I’ll be honest with you all: I feel like Michael Jordan in a Wizards uniform. Writing on Fridays is a little out of my comfort zone. It’s like trying to mack on that extremely attractive young lady at the local establishment – I think I have it in me, but I’m not real confident. I’m sure you missed me yesterday. Ah, who I am I kidding? I’m like Dwight on “The Office” on NBC. It doesn’t matter what day you find me; I’m easy to make fun of. Enough said – let’s roll.

To my great shock, there has been little to no mention of the NFL in this week’s local papers. None. Zip. Taggart (his number is 0).

Are you kidding me? It’s America’s most popular sport and we can’t even get a blurb. Iowa State, I’m here to rescue you. Looking at the matchups, it may seem like there is no reason to watch the League after last week’s drama. I understand. The local favorite Bears are dundee. Peyton Manning’s happy feet belonged with Master P on “Dancing with the Stars,” Tom Brady and his large Justin Timberlake-like following are sitting by the fire and Washington can now concentrate on the Judge Alito hearings. For those of you who don’t follow politics, disregard that last sentence. Believe me, you’re not missing much. (Oh, be quiet poli-sci majors, go study the after-effects of the USSR’s impact on the NBA. Andrei Kirilenko is much more entertaining than Putin.)

But, back to Paul Tagliabue’s baby. The two games this weekend are more interesting than most are giving them credit for. In the NFC, I believe Carolina and Seattle have been the two most entertaining teams this season. I don’t really have a favorite team in the NFL, but my favorite player has to be Steve Smith. He’s a great player, but he has just enough screws loose that he may snap. That’s my kind of guy. I can just imagine Smith catching his 20th screen pass of the game, then running out of the Seahawks stadium and cold-cocking the Sonics’ Ray Allen just for fun. Throw in the fact that he’s roughly 5’6″ and he becomes an instant icon that I could post-up. On the other sideline, Seattle has one of the three bald quarterbacks in the league, which gives them instant watchability. Not to mention, the legend himself is Hasselbeck’s backup.

In the AFC, both teams start flame-throwers with grossly overgrown beards. You just can’t put a price on that. I can only imagine Plummer and Roethlisberger’s conversation before the game: The Snake: “So Ben, I grew this in three weeks, my girlfriend thinks I look like a ’70s porn star and she digs it, really digs it.” Big Ben: “Oh yea, well my rag is only two weeks old, and Polamalu is jealous of it. Advantage Benji.” OK, that’s just a guess, but nonetheless, the beard ratio adds another dimension and a lot of intrigue.

Since I gave no real analysis and pretty much wasted your time and completely embarrassed myself, here are my redeeming predictions: Carolina 27, Seattle 19; Denver 24, Pitt 14. As a wise man once said, “The only sure thing about Super Bowl XL is several beer commercials and several crimes in Detroit.” If only the Daily would send me to cover it.

– Brent Blum is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Urbandale.