Official Super Fraud Prediction for Super Farce 50, As If There Was Any Other...

Today's the biggest TV production in US history. Every aspect of it will be controlled to the microsecond--except the game--if you buy that.

— Brian Tuohy (@TheFixIsInTuohy) February 7, 2016

This post may make me look like a real idiot in 12 hours.

In zero uncertain terms, this is the easiest call I've had to make, but there IS one caveat.

There is a rigged scenario in which Carolina wins.  And the late news about Peyton Manning, his wife, and the HGH situation does leave the gate open a small crack for a situation not unakin to the Giants upsetting the 18-0 Patriots because Spygate blew up (in at least one of it's iterations) right before that Super Bowl.  (And it made sense then as it does here.  Then, the Giants had the one pass rush that could disrupt the Patriots' offense.  Here?  Cam Newton could catapault into mega-star.)

There should be no dispute:  If this game were legitimate, forget Carolina winning by a large margin -- Denver wouldn't even be here!

Carolina is the better team on the field, and they have the rigged angle.  Cam Newton has been groomed by the US Sports Machine to be the Next Great Black Hope.  (And, suprisingly to people like me, he's been a model citizen in an NFL where it is to advantage that you are anything but.)

The problem here is simple:  If the NFL is going to give Ray Lewis a ring on the way out, how do they not do the same for Peyton Manning?  This man is not well.  (I would not rule out the possibility that a well-timed hit kills Manning as he throws the winning touchdown pass -- that's how much of a time bomb has been on his neck ever since the surgeries.)

There are very few people who have carried more water, both on the field (helped throw two Super Bowls to much more league-friendly (at the time) teams) and off (his endorsement work, especially for Papa Moat Personal Parking Lot Johns).

And Vegas wins too, for the moment:  Much early money on Carolina moved the line almost to a touchdown in their favor, but a lot of street money (at the very least) has come in over the top on Denver in the last several days.

I do believe that Carolina will go out to a rather early two-touchdown lead, and Manning may well be benched for Brock Ostweiler.  The game will then stagnate, and Carolina will still hold a ~10-point lead entering the fourth quarter, when Manning returns for the all-too-predictable comeback.

Denver wins.  Manning is carried off the field as MVP -- one way or the other.