Which is better – Super Bowl Sunday or the conference championship games?
No one would argue that the Super Bowl is the bigger event and perhaps the biggest spectacle in all of sports.
But this weekend, fans are seeing two games instead of one, with four great teams, and much less hype.
Could it be that this weekend is the best football weekend of the year?
Super Bowl-winning coach Dan Reeves and 790 the Zone sports radio host Steak Shapiro have differing opinions.
And you might be surprised to see who likes this title weekend better than the Super Bowl.
Dan Reeves
Well, I had a lot more success in the championship weekends than I did the Super Bowl weekends, so I'd have to say those are better. I got into nine Super Bowls as a player and a coach and only won twice. But I think the championship games are better games usually, because the schedule leading up to the games is the same that you are used to, you're playing a more familiar opponent, and it's more about the games than anything.
As a coach, the stuff you go through during those two weeks is distracting. You hear from people you haven't seen since first grade who want tickets, you have to meet with the press every day, and it's just different from what you are used to. That's why, I think, teams that have been there before tend to do better.
But even as a fan, I think this week is the best. You have two really good teams playing each other and as a fan, you get to see the traditional home-and-away factor. It's brutal to be on the road, and that's the way it's supposed to be. New Orleans and Indianapolis are going to be tough places to win.
Steak Shapiro
Legends are made at Super Bowls, not conference title games. The goal of every football player is very simply to get the ring. That comes from winning only the Super Bowl. The AFC/NFC title day is fun, seven hours of football, home stadiums and real drama. However, they don't hold a candle to the biggest game in the world.
Really try to think about how many classic moments you can remember from title games. Not many. Compare that to the greatest moments in NFL history, which all had the Super Bowl as their stage: The Namath guarantee, the Swann reception, Montana to Taylor, the Fridge from a yard, Scott Norwood wide left, Adam Vinatieri from 47. Those are moments forever etched in sports lore. Do the AFC/NFC title games have any of that? I think not.
I love it all, the seven-hour pregame, the overhyped commercials, the fly-over, the betting on the coin toss. Heck, one halftime wardrobe malfunction changed media in our home forever. Does anyone even know what happens at halftime during title games? America is about being big, living large, excess of everything. Does anything really say that any better than our uniquely USA holiday – Super Bowl Sunday. Now pass me the nachos, and I'll take tails in the coin toss.
