Googs Breaks Down the Super Bowl

Posted: Jan. 24, 2003

With Super Bowl weekend upon us, Suns.com has recruited its favorite sports analyst, Suns forward Tom Gugliotta, to break down the big Oakland Raiders/ Tampa Bay Buccaneers showdown.

Last year Googs dissected each round of the 2002 NBA Playoffs, and although his predictions weren’t on target all the time, he was pretty darn close most of the time. Now the diehard football fan, who has a personal allegiance to the New York Giants, is going to take a stab at predicting his second favorite sport. But we have to warn you, he participated in his first fantasy football league this past fall with fellow Suns employees and finished just 4-9. Sorry, Tom! Better luck on Super Sunday.

As most of you probably do, I enjoy watching the Super Bowl each year with friends. It’s going to be challenge for us to watch this year, though, because we play in New York on Sunday afternoon and then we fly out to D.C. after our game. It’s probably an hour flight, so it’s going to be tight. But at the very least, we should be able to catch the second half. In fact, we’re trying to find a spot to watch it together as a team. We know we won’t have much time once we get there, so we’ll probably just rent out a room in our hotel with a big TV.

A lot of guys on our team are into football. I love watching football and it’s always fun talking to the guys about it the next day, because every guy in our locker room has a different favorite team. So we talk a little junk back and forth. Randy Brown is big into it. Our trainers’ Casey Smith and Aaron Nelson are big into it. Amare Stoudemire is definitely into it, being from Florida, where football is huge, and so is Alton Ford. Alton looks like a football player, so you know he’s going to follow it.

We actually had a playoff pool with the players. We all drew from a hat and picked teams. I got the Colts, unfortunately. I think the finals is Shawn Marion with the Raiders and Randy picked Tampa Bay. They’ve got some bragging rights on the line.

I also love watching the commercials on Super Bowl Sunday. They’re always a lot of fun, so I usually don’t leave my seat. They’ve already shown one – the Nike commercial with the naked guy running around at a soccer game. I think if they had waited that might have won best commercial.

I just got done completing my first year of fantasy football, which was quite the experience. I had a good time. I loved the draft, trying to pick up some sleepers in later rounds, maybe some guys that everyone wasn’t aware of. Unfortunately, it backfired for me, but it was still fun. It keeps you involved in what’s going on in the NFL. I ended up probably watching more games this season than I normally would to see what my players were doing. You can drive yourself crazy, though, because you worry when your star wide receiver, Terrell Owens, has only four yards at the end of the first quarter. You start panicking. But then it’s also fun to call people in the league and tell them they’re going down because Terrell Owens just had a big game.

Although I didn’t finish with a strong record, I learned a lot. I really didn’t know how to draft before the season. I didn’t know how vital good running backs were in fantasy football. It was a learning experience for sure. I had a lot of good players, but running back was my weakest position. I know now that if they are not carrying you, your chances of winning are slim.

I definitely didn’t have good luck either. I lost three games by one point. I had a couple of bad breaks. What can I say?

OAKLAND RAIDERS VS. TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS

Back to the game. I think this year’s Super Bowl is going to be a great one. You’ve got two teams that both deserve to be there. I think it’s interesting, because you have the best defensive team in the league, Tampa Bay, versus the best offensive team in the league, Oakland. We’ll see if it’s true that defense wins championships.

I’m eager to see if that theory holds. Everybody, including NBA coaches, say defense wins championships, but the Raiders’ defense isn’t bad. They’re pretty good actually, they’re just not as good on paper as Tampa Bay. The Raiders have an incredible offense, though, with their Hall-of-Fame receivers, Jerry Rice and Tim Brown. Rich Gannon had an MVP season. They’ve got a lot of weapons so Tampa Bay’s defense is going to have to play pretty good.

I personally like Tampa Bay. And I personally don’t like the Raiders. I never have. If you don’t love the Raiders you hate them, isn’t that the law? Actually, when I was in Minnesota I got to know former Vikings and current Bucs’ quarterback Brad Johnson pretty good. So I’m pulling for him. I hope he keeps on playing like he has all year long and wins the Super Bowl. That would be awesome. He’s a great guy and he deserves it.

Even though I don’t like the Raiders, Jerry Rice is a guy I really respect a lot, too. It really is incredible what he has done at his age. He’s probably the greatest wide receiver ever. He just takes everything in stride. He’s so professional. You never hear him complain about not getting this or not getting that. He goes out and does it. If he only catches two passes in a game, he doesn’t say a word and next week he knows he can catch 10 for 100-plus yards, and two or three touchdowns. He’s an amazing 40-year-old athlete competing against 20-year-old kids and teaching them lessons every week.

The Buccaneers’ players do talk a lot, but I kind of like that. Anytime you have Warren Sapp and he’s got an audience in front of him, he’s going to say something. I think it’s good that they are confident. But I don’t think anyone has said they are going to beat the heck out of the Raiders. Any type of edge you can get, especially in football when you’re hitting people, I think is fine. They’ve been backing it up all year. I don’t see why they can’t show how confident they are.

Speaking of the Buccaneers, I think it’s funny that a lot of people compare their head coach Jon Gruden to Chucky, the doll in the Child’s Play horror movies. I guess he acts like him when he gets that scowl on his face on the sideline, his face kind of wrinkles up and he looks pretty intense. I’m sure it’s his personality that earned him that nickname. He’s really done an incredible job. He’s really got two teams going to the Super Bowl. He hired Oakland’s new Head Coach Bill Callahan as his offensive coordinator when he was the coach there last year, and now he’s coaching Tampa Bay. Both of his teams are in the Super Bowl. I’m kind of wondering how he didn’t win coach of the year.

FINAL PREDICTION
Tampa Bay 23, Oakland 20

I think Tampa Bay is going to win it. I like them as a fan, but I’d pick them to win it anyway. Not only are they a great defensive team, but I think they can put up numbers and score. I think maybe people aren’t giving them enough credit for their offense.