Pigskins and Politics: Let the Super Bowl Predictions Begin!

Are you ready for some football?

The NFL season kicked off Thursday night when Pittsburgh beat Tennessee. With the other teams launching their seasons yesterday and tonight, the time seemed ripe to ask some political insiders and opinion leaders for their predictions about the year ahead. Here are their choices for the next Super Bowl champ, along with some observations on the ties that bind politics and football.

David Shuster of MSNBC (who admits he's more a fan of the college game): The Indianapolis Colts "because I grew up in Indiana and my heart speaks louder than my brain when it comes to the NFL."

Martha MacCallum, host of Fox News Channel's "The Live Desk": "I'd love to see a rematch between [New England] and the Giants. It makes for a great battle at my house!!" As for the football-politics nexus: "Political junkies love football because there's 'a little less conversation, a little more action, please.' "

Markos Moulitsas, DailyKos founder: "I'm a Chicago fan, so when it comes to sports, I've got to go with my hometown team. Sure, the defense is getting creaky and old, and the Bears have no receivers to catch the ball, but Jay Cutler will do what he never did in Denver and lead a ragtag team to the Super Bowl. Either that, or they finish 7-9. Actually, the latter is more likely." On the sport's political tie-in: "I don't get a sense that political people like football any more than the general public. In fact, if anything, I notice a lot more hardcore baseball fans within the political crowd."

Ken Blackwell, former Ohio secretary of state and onetime college football player who tried out with the Dallas Cowboys: "The odds are in favor of the New England Patriots. They have the talent and the schedule to provide them with a leg up." He added, however, that "the Steelers have a chance, because politics, like football, is a contact sport."

Chuck Todd, NBC's chief White House correspondent and political director: "Go 'Canes, go Packers. Big 10 stinks and the Vikings are overrated." Sports and politics, he says by e-mail, "have two things in common: winners and losers, rematches, mantras of 'wait till next year/election' and, of course, statistics. Finally, just like politics, every sports fan is an expert and has an opinion."

Hugh Hewitt, radio talk show host and blogger: "The Cleveland Browns will win the Super Bowl this year as Brady Quinn is the starter and the Browns finally hired a coach, Eric Mangini, who knows how to win in the NFL." As to why so many pols love football, which he considers a bipartisan hobby: "What else are we going to talk about with our friends across the aisle?"

Kevin Madden, GOP strategist and former Mitt Romney aide: As "a Cincinnati Bengals fan, I just cannot bring myself to pick the Pittsburgh Steelers to repeat as champs. I'm going to guess the New York Giants. They have the defense that's needed to go all the way, and even though they have a weakness at the wide receiver position, Brandon Jacobs and the running game can deliver on offense."

Madden says that a lot of political junkies are football fans because "there are many parallels with regard to how you win a championship and how you win a political campaign. Both require seamless teamwork. Both require a strong leader, a special attention to metrics, a methodical discipline. And, most importantly, the courage and perseverance to handle adversity and bounce back. No team has a perfect season and no campaign is flawless. There are always going to be fumbles, interceptions and losses. But how you handle those moments is the true test of a champion. As the legendary Paul Brown once said: 'The key to winning is poise under stress.' "

Amanda Terkel, progressive blogger: "The Bills! With the country going through all this change . . . hopefully glory for Buffalo sports teams will be one of them." She added: "Politics is all about combat, just like sports. While many politicos would probably like to be tackling their opponents, they're stuck taking out their frustration in scathing blog posts or strongly-worded letters instead."

Chris LaCivita, GOP strategist: "As a Pittsburgh native, there is no other professional football team other than the Pittsburgh Steelers – who will repeat this season." He says pols love football for several reasons, including the teamwork, "the gut wrenching drama that plays out on most fields every Sunday" and because "anyone, at any time, can make a game changer. . . . But I love it for its sheer aggression, the controlled fashion in which hits are delivered and blows leveled. Yes, it's all about teamwork and in some regards finesse, but nothing's better than watching a Baltimore Raven being savaged by a Pittsburgh Steeler!"

Jim Pinkerton of Fox News wouldn't make a prediction, but said in an e-mail: "If partisan politics is a struggle between two organized teams; if football is a game requiring a combination of finesse and brute force to win, then it's only natural that political partisans see football as a kindred activity."

Of course, this is the time of year when every fan -- no matter how unlikely their team's chances – still has dreams of a Super Bowl victory. Politicos may be cynical, hardball practitioners during the week, but when it comes to rooting interests in sports, many are romantics who can't help but follow their hearts.