Joe Buck

Last year, I caused a bit of a controversy with the attention I gave to the "prop bet" about how long it would take Billy Joel to sing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl.

I took the over--1 minute and 44 seconds--after a breaking it down very seriously. Then Billy raced through it in 1 minute and 30 seconds (not counting the intro).

This year, the folks at BoDog Life have dropped the timing by two seconds for Jordin Sparks, which for the life of me I can't figure out because Sparks is clearly notoriously slow. I mean she recently pulled a 1:53!

Anyway, I'm not picking this as my big bet this year. My big bet this year is "How Many Times Will (Fox Announcer) Joe Buck Mention Peyton Manning's Name During The Broadcast?"

The over/under is 5.5 times.

If you take the over, BoDogLife.com is paying out $100 for every $125 wagered. If you take the under, the Web site will pay out $100 for every $115 wagered.

Before I analyze, let me just set up a couple terms for you. A "Peyton Manning" mention counts if Buck says "Peyton Manning" or "Peyton." It does not count if he says "Eli's brother" or "his brother." Another point worth adding is that the broadcast consists of the time in between the opening kickoff and when the clock hits zero.

I broke down the National Anthem last year, and although I'm committed to this blog, I absolutely refuse to watch the entire NFC Championship Game to hear how many times Buck mentioned Peyton. So I'm leaving it up to you, my readers.

Someone who has TiVo'd this game and is willing to watch it all for me, please tell me how many times mentioned Peyton in the Giants-Packers game. I will add +2 to that since Peyton will be in the crowd for Super Bowl XLII and I think that's worth two more mentions.

Questions?  Comments?