Enjoy the Super Bowl and try to forget the Browns
- col-aaron-dorksen
- February 5, 2025
- 46
A few thoughts from the week in sports …
If you’re planning to watch Super Bowl 59, you’ll have plenty in common with people across the U.S. on the evening of Feb. 9.
Last year an estimated 123.7 million viewers watched the big game, making it the most viewed U.S. broadcast of 2024, and another huge audience will be tuning in Sunday.
As a diehard Browns fan, I’ll simply root for a good, close game when the Eagles take on the Chiefs in New Orleans. I’ll try to put the inept Cleveland franchise as far out of my mind as possible.
The Browns are back to square one as far as being anywhere close to getting to the Super Bowl, much less win a playoff game or even get there.
The Deshaun Watson debacle continues to decimate the franchise, with the latest domino to fall the announcement by Myles Garrett that he wants to be traded. I can’t blame Garrett one bit for wanting to leave for a winning franchise and get away from the inept Haslam ownership group.
But I digress. Back to the Super Bowl that’s almost upon us.
I’ve been kind of torn this week thinking about the Eagles vs. Chiefs matchup and what team I want to win.
Kansas City has a chance to become the first team to win three Super Bowls, which is an amazing accomplishment. It can be fun to watch a dynasty cement its place in history. Of course, some in our sports society get tired of a team that wins too much and roots for them to fail.
Our family has relatives in the Philadelphia area, and I do like the Eagles’ blue-collar approach.
If anything, I’m simply rooting for a close game that comes down to the end.
But if I had to pick one team, I would go with the Chiefs. I’ve admittedly gotten sick of the Chiefs at times and their questionable calls from the referees, but you have to give coach Andy Reid, Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce credit for leading an incredible run.
The Chiefs are a 1 1/2-point favorite based largely on Mahomes’ ability to seemingly always make the big plays in the fourth quarter.
Mahomes and Kelce will be first ballot Hall of Famers. It’s very cool that brothers Travis and Jason Kelce (retired Eagles center) are from nearby Cleveland Heights. It would be nice to see Willoughby South alum Kareem Hunt get a ring as a running back for the Chiefs.
Mahomes will certainly have his work cut out for him, as his stats are down this year, and incredibly, the Chiefs’ only time topping 30 points was in the AFC Championship win over Buffalo.
To make matters even tougher, the Eagles had the No. 2 scoring defense in the NFL in the regular season.
The key matchup will be Eagles’ 2,000-yard rusher Saquon Barkley against the Chiefs’ eighth-ranked rushing defense. It doesn’t get much better than that for fans of smashmouth football.
Mahomes has been the Chiefs’ starting quarterback for seven seasons, and this will be his fifth trip to the Super Bowl. His creativity and ability to improvise in key moments might be the best in NFL history.
The Eagles’ Jalen Hurts is an outstanding runner and passer. He’s in his second Super Bowl in four years and will try to help avenge the Eagles’ 38-35 loss against the Chiefs two years ago.
The Eagles have perfected the “tush push,” aka “brotherly shove.” Hurts rushed for 14 TDs in the regular season and four more in the playoffs, with many coming on runs up the middle with help from his friends.
Extra points
Of course, the Super Bowl is about much more than just football. It’s always fun to see what creativity advertisers come up with for the ads.
—I’m looking forward to hearing Tom Brady on color commentary for Fox, paired alongside Kevin Burkhardt. Brady has gotten better and better as an announcer as the season has gone along, and there’s not a better person to get insight for the Super Bowl than the seven-time champion.
—The halftime shows also are watched with great anticipation and highly scrutinized. I can’t say I’m a Kendrick Lamar fan or even know his raps, but I will give him a watch.
I’ll probably come away reminiscing about halftime shows of years gone by put on by some of my favorites, like Prince (2007), U2 (2002) or Bruce Springsteen (2009). I will say the 2022 show with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent and Lamar was pretty good.
—Some fans are no doubt wondering if Travis Kelce will propose to girlfriend Taylor Swift at some point during the night. Maybe if the Chiefs win. They couldn’t have a bigger stage than the Super Bowl, and Travis popping the question might blow up the internet.
Super pick
I’m going with the Chiefs over the Eagles, 27-25.
College wrestling woes
It was sad to see Cleveland State announce recently that it’s getting rid of its wrestling and softball programs due to financial problems.
With CSU dropping wrestling, that leaves just three Division I Ohio colleges with the sport: Ohio State, Ohio University and Kent State.
The only Div. II colleges with wrestling are Ashland, Findlay, Lake Erie College and Tiffin.
Two Wayne County graduates are on this year’s CSU wrestling team: senior Joey Lyons from Wooster and redshirt sophomore Tate Geiser from Dalton.
Lyons owns a 10-10 record at 197 pounds this season while Geiser is 15-9 at 165.
Lyons has put together a GoFundMe page to try to raise funds to save the program — Gofund.me/43eddef5.
“We are devastated to share that the Cleveland State wrestling program has been abruptly canceled, leaving countless athletes, alumni and fans heartbroken,” Lyons posted on X. “For decades this program has shaped lives, instilled discipline, and fostered a sense of community and pride on and off the mat. Today, we refuse to let this rich legacy be erased without a fight.”
When my alma mater Bowling Green cut its baseball program several years ago, private fundraising actually saved the program. Hopefully, CSU wrestling can save its program too.
Aaron Dorksen can be emailed at aarondorksen24@gmail.com.