January 25, 2011

Packers Favored to Win Super Bowl 0x2D: Despite being their conference's No. 2 seed with a 14-4 record, the Pittsburgh Steelers are three-point underdogs against the Green Bay Packers in the opening Las Vegas line for Super Bowl 0x2D. "I kind of don't understand what everybody sees that we don't see," said Steelers defensive back Ike Taylor.

posted by rcade to football at 04:45 PM - 12 comments

Are you putting a "hex" on the Packers by noting "XLV" as "0x2D"? If so, I approve.

(Sorry. Engineer humor.)

posted by TheQatarian at 06:00 PM on January 25, 2011

0x2d? Is this code for something? Wait, is this hexadecimal? You can't use hexadecimal. I would have to cut off four toes or something!

posted by graymatters at 06:03 PM on January 25, 2011

You can't use hexadecimal. I would have to cut off four toes or something!

The old joke among securities fraud investigators is that a male examiner working for the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission, not Southeastern Conference) is actually able to count to eleven.

But only after he drops his trousers.

posted by beaverboard at 06:43 PM on January 25, 2011

Is Vegas taking bets that the spread is even by game day?

posted by kokaku at 09:44 PM on January 25, 2011

0x2D... Clever.

posted by Drood at 10:55 PM on January 25, 2011

I figure if we're going to use odd numbering systems for Super Bowls, it's time to switch to hexadecimal.

I think this one should be even. Given the way Rogers played most of Sunday, he's not going into this one with any momentum and Roethlisberger and the Steelers already know how to win one of these.

posted by rcade at 08:46 AM on January 26, 2011

Ah, the yearly Super Bowl tradition....the Vegas folks decide Team A is slightly more likely to win than Team B, Team B takes it as a grievous affront to their honor, and sportswriters everywhere somehow convince themselves that there's some kind of unique angle worth writing about.

posted by keylimeguy at 08:47 AM on January 26, 2011

The Steelers have 25 players on their team that have been to the Super Bowl and just about as many with at least one ring. The Packers have 2 players that have been there. If you are a packer fan, you have to worry a little about that statistic. Players always talk about needing a quarter of the game just to get the nerves out the first time. I think that experience factor will be a big one. Steelers by 5.(after they allow a safety again)

posted by Debo270 at 09:26 AM on January 26, 2011

Vegas is only attempting to influence the bets at this point. It seems fairly obvious if the line were different, the betting on Pittsburgh would be so lopsided the bookmakers would risk taking a huge hit. It will be interesting to see where the line winds up in (close to) two weeks.

posted by dyams at 10:32 AM on January 26, 2011

Steelers by 5.(after they allow a safety again)

One of my favorite Steeler tidbits is that they started off the scoring in their very first SB with a safety against the Vikings.

As someone who did not enjoy watching Tarkenton run around like an honorary member of the Howard/Fine family, I found that extremely gratifying.

posted by beaverboard at 10:33 AM on January 26, 2011

The Steelers have 25 players on their team that have been to the Super Bowl and just about as many with at least one ring. The Packers have 2 players that have been there. If you are a packer fan, you have to worry a little about that statistic. Players always talk about needing a quarter of the game just to get the nerves out the first time. I think that experience factor will be a big one.

Looking just at recent history, two of the past three SBs involved a team with a lot of players with SB rings (Pats, Colts) losing to a team with very few players with SB rings (Giants and Saints, respectively). Of course, the other of those three SBs involved a winning Steelers team that was only two years removed from an SB victory over a Cardinals team with very little experience. But I think the experience thing is a little overblown.

posted by holden at 11:27 AM on January 26, 2011

The old joke among securities fraud investigators is that a male examiner working for the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission, not Southeastern Conference) is actually able to count to eleven.

But only after he drops his trousers.

That explains most of the problems with the SEC and all of the banking difficulties. The guy was able only to count to 10 1/2.

posted by Howard_T at 01:14 PM on January 26, 2011

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