So the groundhog saw his shadow and predicted six more weeks of winter. Like none of us could have accurately predicted the same forecast with all the piles of snow staring us in the face for what seems like an eternity.

Thank goodness for February, as pitchers and catchers report to sunny and warm destinations next week while we officially put a cap on the 2008 NFL season and toss around a few baseball questions this week.

Super Bowl XLIII had one of the more exciting endings as the Pittsburgh Steelers claimed their sixth Lombardi trophy. How would you rank it among the greatest Super Bowl games?

Todd: With the back and forth scoring in the fourth quarter, it ranks as one of the top finishes I’ve ever seen, but I wouldn’t necessarily say it was the greatest Super Bowl ever as some media types have been proclaiming (too many penalties for my liking). But I would place it with my all-time favorite Super Bowls along with the following, in no particular order of preference: SB XIII (Steelers 35, Cowboys 31), SB XXIII (49ers 20, Bengals 16), SB XXXIV (Rams 23, Titans 16), SB XXXVI (Patriots 20, Rams 17) and SB XXXVIII (Patriots 32, Panthers 29). OK, my Pats bias would probably put Vinatieri’s kick to beat the Rams at No. 1. But it’s that same bias which prevents me from including last year’s Super Bowl among the greatest, factoring in the history that was at stake…dagnabbit! (replacing the word I’m actually thinking of right now)

I will say this: as a kid I remember always looking forward to watching the Super Bowl and then being disappointed a majority of the time because the games were so one-sided. As football fans, we’re pretty fortunate these days that most of the recent games have been entertaining right to the end.

Mike: Yeah, it was an exciting ending, but for the first three quarters, I had trouble staying interested in the game. I really thought the Cardinals were going to pull it off, but like the Pats last year, they just couldn’t pull off a defensive stand in the last few minutes.

As for ranking my top Super Bowls ever, I’m going to have to go with SB XXXVI (Pats/Rams) as my top favorite. Sure, that’s my Patriots bias talking, but it was an exciting game, with a huge underdog pulling off the upset in an unbelievable finish and to top it off, it featured something I had given up on ever seeing, the Pats winning it all! The Pats/Panthers game (SB XXXVIII) is my No. 2, it was a great shootout of a game that also came down to the wire. Now, another personal favorite of mine is SB XXII (Redskins 42-Broncos 10), it featured a great performance by a complete unknown (Redskins RB Timmy Smith) and best of all, I got to watch John Elway, by far my least-favorite NFL player EVER, get his butt whipped (gotta love the Broncos giving up 35 points in the second quarter!!)

Aside from the game itself, the Super Bowl is also about the ads and halftime show. What stood out for you among those moments?

Todd: I have to admit I was not paying attention during most of the commercials but I have to hand it to the two unemployed guys who won $1 million for having their Doritos spot rank as the top ad of the game. Who needs those expensive and out-of-touch advertising agencies? As for the Boss’ halftime show, the one nice surprise among a predictable song set was opening with ‘Tenth Avenue Freeze Out’, one of my all-time Bruce favorites (especially having heard it once live in concert).

Mike: Gotta love the Doritos ad. I also loved the Coke Zero ad that was a takeoff of the Mean Joe Greene ad from the 1970s with Troy Polamalu filling in for Mean Joe. As for the halftime show, I was also pleasantly surprised by “10th Avenue,” and overall, I thought Springsteen put on one of the better halftimes in recent memory.

Manny Ramirez gets a one-year, $25M offer from the Los Angeles Dodgers when he and Boras were looking for four years at the same annual pay. Naturally Manny turned it down, yet it appears there are no other suitors out there for his services. Where is he going to wind up?

Todd: Beats me, but sadly I say the Dodgers probably need Manny even more than he needs them, which is my way of saying LA owner Frank McCourt is going to feel pressure from the Dodger fans to put a multi-year offer back on the negotiating table that approximates Manny’s asking price. In the end, Ramirez will probably get a deal closer to what he wants, and if Boras does have another “mystery team” out there to turn to, he could not be hiding it any better than he did with the Mark Teixeira negotiations.

Mike: I really don’t care where he ends up. I think it’s poetic justice that he doesn’t have a job so far, and where does he get off rejecting $25 million, especially in this economy. Manny, just go away.

Joe Torre returned to the Big Apple this week, but not to take a managerial job. Instead he’s been promoting his new book that looks back on his time with the Yankees, not all of it in a good light. Will “The Yankee Years” wind up tarnishing Torre’s legacy?

Todd: I have not read the book and can only go by some of the excerpts I’ve read from the newspapers, but it doesn’t sound like Torre revealed much about his former players that we didn’t know or surmise about some of them already. What I find interesting is that Torre is apparently bitter about leaving the Yankees for him to release this book while he’s still actively managing in the big leagues. I used to think Joe Torre-even while managing the Yankees-was generally a class act, but the fact he’d be willing to co-author a book like this does tarnish my opinion of him.

Mike:Nahhh, it’s awesome that Torre took a shot at the Yankees, they really screwed him over when they let him go, why not take a shot back at them. Of course, my opinion could be colored by the fact that I’m a Red Sox fan…

Bud Selig earned a nearly $17.5 million annual salary in 2007. What do you think about that given the current economy?

Todd: Wow, is Bud truly deserving of that much coin? I think only a handful of baseball players actually earned more in ’07 than he did. Then again, MLB grossed around $6 billion that year, so I suppose Selig should be compensated accordingly. Maybe the real question here is whether Selig ought to be meeting with the CEOs of the U.S. banks and automakers to give them advice on how to run their businesses without needing a government bailout.

Mike:What does he do, other than make really bad decisions? Seriously, there’s something wrong with the world when people like Selig make that much money for doing nothing.

The Celtics and Lakers played an overtime thriller last night, but Boston came up a point short and Los Angeles sweeps the season series. How significant was the loss for the Celtics?

Todd: Perhaps if it comes down to a home court tiebreaker in the Finals, but otherwise I don’t think it was that significant. While it’s true that only once in the last 30 years has the team that swept the two-game regular season series not gone on to win the championship (1984), last night’s game was there for the Celts’ taking. But they were hurt when Kevin Garnett fouled out in the fourth quarter on a pretty ticky-tack call. To their credit, the LA Streak-Breakers have been more aggressive against the Celtics this season than they were last June (and what was up with Lamar Odom making his presence felt last night?). If these teams meet again in the Finals and LA continues to play a physical style at both ends of the court (with or without Andrew Bynum), the Green will certainly have their hands full.

One last prediction from me this week: no specific reason I’m thinking this way, but look for Northeastern men’s hockey to upset No. 1 Boston University Monday night to win their first Beanpot since 1988. The Huskies have quietly been ranked in the top 10 nationally all season (currently at No. 3) and would love nothing better than to break the Terriers’ stranglehold on this tournament while also knocking them out of the top spot.

Mike:The game this week will have no significance come playoff time. It’s a long shot that the Celtics and Lakers will even meet again, so it’s not worth spending the time stressing out over the regular season series. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it would have been nice if the Celtics had won, but overall, I’m not really sure that this game will matter come June.

And as for the Beanpot, as much as I would like to see Northeastern win, I don’t see it happening. That tournament has been BU’s own personal playground for so many years, that I don’t give the Huskies much of a chance on Monday.

“We’re just saying…” is a regular feature on keepMEcurrent.com. Mike Higgins and Todd Bloniarz have been observing Boston sports all of their lives. In their professional lives, Mike is the sports editor for Current Publishing and Todd has called and covered games for various outlets ranging from high school, college and even the Boston Red Sox for one memorable inning on NESN during the 2003 season.

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