckily for them a muffed punt return by Colts returner Smith sees the Bears take the field on the Colts 20 yard line and a short drive ends in a 2 yd pass touchdown from Grossmann to Davis. The 1st half finishes with the Colts leading by 10 points to 7.

The Bears get the ball at the start of the 2nd half and start well, with some good runs by Jones and a couple of well thrown passes by Grossmann. Sadly the game is once again turned on its head when a badly thrown pass intended for Berrien is intercepted by June and the resulting drive by the Colts finishes with a 28 yard field goal by Vinateri to make it 13-7.

The following drive by the Bears sees Grossmann redeem himself with a huge 44 yard bomb to Muhammad which nicely sets the Bears up for a 2yd rushing touchdown by Benson. With the Bears taking the lead for the first time in the game the 3rd quarter finishes.

The 4th starts with the Colts yet again passing the ball the full length of the pitch with no reply from the Bears defence. Despite an Urlacher sack and forced fumble on Manning the Colts still manage to recover and take the ball all the way to the Bears 1 yard line where the nimble Addai caps the drive off with a 1 yd running touchdown (and a converted 2 pointer) which puts the Colts once again in the lead by 21 points to 14.

The Bears are quick to reply and manage to score again this time courtesy of a 7yd scramble by Grossmann who helps take the Bears into a 21-21 tie game. With only six minutes left the Colts once again start where they left of, a few good runs by Rhodes and Addai push the Colts offence slowly but surely towards the Bears end zone. Then on the Bears 12 yard line Manning throws a beautiful pass in the direction of Harrison who proceeds to rip it out of the air and score his first TD of the night, which once again re-instates the Colts lead.

With the score at 28-21 and only two minutes on the clock Grossmann throws two incompletes, its 3rd and 10 he picks out Berrien in the distance and throws, it floats through the air and Berrien turns, he sees the ball and INTERCEPTION. June once again comes up trumps for the Colts and pulls of a 63 yard interception return which finishes the game with the Colts WINNING the Superbowl with a score of 35 points to 21.

MVP of the match goes to Colts QB Manning who completed 30 passes from 40 throws for a total of 336 yards, two touchdowns and no Interceptions.

Of course we must once again stress this isn’t real, we are simply simulating the score to give you, the gamer a glimpse of what the result may just turn out to be.

Madden 07 Prediction: Colts 35 - Bears 21
Our Prediction: Bears 27 - Colts 10
"Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable."

-John Kenneth Galbraith
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JoshFormerRoomie
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taken from the Chicago Tribune 2/3/07 (Hey celebrities, shut your mouths, no one cares what you think, you know like politics!!!)
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Celebrities go with Colts
Bears have backers but majority of rich, famous like Indianapolis

Published February 3, 2007


MIAMI -- I set out to give my all (or at least half my all) to bring you the football predictions of the rich and famous (or at least the well off and almost famous) on this most holy of holidays, Super Bowl Eve.

Tried and failed to get you Fidel Castro, Shaq and Prince, but otherwise, I hope you'll enjoy these.

Indy's star of stage, screen and speedway, David Letterman, likes his hometown Colts 34-27.

Letterman has made a bet with his friend (and mine), comedian Tom Dreesen. If this game goes the Bears' way, he owes Dreesen a dinner for two in New York. But if the Colts come out on top, Dave and a guest can come to Chicago for a fine meal with a tasty beverage.

"Not only do I predict the Bears will win 30-27," Dreesen said, "I also predict that next year they will go 13-3 ... 13 arrests, only three convictions."

The host of CBS' "The Late, Late Show," the great, great Craig Ferguson, e-mailed to let me know he's still using his patented scientific method of selecting a winning team based entirely on its helmet logo.

Ferguson, a recovering San Diego fan, said, "Based on my proven logo pick, plus the fact that ponies have nicer legs than bears, I have chosen the Colts. My head is with the Colts, but my heart is with the Bears."

Superfan George Wendt, our honorary spokesman for Da Bears and their angry 12th man, has a shocker of a prediction for all fans of Da Colts.

"[Jim] Irsay will load up the semi in the middle of the night and spirit the Colts out of town, resulting in a forfeit.

"Final score: Bearsssss 2, Los Angeles Colts 0."

On March 29, 1984, when Bob Irsay's team sneaked out of Baltimore to Indy in the middle of the night, Myles Gipe drove one of the Mayflower moving vans.

"Seeing as I helped them get there, I guess I have to go with the Colts," said Gipe, 69, of Red Lion, Pa. "Probably 28-20."

Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman, being from Mississippi, let me know that the similarly strong bloodline of Archie Manning is what compels him to go with Peyton Manning and the Colts.

You being one of my favorite actors, Mr. Freeman, I humbly agree to a life term in Shawshank with no chance for parole if you turn out to be wrong.

Oscar nominee and two-time Emmy winner William H. Macy expects to be at the Super Bowl in his Miami hometown. He once lived in Chicago, which is why the star of "Fargo" is my kind of town's kind of guy.

Alas, as much as I admire Mr. Macy, he is choosing the team from Indianapolis, which is sort of Fargo without the glitz. In this do-or-die case, he is throwing us Chicagoans into the ol' wood-chipper by a touchdown.

OK, time to call on Chicago actor friends and class acts for moral support, pronto.

Dennis Farina restores law and order by picking the Bears 23-17. Joe Mantegna says the Super Bowl will be filled with a taste of Chicago 31-21. And call in "CSI: Indianapolis" now because, according to Gary Sinise, it's going to be the Bears 24-21.

And here is Dennis Franz checking in with a 24-13 victory pick and even better news: "The Bears will take the Super Bowl, the Cubs will sweep the World Series and what a wonderful world this will be."

More reinforcements:
Bernie Mac isn't joking: 33-31 Bears. His co-star from the film "Guess Who," Ashton Kutcher, plans to come to the game. He sees it 24-20 Bears.

This just in: Chicago TV news anchors take exit polls and now are projecting a big upset by the challenger in this contest:

Bears win 23-21 (Linda Yu, WLS-Ch. 7), 23-17 (Antonio Mora, WBBM-Ch. 2), 23-14 and 27-10 (Allison Rosati and Warner Saunders, WMAQ-Ch. 5).

The battle crosses state lines:

Bruce Weber, coach of Illinois basketball: "Bears 32-24."

Mike Brey, coach of Notre Dame basketball: "Colts 38-35."

Reminder: Chicago already has a pro football champion.

Mike Polisky, general manager of the Arena Football League's Rush: "Bears 24-23."

Who saved Chicago's last major championship for us?

Bobby Jenks, relief pitcher, White Sox: "Bears 21-17."

TV personalities taking Indy to win this one (sorry): Chris Berman, Cris Carter, Bob Costas, Merril Hoge, Michael Irvin, Tony Kornheiser, Andrea Kremer, Dan Marino, Steve Mariucci, Chris Mortensen, Joe Theismann and Lesley Visser.

TV personality sticking with the Bears in this one: Cris Collinsworth.

Legend who says he likes the Bears a lot but has to go with the Colts: Joe Montana.

Legend who guarantees this game will be so good it will come down to the last play: Joe Namath.

I wanted Kimmie Meissner, the new U.S. figure skating champion, to make a prediction because when a Baltimore newspaper let her be a guest NFL forecaster for a week, she picked 12 of 14 games correctly.

How about it, Kimmie?

"Colts 24-10," she says. Uh-oh. We're on thin ice here.

In the 18th annual "Celebrity Super Bowl Poll" of the Scripps Howard News Service, 71 of 100 pick the Colts.

Among them are golf's Jack Nicklaus 34-24 and Arnold Palmer 31-24, tennis' Serena Williams 17-3, NASCAR's Jimmie Johnson 31-28, basketball's Tony Parker 25-20 and softball's Jennie Finch 32-27.

Also giving their votes to Indy are politicians John Kerry 34-27 and John McCain ("by six"), TV's Bill O'Reilly 31-10 and Larry King 21-7, aerospace's Buzz Aldrin 28-17 and Chuck Yeager 21-17 and immortals of show biz Sylvester Stallone, Charlie Sheen, Florence Henderson, Adam West and Carrot Top.

Never fear, backing the Bears are the fast lane's Paul Newman 21-20 and Danica Patrick 31-27, the hoops world's Dwyane Wade 28-24 and Phil Jackson 20-15 and TV Land's John Amos, Ed Asner, Connie Stevens and Jerry Mathers (as the Beaver).

Oh, and a big danke schon to Wayne Newton, who digs the Bears 21-7.

Thank you to all of you.

I'll get back to you a year from now at Super Bowl XLII, when the Bears play a different team in a funny helmet.

"Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable."

-John Kenneth Galbraith
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JoshFormerRoomie
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To all who read the thread, thank you for your good nature.

-I dealt with Packer fans and their joy in '97 when they beat the Patriots. (I went to Stevens Point with Teak and simply enjoyed the energy that the UW campus unleashed when Favre and Reggie won.)

-The following year, I witnessed the agony that Packer fans had to feel after I feel down a flight of stairs in Minnocqua, WI and crashed through a table Mick Foley style. Elway was a damned bastard that night, that much I can assure you.

-After moving to the Twin Cities the following Spring, I was personally privy to the Vikings incredible 15-1 season, working at the hotel where the Queens stayed before their home games. I developed something of a decent relationship with RB Robert Smith and was able to get tickets to a few of their games (including the NFC Title game against the Falcons.) Were it not for a bonehead coaching call by Dennis Green, I think the Super Bowl of 1999 would have turned out a heck of a lot differently.

-And today, my team, the Bears goes into the 2007 edition of the Super Bowl as underdogs. They may win, they may lose. Thank God I'll be working during the game.

The agony and ecstasy.......it's what makes this sport so damned compelling. It comes down to ONE GAME!!! No best of 5 or 7 series shite. ONE GAME!!!
"Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable."

-John Kenneth Galbraith
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