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Don’t you think this time of year is kind of the doldrums for sports? College football is over and pitchers and catchers haven’t reported to spring training for baseball. 

I don’t mean to dismiss basketball and hockey, but both have limitations to widespread appeal.  For instance, I enjoyed ice hockey when I grew up in the Midwest, but here in Georgia, we lack some key ingredients, like ice, and ice skaters. 

And while basketball is a fast-paced game with players of unbelievable athleticism, a game of basketball just doesn’t draw you in like a football or baseball game does. 

At least for the next two weeks, though, we can try to be interested in the Super Bowl.  I say “try to be”, because let’s face it, how much do we really care about a team from Missouri and a team from California?  But if we can’t find some reason to pick a team to cheer for, the game itself will lack interest. Then it simply becomes the filler that goes on between chicken wings, bizarre commercials, and all that complicated half-time choreography involving bare-chested men and women in fishnet stockings. 

To be sure, picking a favorite between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers, based on football skills alone is going to be difficult, because they appear to be very evenly matched. Both teams are well-coached, balanced, disciplined and have outstanding athletes on both sides of the ball.

We need to dig deeper if we want to find a favorite, and I’m going to propose the Kansas City Chiefs for the following reasons:

• The Chiefs have a better team name than the 49ers. Face it, you would bet on Geronimo over a grizzled old prospector in a cage match ten times out of ten.
• Kansas City has not been to the Super Bowl in 50 years. Granted, the Cleveland Browns have never been to a Super Bowl at all, but who wants to be compared to the Browns?
• Kansas City has three players from Clemson, one from Georgia, and one from Georgia Tech. San Francisco has no players from Clemson, Georgia or Georgia Tech. Need I say more?
• Missouri has one professional football team. California has four. That’s not fair.
• “Kansas City Chiefs” can be rearranged to spell “Fans kiss each city.” The relevancy of this reason is likely limited to people who like anagrams.

I could continue, but if you are not convinced by now, you are probably already a 49ers fan. But that’s OK because as long as you pick a side, you’ll have some interest in the game, and not be disappointed by this year’s crop of inane commercials.