When the Super Bowl takes over a host city, the place crawls quite literally with the biggest and best athletes to ever grace a field or a court and some of the most famous actors and musicians ever to step on a stage.
And because football – like most things – is personal, the trash talk gets fairly intense.
TSL is on the case down here in the Big Easy, and checked in with some of the folks you most want to hear from, to find out who they’d like to see walk away with the big win and why during today’s game.
“Baltimore. I love the Giants. The Giants are my team, but I’m going down the turnpike if I got to go to another team.”
–––Tracy Morgan, actor
“The Niners. The defense still is a really well oiled machine. Patrick Willis is a terrific leader defensively, seen a lot of great, clutch play by the DBs and also Colin Kaepernick has got an X-factor. He’s a guy who a lot of people don’t know a lot about him, he’s shown he’s clutch, he’s kind of wise beyond his years. I’m excited to see what he can do. Ray got his ring – and that’s not how the NFL works. If nice guys got rewarded than it would be a different story. I love the Ravens; I got a lot of those players on my fantasy team, but this ain’t fantasy. I like the Niners as a unit. I like what Harbaugh’s done with a lot of Singletary’s players, which doesn’t get talked about very often, but it’s a great team and it’s a unit and there’s no big personality that dominates. It’s really a core group.”
–––Jesse Williams, Actor (Grey’s Anatomy).
“I think the Baltimore Ravens will win because of the emotional factor with Ray Lewis and this being his swan song. And they just have enough veterans on that team to understand that this is not all the hype, glitz and glamour, celebrities everywhere. This is really about getting the job done on the field and they’re going to do it for each other. This team is playing beyond themselves. They’re not thinking about the Lombardi Trophy, they’re not thinking about celebrity, they’re thinking about winning for each other because they faced so much adversity throughout the year. And when you play against a team with that type of will, it’s going to be tough to overcome that.”
–––Eddie George, former NFL Running Back.
“Well, obviously I’d like to see the Saints, but since they’re not playing I’ll go for the 49ers! And that’s because (NT) Ricky Jean-Francois was on the track team at LSU. I would really like to see the Saints play in their hometown, but how many teams get to do that? It’s very rare. I’m happy for the teams that are in it because it’s a fresh Super Bowl. It’s not the same repetitive names. It’s new, it’s fresh, people are excited, and so it’s good to see these two team jerseys back in this Super Bowl.”
–––Lolo Jones, Olympian.
“You have a game with experience versus youth and I think that’s what it’s really going to come down to. Obviously Baltimore’s team – they’re better offensively than they were the last time they reached the Super Bowl. Defense is … I don’t know if they’re as strong, but they still attack, they’re stout and so my edge is going to go to the Ravens.”
–––Terrell Owens, former WR.
“I don’t know who’s going to win, but I’m rooting for Baltimore. Ray Lewis is a good friend of mine and it would be lovely to see him retire a Super Bowl champion. You couldn’t write a better story. It’s almost like a dream and a fantasy come true for these players. So it would be great for that to happen. I was really rooting for Peyton Manning all season long, for him to come back home, play in the Super Bowl and win the Super Bowl. But then they drew Baltimore in the playoffs and I had to go with my man, and my man is here. They talk about the Herbage brothers, but it would’ve been great to have Eli and Peyton playing here today. You know? But se la vie.”
–––Anthony Anderson, actor
“I have this great feeling that the Baltimore Ravens – even though I don’t’ think they’re the more talented team – just have this kind of collection of aura and belief in each other and galvanized as a football team that they can’t lose, and they feel like this is their time. So if it’s a close football game, they’ll find a way to pull it out and win it. I think the two best teams are here. They proved that going throughout the playoffs, going on the road and winning. San Francisco did what they needed to do in Atlanta by winning the championship game on the road, so yeah, they deserve to be here.”
–––Warren Moon, former NFL QB.
“I want to see Ray Lewis win. But … you never know …”
–––Arian Foster, Houston Texans
