PiRate Ratings Super Bowl LVII Spreads

Margins

AFC	NFC	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Kansas City	Philadelphia	2.2	2.2	1.6

Total

AFC	NFC	Total
Kansas City	Philadelphia	53.5

PiRate Ratings For Super Bowl 56

PiRate Ratings Margins

PiRate Rating: Rams by 7.6

Mean Rating: Rams by 7.7

Bias Rating: Rams by 8.0

Total: 51 points

PiRate Ratings Special: Super Bowl Simulated Via PiRate Pro Football Game

PiRate Pro Football is a football game with 26 offensive and 15 defensive plays, the most in any tabletop game on the market. Each team is graded for each play, and we include the most diverse solitaire system for one person to play against a tough solitaire opponent. You can buy the 1960’s-1970’s best of the American Football League and the best of the National Football League team sets at the link below.

Buy PiRate Pro Football Game

We made special team sets for the 2021-22 Rams and Bengals and then played a game using the AI solitaire system for both teams. Here is the result of that game.

Final Score: Rams 27 Bengals 17

Score By Quarters
Team	1	2	3	4	F
Rams	0	10	14	3	27
Bengals	7	7	3	0	17

Box Score

Statistic	Rams	Bengals
Total FD	24	18
FD by Rush	4	4
FD by Pass	18	12
FD by Penalty	2	2
3rd down eff.	9-16	6-17
4th down eff.	0-0	1-2
Total Net Yards	377	298
Off. Plays	67	59
Yards/Play	5.6	5.1
Rushing Yds	71	95
Rushes	23	26
Yds/Rush	3.1	3.7
Passing Yds	306	215
Passes Att	39	36
Passes Comp	24	22
Sacked	0	2
Sack Yds Lost	0	12
Intercepted	0	1
Yds/Pass	7.8	5.9
Punts	3	5
Avg. Punt	43.7	44.6
Punt Returns	0	1
Avg. Punt Ret.	0	12
Intercept. Ret.	1-0	0-0
Fumbles	0-0	1-0
Fum Ret.	0	0
Return Yds.	0	12
Kick Ret.	1-17	2-36
Penalties	5	4
Pen Yds.	40	30
Field Goal Att.	2	1
Field Goal Made	2	1
Time of Poss.	32:45	27:15

Super Bowl Special Parlay

The PiRate Ratings chose not to issue any picks during the college bowl season and playoffs nor with the NFL Playoffs. With just one football game remaining this season, there is but one potential parlay remaining.

Normally, we lay off the Super Bowl entirely. It is like betting the Kentucky Derby; there are much better propositions in horse racing, namely in claiming and allowance races.

The PiRates only issue picks against the spread for fun and entertainment. We never wager any real money on games, and we highly advise you not to ever wager money based on what you read here. A few years ago, we had a professional “sharp” who has turned some mighty steep profits over the years pick games against four other “squares,” including two very wise females. The sharp didn’t win the competition. No, the female flight attendant won with ease. Her method was basically looking online at the public and picking games where the public was heavy on one side of a game. She went the opposite way and won about 60% of the games she wagered.

In all the years we participated in our fun wagers, only twice did we ever finish with a success north of 60%. Buckeye Michelle has retired from wagering on games just for fun, and we don’t have the queen of street smarts helping out these days.

What we have left in the tank this year is one final parlay. We are going with a thought that in recent years, the Super Bowls have been tightly battled with low margins and totals in the average range, not to different from the spread and total line. By playing a 4-team, 13-point teaser at -140 at most books but at -130 if you can find it, you are allowed to move pointspreads and/or totals by 13 points in your favor. In other words if Team A is favored by 9 1/2 points over Team B, a 13-point teaser would allow you to move the line 13 points in either direction. Now, Team A would go from a 9 1/2 point favorite to a 3 1/2 point underdog. Or, Team B would go from a 9 1/2 point underdog to a 22 1/2 point underdog.

There is but one game left, and to play a 13-point teaser, we need four different wagers. By wagering on both sides of the spread and both sides of the total, there are four different wager choices.

As of Saturday night, February 6, the line is Kansas City -3, and the total is 56 points.

Here is the possible 4-game, 13-point teaser.

Kansas City +10

Tampa Bay +16

Over 43

Under 69

Our expectation in this game is that the winner will win by no more than eight points, and the game might be a tad lower scoring than expected, but not lower than 43 points which is a critical total line value. If we had to guess a score in this game it would be 31-27 with a 55% chance that Kansas City will win its second Super Bowl in a row and a 45% chance that Tom Brady will become the Babe Ruth of football.

Enjoy the game. The PiRate Ratings hope you have rent money on Monday, so please don’t wager this game based on what we have published.

PiRate Ratings For Super Bowl 55

February 7, 2021

Margins

Home	Visitor	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Tampa Bay	Kansas City	1.8	1.8	2.0

Total

Home	Visitor	Total
Tampa Bay	Kansas City	58

PiRate Ratings For Conference Championship Round January 19, 2020

Margins

Home	Visitor	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Kansas City	Tennessee	5.5	6.0	7.0
San Francisco	Green Bay	7.3	7.8	7.5

Totals

Home	Visitor	Total
Kansas City	Tennessee	51
San Francisco	Green Bay	49.5

PiRate Ratings NFL Forecast for Week 12: November 21-25, 2019

This Week’s PiRate Ratings

Margins

Home	Visitor	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Houston	Indianapolis	4.5	3.9	3.9
Cleveland	Miami	15.1	15.1	15.5
Buffalo	Denver	2.5	3.4	3.2
Cincinnati	Pittsburgh	-5.0	-5.6	-5.7
Chicago	N.Y. Giants	12.9	9.6	9.4
N.Y. Jets	Oakland	-1.0	-0.1	-1.8
New Orleans	Carolina	13.1	10.8	10.9
Atlanta	Tampa Bay	6.5	5.0	4.3
Washington	Detroit	-6.3	-4.3	-5.3
Tennessee	Jacksonville	4.0	4.1	3.5
New England	Dallas	7.1	7.5	7.5
San Francisco	Green Bay	5.4	6.2	6.2
Philadelphia	Seattle	5.5	3.9	3.4
LA Rams	Baltimore	1.4	0.1	-0.7

 

Totals

Home	Visitor	Total
Houston	Indianapolis	45
Cleveland	Miami	48.5
Buffalo	Denver	36
Cincinnati	Pittsburgh	44
Chicago	N.Y. Giants	43.5
N.Y. Jets	Oakland	46.5
New Orleans	Carolina	48.5
Atlanta	Tampa Bay	55
Washington	Detroit	43.5
Tennessee	Jacksonville	36
New England	Dallas	43
San Francisco	Green Bay	49.5
Philadelphia	Seattle	50.5
LA Rams	Baltimore	50.5

 

This Week’s PiRate Ratings

 

A F C
East	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Totals	W-L
New England	109.6	110.5	110.2	110.1	21	9-1
Buffalo	98.9	100.0	99.6	99.5	17.5	7-3
N. Y. Jets	93.3	94.2	93.1	93.5	21.5	3-7
Miami	87.5	87.8	87.5	87.6	26	2-8
North	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Totals	W-L
Baltimore	108.1	108.1	109.2	108.5	25	8-2
Cleveland	99.6	99.9	100.0	99.8	22.5	4-6
Pittsburgh	99.2	99.6	99.9	99.5	20.5	5-5
Cincinnati	91.7	91.4	91.7	91.6	23.5	0-10
South	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Totals	W-L
Houston	102.4	102.6	102.3	102.5	23	6-4
Indianapolis	100.9	101.8	101.4	101.4	22	6-4
Tennessee	98.0	98.3	97.9	98.1	17.5	5-5
Jacksonville	97.0	97.3	97.4	97.2	18.5	4-6
West	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Totals	W-L
Kansas City	100.4	100.9	100.5	100.6	31	7-4
LA Chargers	100.8	100.6	100.0	100.4	21	4-7
Denver	99.4	99.6	99.4	99.5	18.5	3-7
Oakland	97.3	97.3	97.9	97.5	25	6-4
N F C
East	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Totals	W-L
Dallas	105.5	106.0	105.7	105.7	22	6-4
Philadelphia	105.2	103.6	103.3	104.0	24.5	5-5
N.Y. Giants	92.8	93.1	93.3	93.1	26	2-8
Washington	89.5	90.2	89.6	89.8	18	1-9
North	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Totals	W-L
Minnesota	106.6	105.2	105.5	105.8	23	8-3
Green Bay	103.6	103.7	104.0	103.8	25	8-2
Chicago	103.2	100.2	100.2	101.2	17.5	4-6
Detroit	98.7	97.5	97.8	98.0	25.5	3-6-1
South	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Totals	W-L
New Orleans	107.9	105.7	106.1	106.6	24	8-2
Atlanta	99.3	99.5	99.1	99.3	25.5	3-7
Carolina	97.8	97.9	98.2	98.0	24.5	5-5
Tampa Bay	95.8	97.5	97.8	97.0	29.5	3-7
West	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Totals	W-L
San Francisco	106.0	106.9	107.2	106.7	24.5	9-1
LA Rams	106.6	105.2	105.5	105.8	25.5	6-4
Seattle	102.7	102.7	102.9	102.8	26	8-2
Arizona	94.7	95.1	95.8	95.2	24	3-7-1

 

 

This Week’s Playoff Projections

AFC Seeding
1	Baltimore
2	New England
3	Indianapolis
4	Oakland
5	Buffalo
6	Kansas City
NFC Seeding
1	San Francisco
2	Green Bay
3	New Orleans
4	Dallas
5	Seattle
6	Minnesota

Wildcard Round

Kansas City over Indianapolis

Oakland over Buffalo

New Orleans over Minnesota

Seattle over Dallas

Divisional Round

Kansas City over Baltimore

Oakland over New England

Seattle over San Francisco

Green Bay over New Orleans

Conference Championship

Oakland over Kansas City

Green Bay over Seattle

Super Bowl 54

Oakland over Green Bay

 

 

 

PiRate Ratings Super Bowl LIII Preview

Super Bowl 53 Preview

NFC Champion: Los Angeles Rams 15-3-0

AFC Champion: New England Patriots 13-5-0

Date: Sunday, February 3, 2019

Kickoff Time: Approximately 6:30 PM Eastern Standard Time

TV: CBS

Online: CBSSports.com

Phone: CBS Sports App

TV Announcing Crew

Jim Nantz–Play-by-play

Tony Romo–Booth Analysis

Sideline Reporter–Tracy Wolfson

Sideline Reporter–Evan Washburn

 

This is the best Super Bowl TV talent in this generation, and the equal of Curt Gowdy, Al DeRogatis, and Kyle Rote in Super Bowl III on NBC in January of 1969 50 years ago.

 

Radio Coverage: Westwood One Radio Sports

Top Radio Market Affiliates

City	Radio #	Radio Station
Atlanta	92.9 FM	WZGC
Austin	104.9 FM	WTXX
Baltimore	105.7 FM	WJZ
Boston	850 AM	WEEI
Charlotte	610 AM	WFNZ
Chicago	670 AM	WSCR
Cincinnati	1360 AM	WSAI
Cleveland	92.3 FM	WKRK
Columbus	1460 AM	WBNS
Dallas	105.3 FM	KRLD
Denver	1600 AM	KEPN
Detroit	1270 AM	WXYT
Houston	610 AM	KILT
Indianapolis	1260 AM	WNDE
Kansas City	810 AM	WHB
Las Vegas	1100 AM	KWWN
Los Angeles	550 AM	KLAC
Miami	790 AM	WAXY
Minneapolis	100.3 FM	KFXN
Nashville	104.5 FM	WGFX
New York	660 AM	WFAN
Orlando	580 AM	WDBO
Philadelphia	1210 AM	WPHT
Phoenix	910 AM	KGME
Pittsburgh	93.7 FM	KDKA
Portland	750 AM	KXTG
Sacramento	1140 AM	KHTK
San Antonio	760 AM	KTKR
San Bernardino	1350 AM	KPWK
San Diego	97.3 FM	KWFN
San Francisco Bay Area	95.7 FM	WGMZ
Seattle	950 AM	KJR
St. Louis	101.1 FM	WXOS
Tampa	820 AM	WWBA
Virginia Beach	94.1 FM	WVSP
Washington, DC	106.7 FM	WJFK

 and Sirius XM Channel 88

Radio Broadcast Talent

Kevin Harlan–Play by Play

Kurt Warner–Booth Analysis

Others–Mike Holmgren, Ed Werder, Tony Boselli, Scott Graham, and Jim Gray

Nevada Lines

Line as of 12 Noon EST Wednesday, January 23

New England by 2 1/2

Total 57 1/2

Money Line

New England -135

Los Angeles +115

 

PiRate Ratings Spreads

Pirate: Los Angeles by 1.4

Mean: Los Angeles by 1.4

Bias: Los Angeles by 1.1

Total: 52

 

Computer Simulations

Data Used: Advanced Metric Statistics for both teams adjusted to strengths of schedules and then using a random number generator of potential outcomes, 100 simulations were run.  We feel that 10,000 simulations artificially lowers the variance, which was already quite low.

100 Sims

Los Angeles Wins: 56

New England Wins: 44

Average Score (Rounded) Los Angeles 30  New England 27

Simulations going over the total: 52

Simulations going under the total: 48

Standard Deviation on the Margin: 3.34

Standard Deviation on the Total: 5.22

Outlier Win for LA: Rams 41  Patriots 24

Outlier Win for NE: Patriots 31  Rams 16

This marks the final football publication for the PiRate Ratings until sometime in the Summer, when we will be in the process of updating the college football ratings for the 2019 season.  Thank You to all that patronize this site.  If you haven’t checked out our other ratings, we cover college basketball with new publications on Monday and Friday until the end of the regular season and then daily through Selection Sunday.  Our annual “Bracketnomics 505” comes out the Monday evening after Selection Sunday, and it has been our most read feature through the years.  We offer all this free to you, because we are a group of math geeks that were once athletes in the dark ages.

Our goal is to supply you with fun information and not to encourage you to wager money using our data for your research.  None of the contributors here at this site ever wager money on our recommendations.  We understand that there are professionals that come to this site, and more than one of you has told us that there is something we put out that does influence how you wager.  We hope for your sake, it doesn’t send you to the Poor House, because  we don’t have any more room here.

 

PiRate Ratings NFL Forecast for Week 14: December 6-10, 2018

This Week’s PiRate Ratings Spreads

Home	Visitor	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Totals
Tennessee	Jacksonville	0.6	0.9	0.3	39
Kansas City	Baltimore	8.0	8.0	8.1	51
Houston	Indianapolis	5.0	6.3	5.7	49.5
Cleveland	Carolina	-2.1	-1.4	-1.4	49
Green Bay	Atlanta	2.6	3.3	2.6	49.5
Tampa Bay	New Orleans	-13.5	-13.5	-13.1	53.5
Buffalo	N.Y. Jets	0.2	0.7	0.6	41
Miami	New England	-8.2	-9.2	-9.0	44.5
Chicago	L.A. Rams	-0.6	-1.3	0.0	52.5
Washington	N.Y. Giants	1.8	0.9	1.4	44
San Francisco	Denver	-6.1	-6.1	-6.4	43
L.A. Chargers	Cincinnati	13.3	13.9	14.2	47.5
Arizona	Detroit	-1.3	-1.5	-1.0	43
Dallas	Philadelphia	4.1	4.3	4.4	41
Oakland	Pittsburgh	-12.8	-12.7	-12.6	46
Seattle	Minnesota	4.8	4.9	5.8	44

 

This Week’s PiRate Ratings 

A F C
East	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Totals	W-L
New England	105.9	106.4	106.4	106.2	22.5	9-3
Miami	94.7	94.3	94.4	94.4	22	6-6
N. Y. Jets	94.6	94.1	94.1	94.3	23.5	3-9
Buffalo	92.9	92.8	92.7	92.8	17.5	4-8
North	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Totals	W-L
Pittsburgh	106.5	106.5	106.2	106.4	24.5	7-4-1
Baltimore	102.9	103.2	102.9	103.0	21	7-5
Cleveland	96.6	96.9	97.3	96.9	24.5	4-7-1
Cincinnati	94.3	94.4	93.9	94.2	23.5	5-7
South	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Totals	W-L
Houston	102.8	103.1	103.6	103.1	24	9-3
Indianapolis	100.3	99.3	100.3	100.0	25.5	6-6
Jacksonville	98.8	98.5	98.6	98.6	19	4-8
Tennessee	96.9	96.8	96.4	96.7	20	6-6
West	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Totals	W-L
Kansas City	107.9	108.2	108.0	108.0	30	10-2
LA Chargers	104.5	105.3	105.1	105.0	24	9-3
Denver	101.8	101.7	101.7	101.7	20.5	6-6
Oakland	90.7	90.8	90.6	90.7	21.5	2-10
N F C
East	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Totals	W-L
Dallas	101.9	102.0	101.7	101.9	19	7-5
Philadelphia	100.7	100.7	100.4	100.6	22	6-6
N.Y. Giants	96.3	96.5	96.6	96.5	22	4-8
Washington	96.2	95.4	96.0	95.9	22	6-6
North	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Totals	W-L
Chicago	104.2	104.2	105.0	104.5	23.5	8-4
Minnesota	102.4	102.4	102.1	102.3	21	6-5-1
Green Bay	99.1	99.5	98.7	99.1	24	4-7-1
Detroit	98.4	98.2	97.8	98.1	24.5	4-8
South	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Totals	W-L
New Orleans	112.5	112.6	112.8	112.6	27.5	10-2
Carolina	101.3	100.8	101.1	101.1	24.5	6-6
Atlanta	99.5	99.2	99.1	99.2	25.5	4-8
Tampa Bay	96.0	96.1	96.7	96.3	26	5-7
West	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Totals	W-L
LA Rams	107.9	108.4	108.1	108.1	29	11-1
Seattle	104.2	104.3	104.9	104.5	23	7-5
Arizona	94.6	94.2	94.3	94.4	18.5	3-9
San Francisco	93.2	93.1	92.8	93.0	22.5	2-10

 

This Week’s PiRate Ratings Playoff Projections

AFC Seeding
1	Kansas City
2	New England
3	Houston
4	Pittsburgh
5	L.A. Chargers
6	Baltimore
NFC Seeding
1	L.A. Rams
2	New Orleans
3	Chicago
4	Philadelphia
5	Seattle
6	Minnesota

 

Wildcard Round

Houston over Baltimore

L.A. Chargers over Pittsburgh

Chicago over Minnesota

Philadelphia over Seattle

 

Divisional Round

L.A. Chargers over Kansas City

New England over Houston

New Orleans over Chicago

L.A. Rams over Philadelphia

 

Conference Championship

L.A. Chargers over New England

L.A. Rams over New Orleans

 

Super Bowl 53

L.A. Rams over L.A. Chargers

 

 

PiRate Ratings Super Bowl Teaser

We come to the last football picks post of the season.  The PiRates stayed away from the college bowl season and the NFL playoffs to this point, but we are staring at a little deficit for the season.

For three consecutive years, the PiRate Ratings earned a “profit” with our “imaginary” bank roll.  Wagering an equal fake $100 on every selection, we have enjoyed two marvelous seasons and one minor success in the last three years.

The 2017-18 season brought us back down to Earth, but a late surge brought the losses to the point where one final win would give us a winning season even more miraculous than the Jets beating the Colts in SB III.

So, with that in mind, we issue our final selection for the football season.  And, it is not even a money line selection like almost all of our picks.  We go back to a 10-point teaser parlay, something that used to give us some success, but something we got away from when we became rather lucky with money line parlays.

Because our computer ratings and simulations show this game to be as tight as it can be, and the standard deviation of our simulations comes in rather lean, we believe it is possible to make four picks in this game and combine them into a 4-event parlay at +136 odds.  The deficit sits at $-146, so a win would make a 3% loss become a 2% profit for the year.

So, without further adieu, here is our pretend final play of the season.

The wager for this game is doubled to $200.

SUPER BOWL 52 Pick

Super Bowl 52	Sunday, February 4, 2018	6:30 PM EST
10-point teaser	$200 on 4-team parlay @ +136	$200 wins $472
Team 1	Team 2	Number
New England	Philadelphia	+4.5
Philadelphia	New England	+15.5
New England	Philadelphia	Under 57.5
New England	Philadelphia	Over 37.5

PiRate Ratings NFL Forecast For Super Bowl 52: February 4, 2018

While we have taken a break from doing expanded NFL coverage for this season due to the overwhelming number of you that have indicated your political opposition to the league’s policies or lack thereof, we will expand our coverage just a tad today for Super Bowl 52, but we promise to do it in a tactful way and focus on the real true hero that will be appearing in this game.

You, our patrons, represent an excellent microcosm for football fandom.  The NFL is off a good 10% in television viewership, and pictures of the weekly games have shown all stadiums with more and more empty seats.  The so-called Mainstream Media, with the exception of Fox News, and the top conservative radio hosts like Laura Ingraham, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Michael Savage, blame the increasing decline on things like the high number of concussions, the outlawing of two sports fantasy sites, cord cutting, bad games, and the retirement of Peyton Manning.  Last year, they blamed the Presidential election on the decline, but the decline continued this year, and there was no election.  We all know why a large number of former fans are now former fans and may possibly be permanently former fans.

Read our editorial at the conclusion of this feature.

Super Bowl 52

New England Patriots (15-3-0) vs. Philadelphia Eagles (15-3-0)

Date: Sunday, February 4, 2018

Site: U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, MN

Scheduled Kickoff Time:  6:30 PM EST/5:30 PM CST (local time in Minneapolis)

TV & Announce Crew: NBC with Al Michaels, Chris Collinsworth, Heather Cox, and Michele Tafoya

Radio & Announce Crew: Westwood One with Kevin Harlan and Boomer Esiason

Current Las Vegas Line (on 1/24/2018): New England by 5 1/2

Money Line: New England -220, Philadelphia +180

Total: 47 1/2

The PiRate Ratings Spreads

If you are a new patron to this site, we issue three separate ratings for college and NFL football.  Each rating is a different algorithm based on the same statistical data.

PiRate: New England by 0.3

Mean: New England by 1.5

Bias: Philadelphia by 0.3

Total: 42

100 Computer Simulations 

Every year, we run 100 computer simulations with the help of a college statistics professor’s program.  This might be the last year we can do this, because said professor may move at the end of this term.

If you think last year’s game was exciting, being the first of 51 to go to overtime, you haven’t seen anything yet if the computer is accurate this year.  We’ve never seen a playoff game this close since our simulations began 16 years ago.

Number of New England Wins: 50

Number of Philadelphia Wins: 50

Average Score: New England 22.52  Philadelphia 21.90

Median New England Score: 21

Median Philadelphia Score: 21

New England’s Standard Deviation: 7.04

Philadelphia’s Standard Deviation: 5.04

New England Outlier Win: Pats 38 Eagles 17

Philadelphia Outlier Win: Eagles 30 Pats 14

 

Our Super Bowl 52 MVP (even before kickoff)

You can have Bill Belichick and Doug Pederson as role models.  Maybe you want to look up to Nick Foles or Tom Brady.  However, we at the PiRates Stand Up to admire referee Gene Steratore.  Steratore lives in the Pittsburgh area.  He has been a single parent for close to 20 years.  He owns with his brother (also an NFL Official) a successful and reputable janitorial supply company.  Call this a testimonial, but since delving into his life a bit more, we have decided to purchase some products from Steratore Sanitary Supplies (steratoresanitary.com).

Steratore is also one of the top NCAA basketball officials, doing a large number of Big Ten games as well as NCAA Tournament games.  He may be the best two-sport star you have hardly heard about.

Steratore gets excellent ratings in both sports; his business is outstanding; and he deserves some mention in Father of the Year discussions.

Our hats and hearts go out to such a fine outstanding American, one who believes in hard work as the way to succeed.  You won’t find Steratore making a public statement by dishonoring the flag of the United States of America.

We like to refer to a joke that former President Ronald Reagan made 30+ years ago.  He joked about how Cuba has the same rights as the United States.  In the USA, a citizen can stand up on a street corner and issue his dislike and opposition to the President of the United States.  In Cuba, a citizen can also stand up on a street corner and issue his dislike and opposition to the President of the United States.

Definitely, American citizens have the incredible gift from its founding fathers’ documents that allow them to express their opposition to the government and its laws.  The Bill of Rights belongs as the second document that should be included in the Governing Hall of Fame (Magna Carta number one).

The Flag and the National Anthem of the United States are not members of government.  They are a testament to citizens of this country having the right to publicly oppose and also seek public office ourselves.  Opposing the flag and anthem are indications that a person does not have allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America.

When NFL players make protests of the anthem and flag, and then the NFL steps into it deeper by refusing to carry a patriotic advertisement (not a freebie either) due to political reasons, this is a line of bunk in the opinions of all 6 PiRates.

How more political can past Super Bowl advertisements, especially last year’s game, be?  Do you remember the Annheiser Busch ad where the original Busch faced all types of hatred from others when he immigrated to this country?  It was sad that Mr. Busch faced trouble when he first moved to the USA (if this is accurate).  However, the timing of this ad when the hot topic of the day was how to deal with illegal immigration created a Budweiser Boycott that has now made the giant corporation reconsider if they will remain a sponsor of the league going forward.

Audi, Coca-Cola, Airbnb, and a hair care company that we cannot remember the name, all ran political ads, ads that offended some part of the population.

How can being patriotic and loving the principles that this country was founded on be considered political, unless it is a covert way of stating that the NFL represents an opposition to our principles of existence, thus implying they lack allegiance to our country?

None of us on the PiRate Ship will watch or listen to the Super Bowl.  We have chosen not to watch or listen to any games all year.  And before, you say we are 100% pro-President Trump or right wing conservatives, 3 of the 6 PiRates voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Primaries.  2 of the 6 supported other GOP candidates that did not win.  The 6th was as usual 100% behind a third party candidate.

However, on the 20th day of January, 2017, all six of us prayed for the well-being of our country, and prayed for the health and well-being of our President and Vice President.  We are 100% behind the system as it was determined in our Constitution.  The flag and anthem are relatives of the Constitution.  You may support no politicians in power today, or you may love them or some of them, but if you do not love your country and do not have 100% allegiance to it, then you are not a real citizen of the country.  If you want to make change to the current status, then do it by playing by the rules laid out in the great document that allowed this nation to continue to exist after 241+ years.

One more thought: this is baseball’s best opportunity to reclaim its birthright as our national pastime.  The 2016 and 2017 baseball seasons were incredible ones, and 2018 might be the best one since six divisional play began.  The New York Yankees and New York Mets should bring fans into the park in larger numbers, while the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels have great attractions to make it banner years at Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium of Anaheim.  The Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals will have to hold off the Milwaukee Brewers in what should be an exciting race.  The Cleveland Indians may make a run at their all-time wins record of 111 in 1954, after winning 102 last year and getting better in the off season.  Then, you have the best team statistics can create in the reigning world champion Houston Astros.  If new Angels’ two-way player Shohei Otani more closely resembles Wes Ferrell than Clint Hartung, then the AL West race should be quite interesting.  This looks like the year to come back to baseball if you haven’t sampled the excitement in recent years.