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Lincicome: Believe the hype: Super Bowl is what it is

Published February 3, 2007 at midnight

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MIAMI - To repeat the most repeated phrase of the week, this Super Bowl is what it is.

What a handy dodge this cliché has become. Is the Super Bowl experience everything you thought it would be? "It is what it is."

That was from Indianapolis defensive end Dwight Freeney.

Is the criticism of Bears quarterback Rex Grossman too much, or what?

"Criticism is what it is," Bears coach Lovie Smith said.

What great variety is available to the imaginative and to the apathetic.

Do the Colts see Bears kick returner Devin Hester as the man they must not let beat them?

"They see what they see," Hester said.

Is Bears defensive tackle Tank Johnson misjudged or as grotty as he has been portrayed?

"I am what I am," said Johnson, though probably he should give Popeye a little credit for that one.

Here's my point. Now that it is time, after having digested the wisdom of the week (I paced off the tables holding NFL-produced snippets of interviews and counted 120 yards of paper, which means that talk is not really cheap and it is longer than a football field), the easy way to predict a winner is to say, "It will be what it will be."

Not to throw anyone off with the future tense, but we prognosticators cannot take the easy way out. We are what we are and we must do what we must do.

Indianapolis by 10.

A wise football man once advised me when I asked how to pick a winner, "Think livestock." So I always start there, with the beef, or with the Hogs back in the day of the Redskins, and most often the answer is what it is.

Who wins the battle up front, in the trenches, where the cellulite meets the gut, that's really what it is.

And the Colts offensive line is better than the Bears defensive line, especially since the Bears have lost Tommie Harris.

The Colts line has protected Peyton Manning beyond good sense, limiting the sacks to 14 over 16 games.

And if pass blocking is not enough, the Colts' run blocking is good enough. When center Jeff Saturday knocked New England nose tackle Vince Wilfork silly so that Joseph Addai could zip in for the winning touchdown and finally get the Colts to the Super Bowl, it was a signature moment in the game.

"Jeff would like it to be known as The Block, like The Drive or The Catch," Manning said. "I thought it might have been The Trip."

It is whatever time will make it.

The principal piece of livestock for the Bears is also the center, Olin Kreutz. A Norwegian journalist, assuming that Kreutz was of Scandinavian descent, asked him to say something to all his fans in Norway. "Hi," said Kreutz, and turned and walked away.

Though my Norwegian is a little rusty, the bubbling explanation from the TV guy for the folks back in Oslo I think was that Kreutz had told them to be what they are.

If livestock fails, one turns to the matchups. And the principal matchup of the game - Manning and Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher - goes to Manning, with his fussing and gesturing and flouncing. He gets the nod on motion alone.

"I don't pay attention," Urlacher said. "I don't know if he's checking, if he's keeping the play or if he's just saying something to say. He does what he does."

And Manning does it better than any other quarterback in football.

Possibly the question of the week was asked of Colts tight end Dwight Clark. Since the Colts are, you know, young horses, and considering that the great and tragic Barbaro just died, were the Colts going to win one for Barbaro?

"He was what he was," said Clark, not cracking a smile.

And, finally, too much coffee doing what it does, I was left fidgeting outside the only media toilet while bodyguards ensured the privacy of the artist again known as Prince.

Prince was not, uh, doing what you do in those places, but was using the restroom to change into a bright orange jumpsuit in which he then conducted his press interview about being the halftime artist by singing Johnny B. Goode.

It seemed to all make sense and let me tell you that Prince is what he is.

Only smaller.