Official Super Bowl LI(E) Prediction. You're all suckers.

Donald Trump is being interviewed by Bill O'Reilly for the Super Bowl pre-game show.

If you need to know anything else of the affairs of today, there it is.

You'll probably see him again just before the ceremonies pre-kickoff on FOX, when FOX does their tradition of post-9/11 Super Bowls.  I forget if it's the Pledge of Allegiance or the Gettysburg Address, but FOX has a patriotic expression of national pride just before turning the broadcast over to the pre-game ceremonies.  (To be fair, it had Obama when he was President.)

(And a reminder from my anonymous friend and Deadspin that the Patriots and Falcons were the top two teams exposed in a 2012-2015 report regarding the Federal government paying for patriotic events (color guards, reunions, etc. and so forth and so on) at NFL contests.  Falcons #1, Pats #2.)

But I felt this two weeks ago when the match-up was made and the point spread first set at New England -3.

This is a sucker's bet of MASSIVE proportions, in my opinion, and I may look stupid about 7:30 or so Pacific tonight.

I'll begin by freely admitting that there are several angles on the Falcons.

• As my friend points out, they were the top-receiving team of government funds for "paid patriotism".
• I fully concede that the league would take great joy in having it's first 2017-18 broadcast from a sparkling new billion-dollar-plus stadium.
• If the Falcons win this one, they are young enough to become the new "young guns" of the NFL and win several more.  There are many who view this as the NFL's "new blood" angle, and I can't see them wrong in this regard.  The defense is young, the offense is #1 in the league.
• There is, of course, the babyface angle.
• And the fact that the Patriots might still be (by some estimates) in the league doghouse.

So I get it.  There are a number of possible angles the league might use to push these Falcons -- and, if they are, they might be the pushed team in the NFC for quite some time to come.  This year, they might well have been the third-best team in the NFC (behind the Giants and Cowboys), but the facts are they were the most palatable choice for the league, so there's no surprise they'd be here once the league was forced to reveal that Ezekiel Elliott WAS being investigated.

The problem, for me, is that this entire season has become revolved around our new President.  Fascination with him destroyed the ratings for the league pre-election, and the fact he was made President in one of the largest-scale (perceived) "upsets" in history basically shook up every conceivable narrative in this country.

So much so that there are even people who are allies of the Orange Oompa-Loompa who would wish he'd get out of the way so people could sleep at night.

The thing is, it cannot be underestimated that this entire Patriots run (now in it's 16th NFL season with the Patriots going to seven Super Bowls in the timeframe) is almost-certainly the first US government-engineered sports dynasty.  From the first "win" fifteen Super Bowls ago, to the State of the Union address, to the numerous breaches of at least corporate law (if not criminal) Belicheat and the Patriots have gotten away with against various teams over the last decade and a half...

It also cannot be underestimated that Brady, Belichick, and Kraft are three rich White men (emphasis on WHITE!!!) who openly support Gropenfuhrer II -- President GrabHerInThePussy.  It's been kind of tap-danced around and all, probably as part of what my friend would call the Kabuki Theater surrounding all of this, but would it not be almost appropo for Trump to call the Patriots' locker room (or even on the field) after the game and congratulate his friends.

And then there's the angle on the league's own propaganda ends -- if Brady wins another, it's #5.  No player in the most blessed of positions (please note my snark!) has ever won 5 of these.  I've heard Dana White already demand a blowout because he already calls the Pats (his team) the GOAT and Tom Brady the GOAT. Tom Brady, ONCE he wins #5 -- today or the day he retires! -- will be placed alongside the other Foolish and Wretched Ballhog in the American Sports Parthenon.

As much as the Northeast did vote against Trump, it is still fact that the Northeast is still largely White -- in fact, Boston was one of the last sports cities to integrate (which see the stories surrounding Bill Russell!).  Downtown Atlanta is so Black, the Braves ran from there and are building their new stadium in suburban Cobb Country to try to bleach their fanbase.

I know a lot of people are talking this is going to be an up-and-down the field video-game score affair.

I think it will be -- one way, for the Patriots.

With the obvious caveat that, if the ratings tank too much, they'll have to orchestrate it closer, my pick is Patriots 44 - Atlanta 10, so we must all bow head and bend knee to Belicheat and Brady.

And pardon me while I barf up my lunch.