New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye - (NFL - photo)

New England Patriots coach Mike Vrable is familiar with winning Super Bowls - (Chipermc photo)

MIKE VRABEL as the player in the Super Bowl 2008

As the saying goes, if it doesn't kill you it will make you stronger. Sam Darnold's career is proof of that - (NFL photo)

Walter Payton NR TOP 10 SUPER BOWL Stories

Portland Trailblazer's Deni Avdija - (NBA photo)

Luka Doncic rocks in LA while Antonio Davis takes time off in Dallas with an injury. In this trade the PLUS is in LA, the MINUS in Dallas - (NBA photo) LA WINS BIG TIME in Luka Doncic trade

At 37 Lionel Messi continues to amaze - (Hossein Zohrevand photo) MESSI MAGIC - BUILDING A FRANCHISE

Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics ALL TIME NBA 1st TEAM - BREAKING IT DOWN

SPORTS NOTES EXTRA - SUPER BOWL SHOCKER

James Loving/National Radio Text Service

Prior to the season who would pick this Super Bowl matchup? This season both teams made monstrous changes. The teams' stats are similar. This sums up to be a pick-em game. Hopefully it won't be a blowout as some expected thrillers became bombs - Detroit Pistons - Israel the GOOD & BAD - Bob Kraft - Deni Avdija - Bad Bunny - WNBA TALENT 2 COUNT - NBA's ALL TIME BEST PLAYERS 1st and 2nd TEAMS

Thursday February 5, 2026

IT'S A PICK-EM GAME

NFL

Prior to the NFL season you can bet that nobody believed that the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks would be this seasons Super Bowl opponents. The Patriots were coming off two successive 4-13 seasons. Last season they added Drake Maye at quarterback. Nothing changed the Pats continued their losing ways.

This season the Pats changed coaches by bringing in their former player Mike Vrabel to be the coach. Vrable changed their mentality and philosophy. The team bought into his program.

Winning followed and the Pats returned to the Super Bowl where they have a history of success. This season they turned their 4-13 record around to 13-4 winner. Vrabel himself was a member of three of the Pats Super Bowl winning teams. His experience and mentality have made a difference.

Their second-year quarterback Drake Maye has become a seasoned player. With a new coach and team mentality he stood out as a leader. His tremendous season almost earned him the leagues MVP Award. Mayes missed out by only one vote.

Seattle added quarterback Sam Darnold. Darnold came a long way from his beleaguered time with the New York Jets. His maturity and growth factored in with his wining experience playing for the Minneapolis Vikings. With the Vikes he achieved the promise that was expected of him. His maturity and team support helped them chalk up a 14-3 record.

Darnold wasn't respected enough to be retained by the Vikes. They placed all of their eggs in one basket, that being their top draft choice J.J. Mcarthy. That expectation and plan failed and their GM has since been relieved of his duties.

Darnold give credit to his success when he spent a season with the San Francisco 49ers as a back-up player to Brock Purdy. With all of the constructive environments he experienced he has become finally, a respected, talented quarterback. The haters have been silenced.

All of his experiences have resulted in his maturation process and learning curve development. What stands out is his appreciation of the journey life has taken him.

This unexpected Super Bowl matchup has turned out to be a promising game. Both teams are even in stats. Both quarterbacks have interesting side bar stories. If there is an edge it will be the Super Bowls experiences Pats coach Vrabel can infuse in his team to relive the pressure of the big game. To be sure this is the NFL's main event and… it's a tossup.

BAD BUNNY is a GOOD BUNNY

Go figure… there has been much blowback from Bad Bunny being the Super Bowl's halftime performer. Many of the complaints being that they would prefer an American to perform not a foreigner.

LISTEN UP… DONALD TRUMP:

Puerto Ricans ARE US citizens. Puerto Ricans can serve in the U.S. military, as they are U.S. citizens by birth and have a long history of military participation. Basically, if you can die for your country you can perform at the Super Bowl.

NBA

ISRAEL… TO BE REAL

Patriots' owner Bob Kraft was not voted into the NFL Hall of Fame. Bad Karma could be the factor. When Columbia University students were protesting Israel's baby killing tactics, including Hind Rajab, he threatened to not donate money to his alma Mater to school from which he graduated. Kraft donates and supports Israel's baby killing forces.

Hat's off to the NBA added the Portland Trailblazer's Deni Avdija to the Allstar game as a Western Conference reserve. Avdija is an Israeli.

We've been paying attention to him since he signed with the Washington Wizards. He's a member of Israel's national team.

Other than his outstanding playing skills, he's not a baby killer. It's those skills that excused him from Israel's mandatory 2-year military service.

Avdija is currently injured with a sore back. This season he's averaging a career high 25 ppg., 7 rpg. and nearly 7 apg. His 25 ppg. is nearly double his career average of 12.8 ppg.

HOW BOUT DEM PISTONS!

For season's being in the NBA's outhouse with their losing records the Detroit Pistons have the best record in the Eastern Conference and appears to be moving to the penthouse.

After some tweaking of the roster, it seems as if coach J.B. Bickerstaff has things under control with a 38-13 record. The team has been suffering since they last were a powerhouse in the early part of this century.

NBA THIS DAY

February 5, 1960 Bill Russell ignored a charley horse to grab a personal best (and second best in NBA history) 51 rebounds in a 124-100 win over Syracuse. Fourteen years later, Russell was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

February 5, 1978 In what proved to be John Havlicek's last All-Star Game, Philadelphia's Doug Collins relinquished his starting spot so Hondo could be in the starting lineup. Havlicek scored 10 points in a 133-125 East win.

February 5, 1993 Boston's Robert Parish scored 18 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in a 105-93 win over Philadelphia, his 1,304th NBA game. That moved Parish into second place on the all-time games played list, trailing only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 1,560 games.