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My own personal rooting dilemma for Super Bowl LI.

When I was a kid I lost a lot of stupid bets, mostly because I tended to bet with my heart. Would the 1980 Seahawks beat the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day? Yes, I thought, of course they would (they lost, 51-7). Would the Mariners contend for the pennant in 1990? Absolutely, because Griffey (they finished eight games under .500, which was pretty good for a Mariners team in the ‘80s). As I got older, I got smarter, and started to make better bets. I got really smart and stopped betting altogether, reasoning that the professionals who made a business of it typically knew more than me, making me an easy mark.

Ultimately my heart got some payback in Super Bowl XLVIII, with the Seahawks finally winning the Super Bowl. But it took a lot of beating to get there, and will probably take more.

Head or heart?

That’s my dilemma this Super Bowl. But not in the way of predicting who will win. Rather, I don’t know whom to root for.

My head says I should root for the Patriots. Yes, the Patriots. And the main reason is that Super Bowl losers typically do face serious obstacles the following season. Maybe statistically it isn’t a "hangover," but it feels real to me. Recent history is a good guide: Think about the 2012 ‘49ers, whose loss to the Ravens marked the high-water mark of the Jim Harbaugh era. Colin Kaepernick was never the same after that—and neither was the team, from ownership on down. Last year’s Panthers were a similar story—the fault lines in that team, including Cam Newton’s leadership issues, were magnified in the ugly loss to the Broncos. Our very own beloved Seahawks had something happen to them in Super Bowl XLIX (for the life of me I can’t quite remember what), and one could arguably say that Marshawn Lynch, Darrell Bevell, and Richard Sherman alike still haven’t fully recovered from the aftershocks of that game. (Well, Lynch has, but he did so by retiring.)

If we go further back, we have more evidence. The 2002 Raiders were never the same, despite seeming to have a great potential future. The same with the 1997 Packers, who seemed to implode after a potential dynasty-building effort fell short.

Kenneth Arthur’s recent article about "why the Falcons will win" adds more evidence along these lines. Teams don’t seam special until they win the big one. Great teams don’t become great until the win in the Super Bowl. And I don’t want the Falcons to become that team. I want this team with the young defense and fierce offense to feel the hangover next year, so that the Seahawks don’t have to face a younger meaner version of themselves. At least not for the next three years or so, when the championship window is clearest and most open.

My head can also handle a Patriots loss, theoretically, because I believe that a Patriots’ win won’t reverberate to the future. If anything Tom Brady’s single minded desire to prove himself after Deflategate might actually finally subside. He’ll be forty soon, and thinking about Viagra and Gisele. I can hope. Well, maybe that’s my heart speaking, but it is clear that the Patriots’ window stays open only with Brady, and that cannot last as long as the Falcons potential bright future.

My heart? Well, the Patriots are the most hated team in the NFL right now, and as a Seahawks fan I share with all of you my own special reasons for hating them. This was a team that ran smack on our ‘Hawks two years ago, whose fans mocked our fans, and whose somewhat lucky result in that game (don’t tell me a healthy defense—or even one fewer injury—wouldn’t have won that night) has led our team to be as of right now a colorful footnote in NFL history, rather than an historic dynasty.

Besides, who can hate the Falcons? They’re the Seahawks of the South. Lots of seasons of mediocrity, somewhat good or somewhat bad, but not generally on the consciousness of the larger NFL. A single Super Bowl appearance and no wins, they are Seattle after 2005 (or before it, really, except the ‘Hawks didn’t go to the big one until that year). Dan Quinn is a Carroll disciple. He has nothing but praise for his former team, and the Falcons seem to sincerely respect the Seahawks, all the way through their organization. The defense is a younger, emerging clone of the Seahawks’ magical 2013 edition. I’d love to see another hard-luck team host the Lombardi, just like our Seahawks did three years ago.

Head or heart? Hell it’s heart all the way. F--- the Patriots.

And as an added consolation, my head tells me it doesn’t matter whom I root for, as I can’t determine the outcome of the game. If only my superstitious mind and heart would play along with that sentiment.

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