Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 2, 2020, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE B5 B 5SPORTS I SUPER BOWL LIVSUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2020 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM THE best part of the Super Bowl isn’t watching the pinnacle of professional football or gather- ing with friends and loved ones for the game. It’s spending your hard earned money on nonsensi- cal prop bets that aren’t available during the regular season. Super Bowl prop bets cover everything from who will score the first touchdown to what colour Gatorade the winning head coach will be drenched in. Here are some of the funnier ways you can light your money on fire during Super Bowl LIV. Odds are courtesy of Bovada. Hawaiian shirt? Will Andy Reid coach the Super Bowl in a Hawaiian shirt? (Yes +1400, No -10000) As a team, the Chiefs wore Ha- waiian shirts during their plane ride to Miami in honour of Andy Reid, but it’d be hard to imagine Big Red actually wearing one during the game. If this bet was for after the game, it would actu- ally be interesting because we all know he’s putting one of those bad boys on if the Chiefs win. Fan invasion? Will a fan run onto the fi eld during the game? (Yes +575, No -1100) Highly doubt that a fan will be running onto the field because of the two teams that are playing. You’re telling me that a normal person might run on the field and risk getting tackled by the 49ers defensive line? Or get hit in the head by a football shot out Patrick Mahomes’ grenade launcher arm? Hard pass. Save your bills. Arrests? Will any player be arrested in Miami after the game? (Yes +750, No -2000) Protect the poor soul that actu- ally places a bet on this. What’s funny about this is the odds aren’t even that bad. Perhaps that’s because Miami will be rocking after the Super Bowl, no matter who wins. That fact that people can gamble their own money on the downfall of someone else is pretty amazing though. Trump tweets Total Donald Trump tweets on Feb. 2 (Over 13.5 +125, Under 13.5 -165) This one is actually somewhat intriguing. As we all know, Trump really can’t stay off Twit- ter. If the New England Patriots were playing in this game, it would be easy to smash the over on the tweet total. However, Trump may be inclined to fire off some congratulatory messages for 49ers fan Nick Bosa, who loves him some Trump. This bet hinges on two things: A 49ers win so that he can give Bosa praise (he already tweeted about Bosa last year after he was selected second in the draft) or just another random meltdown that claims he’s the most perse- cuted and attacked president in history — despite the fact that several presidents have literally been murdered. A Kaepernick ad? Will Nike release a commercial with Colin Kaepernick during the Super Bowl? (Yes +600, No -1200) It would be pretty funny to see Nike get a Colin Kaepernick com- mercial on air after Ben Volin of the Boston Globe reported that a Fox Sports executive said: “If it doesn’t celebrate football or celebrate America, it’s not going to be in the show.” If you want to win a few bucks at super low odds, betting no might not be a bad play. Reid gobble burger? Will Andy Reid eat a cheeseburg- er before the end of the broad- cast? (Yes +1200, No -7500) — New York Daily News Ridiculous Super Bowl prop bets to consider CHARLES MCDONALD M IAMI — Of all the sce-narios that could play out in this, the most even of Super Bowl matchups, it just might come down to this. Patrick Mahomes against Richard Sherman, game on the line in the final seconds. Who you got? San Francisco defensive end DeFor- est Buckner thinks he knows. “Anything you want to call it, you name it. I mean he’s got it,” Buckner said of Sherman, his teammate on the vaunted 49ers defence. “I’m just glad he’s on our team.” Correction, if you will. Sherman isn’t just on the team. He’s the undisputed face of the team. That was clear from the moment the 49ers landed in Miami, with their leader front and centre, dreadlocks flowing over his sweats and trademark slippers. The days leading up to the Super Bowl are reserved for talking, and Sherman has never been shy when he sees a microphone in front of him. He mourned Kobe Bryant, saying just the right things when it mattered most. He talked about appreciating his third Super Bowl the most because in the back of his mind he knows it might be his last. And he got a smile on his face when he told the story of his son being born just days after his second Super Bowl in 2015 and how it means so much to have him here at the game. “You just pray that one day you can play well enough and have your son see you play at a high level,” Sherman said. “And that’s the biggest blessing of this season is my son’s going to see me play every game and understand and recognize what I’m doing.” All, though, is not so rosy in Sher- man’s world as the game approaches. It never is with the Stanford grad, who seems to need to hold a grudge against somebody or something to play better. So he had a few words about the Se- ahawks for letting him go. He blasted the NFL for not caring about player safety and told reporters they were complicit by only writing the company line. He also took time to remind team- mates who might otherwise be over- whelmed by everything that happens in a Super Bowl week not to let the moment get to them. “This is a football game. The rules are the same. The game is the same,” he said. “At the end of the day you look on the field and there’s 22 people on the field going at it.” Left unsaid is that two of those most important people will be on opposite sides of the ball. And how Sherman affects the unpredictable nature of Mahomes and the Kansas City passing game could decide whether he adds a second ring to his collection in his third Super Bowl. Mahomes is well aware of what he has to deal with in the 6-3 corner who often turns up in spots a quarterback least expects. “Obviously he’s physically extreme- ly gifted,” Mahomes said. “It’s a lot of size and speed. He has great tech- nique. But I think the biggest thing is how smart he is and how he’s able to really understand the whole scheme and not just his position.” Understanding the entire game is one thing that separates Sherman from most cornerbacks. He was con- verted from wide receiver at Stanford (he’s still not on speaking terms with former coach Jim Harbaugh) and quickly developed a reputation as a pro in Seattle as a defender to stay away from. After a tentative first season back from an Achilles tear in San Francisco he dominated again this year, leading the 49ers with three interceptions and 11 pass break-ups even while opposing quarterbacks tended to throw to the other side of the field. The biggest stat, though, might be that he’s 10-4 in playoff games in his career, with interceptions in both play- off games this year. If not for an ill-advised decision to pass the ball on the goal line in Seattle’s 2015 loss to New England, he would be going for this third Super Bowl ring in Miami. Not that it necessarily matters, Sherman explained to the media which seemed as overwhelmed as an oppos- ing offensive co-ordinator with his volume of words for the week. It was Sherman being Sherman, and notebooks were filling up fast. “I’m one of those people who doesn’t really subscribe to the notion that playing in a Super Bowl really helps you in the next one,” he said. “Once you kick off and all the cameras flash one time, it ends up just being football. When we won our first Super Bowl (Seattle’s 43-8 win over Denver) we didn’t have any experience. Nobody had been there. Nobody had played there. And we won by almost 40 points.” Sherman played a big role in shut- ting down Peyton Manning in that game, and a year later was almost as good against Tom Brady in a heart- breaking loss. Now he’s got another generational quarterback to deal with in Mahomes, with the Super Bowl on the line once again. If the regular season is any indica- tion he’ll be out to Mahomes’ right on almost every play, an intimidating presence on that side of the field. He’s pushing 32, an advanced age for an NFL cornerback, but Sherman plays with a fierceness of a player a decade younger. So far this week he’s used every- thing but the players on the other side of the ball to motivate him for the game. That figures to change when the ball is kicked off, the cameras flash, and another big game begins. Then it might just become Mahomes against Sherman, the game we all want to see. — The Associated Press THEARON W. HENDERSON / GETTY IMAGES / TNS The one and only Richard Sherman takes the field before the NFC championship game two weeks ago. The San Francisco 49ers DB has his work cut out today, as he faces QB Patrick Mahomes. Brash, talented and vocal DB the face of 49ers Sherman could be key TIM DAHLBERG MIAMI — Troy Polamalu, whose shoulder-length hair and on-fi eld abandon made him one of the NFL’s most recognizable and popular players for more than a decade as a playmak- ing safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers, was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Saturday. Polamalu was chosen in his first year of eligibility as the headliner of a class perhaps less celebrated than others. He was joined by fellow safety Steve Atwa- ter, wide receiver Isaac Bruce, running back Edgerrin James and guard Steve Hutchinson. Wide receiver Reggie Wayne was passed over by the voters in his first year of eligibility, despite being ranked in the NFL’s top 10 for career catches and receiving yards. The new inductees were elected on the eve of Super Bowl LIV during a meeting in Miami of media members who serve as the Hall of Fame selec- tion committee. The voting results were to be announced at the taping of the NFL Honors show later Saturday. The new Hall of Famers will be enshrined in August in Canton, Ohio, as part of a special 20-member class for the NFL’s 100th season. The other 15 members were selected previously by a special panel. They are: coaches Bill Cowher and Jimmy Johnson; contribu- tors Steve Sabol, Paul Tagliabue and George Young; and players Harold Carmichael, Jim Covert, Bobby Dillon, Cliff Harris, Winston Hill, Alex Kar- ras, Donnie Shell, Duke Slater, Mac Speedie and Ed Sprinkle. Polamalu was regarded as a no- doubt-about-it choice. He played his entire career for the Steelers, be- tween the 2003 and 2014 seasons, and established himself as one of the most dynamic safeties in league history. His trademark hairstyle and high-energy playing style endeared him to fans. He started three Super Bowls and won two. He was the NFL’s defensive player of the year in 2010, a rarity for a safety, and was selected to eight Pro Bowls. — The Associated Press Polamalu (he of the hair) enters Hall of Fame Troy Polamalu Patrick Mahomes B_05_Feb-02-20_FP_01.indd B5 2020-02-01 9:43 PM ;