Yes, I know what I just said. I am watching my first Super Bowl on Sunday. Disappointing to some of you, I am not talking about football. This Sunday at 1:00pm on Fox I will be sitting on my couch for probably a solid four to five hours to experience my first NASCAR race. My thinking is that if I'm going to force myself to watch one, why not make it the Daytona 500?

That's not my only thinking though.

I've never got car racing. I don't know if I don't understand, don't like it, or just don't want to like it. I know it's more than just driving around in circles making left turns, but it still doesn't seem captivating. Over 15 million people will be watching the Daytona 500 on Sunday; I have to know the reason for this.

I love sports; the competition, the drama, the little nuances in different sports. I love knowing stats and facts that other people don't and I love appreciating sports for the game itself, not just liking a player or team, but actually loving the game. I think the diehard NASCAR fans are the same way, so there has to be something I'm missing that isn't drawing me to one of the biggest sports in America.

I liken people not wanting to watch NASCAR to a lot of people not liking to watch baseball. It's long, it's boring, nothing’s going on; the typical excuses for baseball are very much in the same for NASCAR. I will defend my love for baseball and the greatness of the game to anyone. I don't really need to get into it now, but there's so much more to it then a pitcher throwing a ball and a batter trying to hit. There are games within the game, there's an abundance of strategy, and there's a lot of skill and athletic ability involved to play baseball.

I can't believe that others can't see what I see, but am I ignorant in having those same thoughts about NASCAR?

What really got me thinking about finally sitting down and watching a racing event was HBO's 24/7 with Jimmie Johnson. I've always been a fan of the 24/7 series on HBO where they follow two boxers as they lead up to fight night. The series is great; the narrator is what really grabs your attention though. Jimmie Johnson 24/7 wasn't as good as any of the boxing ones, but it was still very entertaining. HBO could've really made it much better if they focused on two drivers and made it more of a competition similar to the boxing series. If they would've had Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon together on the show then we would've gotten to see how each team acts differently and prepares in their own way for a race. I think it's a dynamic they need in any 24/7 series.

I've learned a little from the show, but I still haven't seen anything that really makes me want to watch NASCAR. I understand how it's not an individual sport and how important the team is. I know that the littlest problem in the car can screw up the race in a split second for not only the racer of the car, but other racers as well. I even appreciate how knowledgeable and efficiently the entire crew works together and how hard they train for the races. I just don't see how watching any of this for five hours could be exhilarating.

There has to be a reason though. I could go out and read other blogs to see their reasons for loving NASCAR, but I won't. I don't really care to. I want to learn on my own. If I'm going to figure out why millions of other people love the sport, then I want to find a way to love it myself. I'm going to be rooting for Jimmie Johnson; I'm going to be giving it my full attention; and I'm really going to try to find something in it to try and appreciate it like I appreciate the other sports that I love.

I won't be the average person who just says they hate a sport without fully attempting to like it. I also won't be the person who just loves a sport because others like it either. Will the Super Bowl this weekend be the only race I ever watch for the rest of my life?

I don't know, but I'll find out late Sunday. You'll find out Monday.

Everyone has addictions.  People who tell you otherwise are addicted to lying.  For some its drugs, for Tiger and Steve Phillips it's supposedly sex, for me its sports.

Now what people fail to understand about addictions is that there are different levels of severity.  I begrudgingly always have to listen to about fifteen minutes of Dr. Phil when I get home from work since my parents enjoy the rhetoric that he spews.  A couple days ago there was some typical Dr. Phil guest.  You know, the kid whose life is about to end unless Dr. Phil swoops in to save the day.  He either scares them straight or sends them to boot camp.

While on this episode, it was some girl that came on the show addicted to Oxycontin.  Her mother was so concerned for her that she felt she needed to be displayed on national television so Dr. Phil could berate her enough to straighten her out.  Not only was she that supporting, but also, just to get her to come to the show, she actually gave her Oxycontin pills because she wouldn't attend the show without being high.  Great job mom!

I mean I wish my mom would do that.  What Gene?  You don't even want to attend church on Easter?  How about I give you a fifth of whiskey during mass and we call it a deal?  Thanks mom. Love ya! Make it Jack please.

So this girl wasn't just addicted to Oxycontin, she was smoking the pills.  I didn't even know you could smoke pills.  I mean is snorting not giving her the rush that she needs?  I guess it's the new crack or something.  The point is her addiction was so severe that she took it to a new level that I didn't even know you could take it to.  I think people are taking their sports addictions to new levels now as well.

My addiction to sports is that I have to always know what's going on.  I need the scores, I need the highlights, I need to watch all my teams play anytime they're on.  Does it take over my life?  Somewhat, but not enough that it's a burden; at least I don't think so.  I think it's a healthy addiction because I use it in a positive manner.

Some peoples' sports addictions aren't healthy.  There's nothing wrong being in a few fantasy leagues or throwing a few bucks down on the Super Bowl or mingling with fellow fans on Twitter, but when does it become too much?  I guess this is my intervention to some of the folks out there that can't appreciate the game anymore without one of these resources.  

So here's my list of examples to find out if you are too addicted to sports (broken into classes):

The Chill for a Little Class

1.  If you have any money already wagered on any Winter Olympic Sporting Event, the H-O-R-S-E event, or you wagered on the Pro Bowl

2.  If you saw a great highlight in any game and immediately check your Twitter Page to see other peoples' responses

3.  If you wear a professional sports jersey to church

4.  If you listen to the game on a pair of headsets while attending a sports event (personal pet peeve)

5.  If you belong to a fantasy bowling, billiards, or volleyball league

6.  If you and another person both tweeted about the same gross looking fat lady that you saw in the crowd

The Turn Off the TV for a Month Class

1.  If you ever applied to try to Stump the Schwab

2.  If you had to pay taxes on any of your fantasy winnings

3.  If you looked at the pictures of Greg Oden's or George Hill's penis

4.  If you can name the gold medalist male figure skater from the 2006 Olympics

5.  If you tweeted a game analysis while attending a high school basketball game

6.  If you parlayed the coin flip, National Anthem length, Gatorade color, and Thank You response (and won)

The Creepy Sports Fan Class

1.  If you have ever written to an athlete to tell them how they have changed your life and you're over 10 years old

2.  If you bet on USA's Evan Lysacek to pull off a Quadruple Lutz next week (I swear to God I had to look up any name)

3.  If you're still rocking a starter jacket or Michael Jordan #45 jersey

4.  If you can't watch a sports event without Tweeting the whole time (especially when it's your favorite team)

5.  If your whole source of income for the year is based of fantasy NASCAR winnings

6.  If you're reading this contemplating if you belong in this category

All I'm trying to say is that sports are great and we should enjoy them to their fullest, but don't go overboard.  Too many people can't even watch a NFL game anymore without having money on it or tweeting about it the entire time.  We've always heard the rule to not bet on your own team, I don't think you should tweet during your favorite team's game either.  Anyone who isn't on Twitter really should try it out though.  It's a great resource to see great articles and share thoughts with fellow fans, but some people go completely overboard with nonstop tweets during games.  Enjoy your fantasy sports, or Tweeting, or even betting some money, but do it in moderation.  Just enjoy a great competition once in awhile without having to have your own separate competition at the same time.

By the way Follow @FavreDollars Thanks!

There's no hype for it.  ESPN hasn't even had much promotion for the game.  Even Dickie V isn't as excited.  This game is now Average with a capital A baby!

Tonight at 9pm on ESPN we get to see the best rivalry in all of sports, Duke vs. UNC.

Argue that claim all you want.  I'll defend it.  This isn't a watered down rivalry like Yankees/Red Sox where the teams play 21 times during the year.  This isn't Michigan versus Ohio State that basically changed from a great rivalry to a mediocre rivalry once Michigan signed Rich Rodriguez and ended any since of tradition.

No.  This is better than any of those.  The game tonight is about two neighboring teams, separated six miles apart that play each other twice a year during the regular season for one reason.  Respect.

The game is about lineages of players and fans that are jovial when they win and distraught when they lose.  There's history, there's presence, and there's a future at stake with every game they play.  What makes this rivalry so special is that it doesn't matter the ranks of the team's playing or the caliber of players on the court.  What matters is that we have two teams that hate each other with two legendary coaches that dislike each other and you put them on a court for 40 minutes and you never know what is going to happen.

Everyone remembers Jeff Capel's half court heave to send the game into double overtime against UNC in 1995.  Do you remember that UNC was 16-1 and Duke was 10-9 with a 0-7 ACC record at the time?  Probably not.  You probably don't even remember that Duke lost that game in the second overtime.  That's what makes it special.  One play, in one meaningless game, is still heralded as one of the best moments in college basketball history and one of the greatest moments in this historic rivalry.

This is rivalry week.  We've seen some great games already including Kansas versus Texas and Villanova versus West Virginia.  Who cares though?  Those games were good, but they weren't moving, they didn't have anything memorable.  They didn't have any hype either and those were basically top fifteen teams playing against each other.

This game may not have the glitz and glamour of a big time matchup because the records don't say so, but it's still the biggest game of the college basketball season; at least until March 6th when they play again.

Rivalries are about seeing the love from the fans toward their team and the hatred of the fans toward the opposing team.  They're about history, tradition, pride, and respect.  They're about the name on the jersey, not the name on the back.  This is the rivalry that has all the intangibles that a great rivalry consists of and it will always be that way.  There have been blowouts in Duke/UNC games when both teams were top 5 teams, there's been close games when the teams had records nowhere near each other.  It doesn't matter.

This game is the greatest college basketball game of the year because even when we think we expect one thing, it always seems like we get something completely different; and that something different, is usually something special.

Sports teams are tough to figure out.  It seems easy to think a team is going to win it all when they have lots of talent, but that's not always the case.  You need depth, you need coaching, you need size, strength, talent.  You need a coach who will have their players' backs and players who want to win for their coach.

Most importantly, you need chemistry.

Chemistry is an often overlooked aspect of sports teams.  Most people think that a team is just talented and talent knows how to play together or a team gains chemistry as the season goes on.  The real question is what is the catalyst for team chemistry?

The Cleveland Cavaliers are the best team in the NBA.  They're on an eleven game win streak and will easily move that to twelve after tonight’s game against the New Jersey Nets.  How are they the best team in the league though?  Oh, did I mention that two of their best players are injured?

The Cavs don't have the best coach.  They don't have the deepest bench, or at least they didn't.  They may have the best single player of talent, but overall they aren't the most talented team.  Still somehow they are the best team in the NBA.  It's because they have the best chemistry.

What the Cavs have shown this year has been remarkable.  This is a team that have meshed their personalities so well that no matter who is on the court at the same time it feels like they've been playing together for multiple years.  They can have a starting lineup of Daniel Gibson, Anthony Parker, LeBron James, J.J. Hickson, and Shaquille O'Neal and I watch them and never once think that this team won't beat whomever they're playing.  If you don't like their antics in pre-game then who cares, your team isn't doing what the Cavs are doing.

Cleveland has had multiple injuries from various starting players throughout the year and it's actually made the team better.  It has given guys off the bench that never usually got much playing time, a chance to play legitimate minutes and most importantly, a chance to play with LeBron James.

Like him, love him, hate him, despise him; LeBron James is teammate in any sport.  A talented, unselfish, team player, who wants to better himself while bettering his team.  LeBron James is the intangible that no other team has.

We've seen in other sports how much chemistry plays a part of winning championships.  Would the Yankees have won the championship last year without clubhouse favorite Nick Swisher on the team?  I don't know, but they sure didn't win it previous years with all the talent in the world.  When you bring talent, depth, and solid coaching together with chemistry it's the perfect potion for a championship team.

Chemistry is the reason the Cavaliers have been able to excel even without Mo Williams and Delonte West.  It's the reason Shaq has been content with being on the bench in the final minutes of games.  Chemistry has helped create more depth on the Cavs and by doing so it created more talent on the Cavs.  Chemistry is a potion that rubs off on everyone around you.

So even if LeBron James is the sole reason for the chemistry, and he's the reason that other players have transitioned from bench player to role player to starter, the best part about the chemistry is that he has become a better player from the chemistry of the other players' as well.

I sure said chemistry a lot!

Hurricane Katrina is officially over!

That's basically the end result of the Super Bowl.  We're back!  Have you ever heard anything so outlandish?  A team wins the Super Bowl and the city is just automatically rejuvenated.

If this is the case then Roger Goodell should immediately create a NFL team in Haiti and stack it with all the pro bowlers.  Second thought, I don't think Haiti would even want Vince Young or David Garrard as their quarterback.

I can guarantee that everyone reading this watched the Super Bowl.  The game got great ratings.  It was the highest rated Super Bowl in 23 years.  That figure still surprises me though.  How in the Hell were more people watching Super Bowl XXI then the current year's Super Bowl.  It just has to be that there are more parties now so fewer televisions actually have the game turned on.

The Super Bowl was good.  Not great, except for the New Orleans hoopla.  Steelers/Cards and Giants/Pats were still much better Super Bowls.  I don't know, this one just had its ups and downs for me.  Maybe I looked to scrutinize it more, maybe there were just parts that just sucked.  Commercials were horrible, the announcers were annoying and terrible, halftime act I could care less about, and the game was entertaining.  All in all it was a solid, typical Super Bowl.

The Beginning

- So the opening of the Super Bowl was fine.  Queen Latifah sounded decent except she had to throw off her ear piece and not hear anything.  The choir or whatever was with her did fine as well.  America the Beautiful is always a good start.

- The Walter Payton Man of the Year award was very awkward.  They announced the finalists and then immediately showed Goodell, Walter Payton's children, and the Chiefs Brian Waters standing there holding a trophy.  They need to pull this one off like a Grammy winner next year.  Show each finalist on the screen in anticipation, a drum roll, and then Goodell opens the envelope to reveal the winner.  We could bet on it, plus you could see all the losers get pissed and be like "Screw Charity!  That's Bullshit!"

- I was amused by the coin toss.  I not only thought every team that calls it would select tails, since tails never fails, but I was also surprised any team would actually select to receive the ball first.  Actually the biggest surprise was that the NFC has won the coin toss the last 13 years!  We should all start a fund and bet it all on the NFC to win the coin toss next year.

- The announcers began to annoy me immediately once the game began.  Phil Simms was terrible and Jim Nantz was so excited to hear the Phil-osophy that he almost couldn't contain himself.  This may be the worst Super Bowl duo in the booth ever!

-  Did you hear Dwight Freeney had a bum ankle?  There's so many storylines to the Super Bowl and all I heard about was Dwight Freeney for the past week.  The ankle is 62% today!  Now down to 48.7%. Dwight didn't practice, Dwight's a no go, Dwight's in a golf cart, Dwight's now going for it.  I haven't heard so much of an outcry over one injury in so long.  Dwight Freeney is very good, but he's not amazing.  Did you know he only had 19 tackles this year?  There are players who had more than that in a single game.  Then again, 13.5 of those 19 tackles were sacks.  Doesn't anyone remember TO playing with a broken leg?  The outcry was much worse this year.

- The worst was the announcers with Dwight Freeney.  First play of the game, Dwight is double teamed, makes a spin move, almost sacks Drew Brees, and immediately Phil Simms chimes in about how the ankle is definitely causing problems.  Yeah, real big problems when you can get through a double team and almost sack the quarterback.  Moron!

- Peyton Manning looked ridic in the first quarter.  His passes were on point as usual and the Colts were dominating.

The Middle

- The Saints had a couple decent drives.  They couldn't really get the ball moving particularly well.  Thankfully for them they have a dependable kicker who was just booming 45+ yard kicks like it's his job.  Oh wait, it is his job.  Does anyone remember though that this is the same guy who was suspended for four games at the beginning of the season for PED’s?  I forgot, no one cares about steroids in football unless Barry Bonds decides to join the NFL.

- Smartest move of the game was going for it on fourth down.  People want to compare this to Belichick going for it against the Colts on fourth down, but the situation is way different.  You kick it and you get three points.  You make it you get seven.  The Saints missed it, but they also put the Colts so far back that it forced Jim Caldwell to be passive and go three and out.  Saints got it back and the roided kicker put another one through the uprights.  The three and out defeat by the Colts and the points on the board for the Saints changed the momentum.

- The onside kick caught everyone off guard.  Great call, great recovery, and most importantly, a great drive to make the turnover mean something.  If they don't get points the onside kick means nothing.  Another horrible announcing job here by Phil Simms where Jim Nantz clearly just received the info from his statistician stating that this was the first time an onside kick was attempted not in the fourth quarter.  Simms immediately tries to refute the statement by saying, "Are you sure?  I announced the Steelers/Cowboys Super Bowl and I'm pretty sure that Cowher went for one before the fourth."  Yeah Phil, the jobber statistician definitely provided incorrect data to you. Moron!

- Peyton responded.  Anyone who thinks Jim Caldwell decided to go for it on 4th and 2 is completely wrong.  Peyton didn't hesitate, flinch, or even look at Caldwell in his peripherals before he went to the line on 4th down.  Quick slant to Reggie, a score, and the Colts lead again.

The End

- The injury prone and hated Shockey played very well.  He made some big time catches and made the biggest one with the go ahead touchdown.  He needs some major props on this victory.

- The two point conversion changed the Colts whole outlook.  It went from a game winning drive to a game tying drive.  That's a pretty big mood swing.  That's like trying to hook up with a girl all night then finding out she's on the rag.  It just changes your mindset completely.

- Peyton did not look comfortable late in the game.  Earlier on he was going to Garcon and Collie.  Late in the game he kept looking for Reggie.  The dropped passes by Pierre Garcon definitely through him for a loop and he was forcing the ball instead of making the correct reads.

- Was it more fitting that the ridiculous Tracy Porter, with his Lombardi trophy etched haircut intercepted the ball for a touchdown to seal the victory?

- The last drive was meaningless.  The only good part was watching Manning totally baffled out there.  We saw him call a timeout and then pretend not to.  The ref blows the whistle and he makes a face like "What? I didn't call a timeout."  About five seconds later he does the Peyton lip curl basically saying, "Okay, you got me."

- The ending ceremony was very nice.  We will forever have images of Drew Brees and his one year old son.  Definitely a great moment and the picture below really symbolizes why the players play the game!