RUSH: Greetings, my friends. How are you? Hope you’re fine and dandy. One of the biggest holiday weekends of the year, and I’m still stunned that our esteemed leaders have not turned it into a three-day weekend with Monday off. Probably because it does not benefit the ski industry.
JOHNNY DONOVAN: And now, from sunny south Florida, it’s Open Line Friday!
RUSH: You do know that that’s why there’s a lot of Monday holidays in February? Oh, yeah, the ski industry lobby. Fine with me. You got 92 million people not working; what’s another Monday holiday?
Anyway, folks, it is Super Bowl weekend, and, as such, we’re gonna have our straight Super Bowl pick. I could tell you that now, if you want. I’m leaning toward the Seahawks here for one reason, only one reason. I think it has to do with the defense. I think the Seattle defense can keep Peyton Manning off the field. I think their defense, I’ve studied it, folks, I’ve looked at tape, and the Seattle defense has the ability to prevent Denver’s long drives, time, clock-chewing drive. Now, whether they will or not is another thing.
By the way, there’s a story here in the Stack about Peyton Manning and what it is like to play with this guy. It isn’t a vacation. I mean, he’s intense. There is never a second of wasted or downtime at a practice. If Manning in practice makes a mistake and throws a pick, and the defensive back drops the pick, Manning chews out the defensive back for goofing up on his mistake, one example.
Manning was nursing an injured ankle. He was in the cold pool while practice was going on. He had his iPad, reviewing plays, game tape, whatever, and he was wearing his quarterback helmet so that he could hear the offensive plays being called in practice, while he’s in the training room in the cold pool, sitting there with his feet in the cold pool, shorts and a T-shirt wearing his helmet. There’s a picture of it.
The one thing about Seattle, they’re gonna have to do that or they don’t have a prayer because they don’t have anywhere near the scoring machine. They’re gonna be depending on their running game for that unless Russell Wilson has a career game, it’s entirely possible. But that’s just my early feeling on this, and it’s really not any more complicated. I don’t go in for destiny. It’s Peyton’s last game. Peyton’s gotta win it here. Brother’s in trouble with fake gear. I don’t go in for that kind of stuff being a factor. I just look at the X’s and O’s and the two teams.
The Seahawks just don’t have an offense to keep up with Denver if their defense can’t keep Peyton off the field. If they keep Peyton off the field they’re in the game and they have a chance. And they do have the best defense in the league, and of course Denver is the best offense.
Now, the environmentalist wacko pick is an entirely different proposition, and that will come up later in the big broadcast. It’s Open Line Friday, and that means that whatever you want to talk about is okay. (interruption) Somebody just sent me a note, “What about the gay pick?” The gay factor is part of the environmentalist wacko pick, which team is more pro-gay, that’s a factor in the environmentalist wacko pick. I’ll reveal that when we get to the environmentalist wacko pick. It will probably be in the third hour.
Anyway, Open Line Friday. Normally Monday through Thursday you have to talk about things I care about to keep me interested, ’cause if I get bored it’s gonna sound boring to people, they’re gonna tune out and that’s not good. But on Friday that’s the great risk. I throw that out, and whatever you want to talk about, pretty much okay, and I take it upon myself as a challenge to make whatever, even the most dull, boring thing sound interesting. Now, normally that doesn’t happen. Normally you probably couldn’t tell the difference week to week in an Open Line Friday versus a standard Monday-through-Thursday show. But sometimes you never know.
This Super Bowl has stood out for me in one way that, for example, Super Bowls here in south Florida have been remarkably different. And I could be missing things, but I read constant media everywhere, and I haven’t read very much at all about parties, late-night social life, knock-down, drag-out party affairs. It’s striking, and the reason why it strikes me is because New York is a party town. New York has club after club and place after place that’s open ’til four o’clock in the morning.
Have you noticed this too? I mean, TMZ, there hasn’t been much going on there at all at the Super Bowl, for the players, yeah. After the first couple of nights. It was a 1am curfew. That I think is for Denver. I don’t know what the Seattle curfew is. Probably much the same. Most of these guys take it seriously anyway. But you got a Super Bowl here in south Florida, and the news is nothing but all the social stuff going on. It’s all it is here in south Florida. And you can’t go anywhere without encountering some Super Bowl bash or party.
Now, New York, there is so much going on and it is so big that maybe it’s the same amount of stuff just getting swallowed up in all the stuff that isn’t Super Bowl related. I don’t know. It’s not a criticism; it’s just an observation. I don’t know. It’s been 17 degrees in the daytime most of the week up there. That’s got to have an impact on people going outside, being mobile. (interruption) It’s what? Oh, yeah, the game is sold out. Well, there’s no question. What are you worried about, the blackout? The game is sold out.
The problem with tickets is that a lot of brokers get tickets. That’s called the secondary market, and they’re having trouble moving them at higher-than-face-value prices. They won’t have any trouble moving them at face value. What is interesting is that hotels that are within close proximity to the stadium have rooms. They’re begging. I don’t know what the situation is in Manhattan, but New York’s got more hotel rooms than they need anyway. I don’t know what kind of a measure that is.
If you’re going to the Super Bowl, where do you want to stay? Manhattan. The only thing happens in New Jersey is Sunday. Everything else is happening in Manhattan. So you want to stay there. I don’t know if that’s a big deal, either. It’s just different from what it has been.
Related Links