You don't need to be an evangelical Christian to care about the future of Tim Tebow. I’m a lapsed atheist myself. But with the resurrection of quarterback Peyton Manning in Denver, I wonder most about the future of the spiritual scrambler, who led the Broncos to the playoffs last year.

The Broncos signing Manning to replace Tebow is a no-brainer. He may be diminished by age and injury, but he is also the best quarterback of our time, not because he is a brilliant coach’s puppet (Tom Brady) or an on-field, off-field brute (Ben Roethlisberger) but by virtue of a fierce work ethic and a concentrated intelligence that is contagious and inspirational. Whatever is left at age 35 of him will make the Broncos better.

Through 14 years and two Super Bowls with the Indianapolis Colts, there was something reassuringly manly about Manning, his cool leadership, his laconic but friendly demeanor, his thoughtful professionalism, that evoked my role models on the Encore Westerns channel like Marshal Dillon and Wagonmaster Flint. (Something went out of American life when the legend of the western hero was replaced by the myth of the sports idol.)

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[Cut to Bourbon Street looking like French Liberation meets "Girls Gone Wild."]

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"We spend a couple million dollars on irritable bowel syndrome, and we spend a couple of million dollars on an ad in the Super Bowl Sunday, and we continue the practices that infuriate our citizenry because they're hurting so badly," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told Fox News's Greta Van Susteren on Thursday. "They're having to tighten their belts. This is what feeds the tea parties. This is what feeds the anti-incumbency mood that's out there, an out-of-touch Congress and an out-of-touch administration." Smelling budget blood in the political water, other Republicans chimed in, as well. "Given the difficult economic times our nation is facing, I am very concerned with the amount of money spent by the Census Bureau for the production and airing of these commercials," Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., wrote Census officials last week, demanding a detailed explanation of just how much money the ad would be wasting and whether a similar campaign during the 2000 Census yielded any improvement in response rates.

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Focus on the Family's highly anticipated and controversial Super Bowl ad was sure shocking -- but not for any of the expected reasons. Pam Tebow didn't tell the harrowing story of how she risked her life by refusing a medically-advised abortion while pregnant with her future Heisman Trophy-winner. Instead, she talked about her "miracle baby" without mentioning the particulars of his birth. She painted just the broad strokes of a heartwarming family tale:

He almost didn't make it into the world. I can remember so many times where I almost lost him. It was so hard. Well, he's all grown up now and I still worry about his health. You know, with all our family's been through, we have to be tough.

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Thankfully, even small children and needy house pets seem to have an intuitive grasp of the divine nature of the Super Bowl, during which adults reserve the right to distractedly mumble and gorge themselves all afternoon while staring at the TV.

Unfortunately, the game itself frequently sucks. But don't let that rob you of your one big chance to shut out the world and stare, slack-jawed, at a five-hour-long televisual sporting spectacle. Why, when the game gets dull, why not flip over to ...

The Puppy Bowl

Maybe the men in shiny white tights no longer seem like adequate visual eye candy to match your outsize libido, or maybe you're so old that what really makes your heartbeat race uncontrollably at this point is the sight of a 4-month old Chihuahua-pug mix, clumsily chasing a squeaky football toy across the goal line while a 3-month-old Lab-collie mix pounces on her own tail. Does this mean you're a sad shell of your former self, or does it simply mean that you're finally mature enough to acknowledge that nothing can make you lose sight of your own mortality quite as quickly as the sight of baby animals cavorting?

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In case you haven't been reading Broadsheet lately -- for shame! -- and are unfamiliar with the particulars of Pam Tebow's story: While pregnant working as a missionary in the Philippines, she fell ill with amoebic dysentery and was treated with robust antibiotics, which she says doctors told her had caused fetal damage, but she refused their advice that she have an abortion for her own safety. Luckily, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy -- and to a perfect anti-abortion tale. Only, one detail has so far been excluded from Tebow's public tellings of the story: abortion was, and still is, illegal in the Philippines. There isn't even a single exception allowed for cases where the mother's life is in danger. In a letter to CBS protesting the Super Bowl spot, CRR explains:

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Here's what we know so far about the ad: It features star college quarterback Tim Tebow and his mother, Pam, sharing "a personal story centered on the theme of 'Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life,'" according to a Focus on the Family press release. It's safe to assume the spot will tell the story of how Tebow's mom fell ill during her pregnancy but refused doctors' advice that she have an abortion for her own safety. Luckily enough, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy and future Heisman Trophy-winner. Tebow only confirmed suspicions that the ad takes this tack when the controversy was raised at a recent press conference: "I've always been very convicted of it" -- presumably his antiabortion view -- "because that's the reason I'm here, because my mom was a very courageous woman."

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Coach Taylor is at his wit's end. After a few triumphant seasons as head coach of the Dillon Panthers football team, he finds himself trying to rally together a brand-new team at a brand-new school, East Dillon High, after the town is redistricted. The field is brown and dusty. The players have never played football before. (Um, wouldn't a few of the good players have ended up at the new school?) Some of the players have criminal records. Others are unaccustomed to being yelled at, or unwilling to run grueling drills in the withering Texas heat.

Although Taylor (Kyle Chandler) may be facing a losing battle for the first time in his career, in its fourth season, "Friday Night Lights" (premieres 9 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28, on DirecTV, airing next year on NBC) is just as thoughtful and restrained as it's ever been, with its focus firmly planted on the small-town disappointments of ordinary people.

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"And in my estimation, the thing Lane Kiffin, to this point, has done is energize the base," Brando told Gainesville Sun reporter Dwight Collins, "which right now in this economy is what big-time business and big-time college football is about."

"It's sort of what Sarah Palin did for the Republican ticket. Maybe not get more votes, but energize the base of the Republican party. It doesn't mean that it's necessarily going to be successful, but if that's what (Tennessee) wanted to do when they hired Kiffin, that's what he was able to accomplish in the offseason. Now we'll see how much staying power he has, and how successful he can be."

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Still, it's time to consider forgiveness for Michael Vick.

Last month, Vick completed a 23-month prison sentence. He has admitted to his mistakes, apologized to the National Football League, his fans and his former coaches and teammates with the Atlanta Falcons. He has pledged to reform his ways, including working with the Humane Society of the United States on anti-dogfighting campaigns.

Last month, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell reinstated Vick on a conditional basis, saying the 29-year-old quarterback, who last week signed a two-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles, is free to take part in preseason practices, workouts and meetings, as well as to participate in two preseason games. News of Vick's acquisition by the Eagles prompted a harsh reaction from many, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who condemned the signing and questioned what message it sends to young fans. Undoubtedly, the team will face a public-relations nightmare.

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Until it's time to write the next book, I guess.

So just in the last week or so the mail has brought "When March Went Mad: The Game That Transformed Basketball," Seth Davis' book about the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird NCAA title matchup in 1979, and "The Best Game Ever: Pirates 10, Yankees 9: October 13, 1960," Jim Reisler's tome about the World Series Game 7 that ended on Bill Mazeroski's home run.

Those have been tossed on the pile with "The Greatest Game: The Yankees, the Red Sox, and the Playoff of '78" by Richard Bradley and my DVD copy of ESPN's recent "Greatest Game Ever Played," about the 1958 NFL Championship Game between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants.

I want to make it clear I'm not commenting on the quality of any of these things. I haven't read any of the books and haven't seen the movie.

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OK, campers, rise and shine. It's the second annual Brett Favre Retirement Day and you don't want to miss a minute of it.

The great quarterback has told the New York Jets that he's retiring after his 18th season in the NFL, same thing he did after his 17th season. Brett Favre retires more often than a narcoleptic mattress tester, so rather than write a whole new postmortem, I'm just going to point you to last year's version.

Let's see: Joke, transcended the game, people not believing he's really retiring, the Streak, lovable everyman image, annual diva routine, might change his mind but it looks like this is really it.

Yup, still good.

See you in a few weeks, Brett.

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Let's dig in, shall we?

Big Paulie: Were the two TD drives by the Cardinals in the 4th Quarter enough to cement Kurt Warner as a Hall of Fame QB, in spite of the fact that they lost?

Up till that point, I'd say he had lost some of his HOF luster. But after the last score, he was looking like he belongs.

The Brad: Whether Warner deserves enshrinement ... Should not be decided by two drives in a Super Bowl.

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To watch that winning play, and the two had-to-score Arizona drives before it, was to see teamwork in magnificent action: Eleven athletes working together like parts of an intricate clock, each player's success dependent on his teammates', all joined together by a bond forged in the brutal two-a-day workouts in the dog days of August and over the course of the long, grinding season, all aiming at the same goal.

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The Cardinals got to Tampa by answering Philadelphia's second-half comeback in the NFC Championship Game with a magnificent game-winning touchdown drive. Sunday night they played the opposite role. Down 20-7 in the fourth quarter the Cardinals scored a touchdown and a safety before Larry Fitzgerald raced 64 yards for the go-ahead score with 2:37 to go. But that was enough time for Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to collaborate with receiver Santonio Holmes on a trophy-winning drive.

Steelers 27, Cardinals 23. Super Bowl 43 was a beauty, not quite a match for the historically significant upset of a year ago, but a similarly thrilling game at the end, the would-be winning score one-upped by the real winner.

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1. Sunday's game is a classic matchup of a historically successful, old-school franchise with a chance to become the all-time leader in Super Bowl victories, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and ... the Arizona Cardinals.

2. The Cardinals can't win. The Steelers are better at everything it's possible for a football team to be better at, with one or two exceptions. The Steelers are favored by a touchdown, and that seems generous to our friends from the desert. Anyone who picks the Cardinals is just dreaming.

3. The Cardinals also couldn't win three straight playoff games to get to the Super Bowl. This was a team that only went 9-7 after being spotted a 6-0 record against its own pathetic division mates, the St. Louis Rams, San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks. The Cardinals lost four times by three touchdowns or more, and three of those came in the last five weeks of the season.

4. This column is picking the Cardinals. So, I'm dreaming.

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It's the third year in a row the NFL Panel o' Experts has had co-winners, and the second year in a row the winners have had 171 wins, though this year's winning percentage of .670 is a slight improvement on last year's .668 by Mark Schlereth and Jeff Zillgitt because of the tie game. Last year's winners got 85 games wrong, not 84. The record for correct picks is 180, by Sean Salisbury in 2005.

But those other two ties were between two human beings. So Bush administration, don't you think? Now that we're in the tech-savvy Obama age, it's only fitting that our new computer overlords begin the takeover. I mean make their contribution to a better way of life.

Hoge and Accuscore continue the streak of ESPN representatives winning at least a share of the Panel o' Experts title every year since its inception in 2003.

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Those queries neatly sum up the regular season and playoff run of your NFC champs, who beat the Philadelphia Eagles 32-25 in the Conference Championship Game, earning their first crack at the NFL title since 1948, when the Eagles beat them 7-0 in a snow storm in Philadelphia.

That was so long ago they didn't even have wi-fi in the helmets!

The Steelers outslugged the Baltimore Ravens 23-14 in an AFC Championship Game so brutal the teams didn't have huddles, they had triage.

The Steelers were quickly installed as roughly one-touchdown favorites in the Super Bowl, as well they should have been. They look like the best team in the NFL, a punishing defensive club with an offense that's solid average in just about every possible way. The Cardinals are merely that bunch in the desert with the crazy passing game and not much else.

Until the last three weeks.

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I don't mean this year. I mean ever.

The Arizona Cardinals host the Philadelphia Eagles -- you had them getting to within a game of the Super Bowl too, right? -- in the NFC game Sunday while the Baltimore Ravens visit the Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the AFC title.

That one was a little easier to see coming, though not too many of us had it written on the card once Tennessee got off to that 10-0 start. The Ravens and Steelers will meet for the third time this season. The Steelers won both regular-season games, but saying that makes it sound like there's a bigger spread between the division rivals than there is.

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Philadelphia Eagles (9-6-1) at Arizona Cardinals (9-7)
3 p.m. EST, Fox
How improbable is this matchup? It's the first time since the NFL went to a 16-game schedule in 1977 that neither team in a Conference Championship Game has managed 10 wins in the regular season.

The winner of this game will be only the second nine-win team to make the Super Bowl since the schedule reached its current length. The other was the Los Angeles Rams, who went 9-7 in 1979.

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Utah is undefeated and beat four top-25 teams, including No. 4 Alabama and Oregon State, which wasn't in the top 25 at the time but will end up there after a thrilling 3-0 win over Pittsburgh in the Sun E.G. But the Utes have no chance at the national championship, because it's already been decided by a series of levers and pulleys that Florida and Oklahoma will play for that.

So Utah is this year's model of the idea that a significant number of teams in the so-called Bowl Subdivision, which used to be called Division I-A, have literally no chance at the national championship. There is nothing more that Utah could have done, but what it did wasn't enough to qualify for the title.

And it's not as if the Utes are in line behind other undefeated teams with tougher schedules. Florida and Oklahoma have both lost.

There's a word for that: "ineligible." Imagine a league in which some teams are simply ineligible for the championship. Wait, you don't have to do that. Just think about the Bowl Subdivision. About half of the teams are ineligible to win.

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