"The Game of the Century!" Not.

I love how sportswriters and analysts are playing up the Tampa Bay/New England Sunday night game like it's some kind of soap opera. ESPN's Mike Greenberg even hailed it as the "game of the century." Give me a break. First of all, the storyline centers around two of the most boring personalities in all of sports - Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Also, while Brady is undoubtedly one of, if not the best to ever play the game at his position, there is now some debate as to how great of a coach Belichick actually is.

In his 8 seasons without Tom Brady starting a majority of games for him, Bill Belichick's teams have gone a combined 62-74 in the regular season and 2-1 in one postseason appearance. On the flip-side, in 18 seasons with Tom Brady as his quarterback, Belichick's teams have gone 219-64 in the regular season and 30-11 in 17 playoff appearances, including 6 Super Bowl victories.

What do sportswriters seriously expect to see on Sunday night, in a game featuring the defending Super Bowl champions squaring off against an average team with a rookie quarterback? After Tampa beats down the Patriots, will they be oohing and aahing over the inevitable handshake between the former player and coach? The expressions on their faces? The mumbles, I mean responses in the post-game press conferences?

I can already tell you what Brady and Belichick will say post-game:

Belichick: ":: mumble mumble mumble :: They played a :: mumble :: game. I respect Tom :: mumble :: a lot. We gotta get better :: mumble mumble ::. It's one game. :: mumble mumble mumble mumble mumble mumble mumble ::."

Brady: "It was like any other game. We were focused on doing everything we could to win a game against a solid opponent and we did that. I think our offense played well, but there are areas where we can still improve. Now we just have to get ready for next week's game."

There are so many better games on tap for this weekend! How about the 2-1 Ravens going to Denver to take on the 3-0 Broncos? The AFC West match-up between the 3-0 Las Vegas Raiders and the 2-1 LA Chargers? The suddenly upstart Cowboys taking on the unbeaten Carolina Panthers? Or the great NFC West battles featuring the 3-0 Cardinals against the 3-0 Rams, as well as the Seattle Seahawks going to San Francisco to take on the 49ers? If the Sunday night game were a soap opera, do you know what it would be called? "The Old and the Lifeless."