How Did the Ex-Presidents Do In Jacksonville?

We can now render a verdict on how our two most recent former presidents perform as football prognosticators. Asked for a game prediction at Fox's Superbowl pregame show, former President Bush issued a terse "Patriots by 14." As it turns out, of course, New England didn't even cover the Vegas spread, so if you were putting your money where GHWB's mouth was, you lost.

Former Prez Bill Clinton, as always, triangulated the question, extemporizing about how if Philadelphia's D. played well, we could expect a close match. Precisely true, though I think the Man From Hope loses points for not actually projecting a winner and spread. Too bad former gridiron hero Jerry Ford is not taking a role in Tsunami relief: He'd have been good for some interesting pregame comments.

The close-game prediction points up another intriguing data point. Coming off a run of several years of good Superbowls, it's beginning to look like the boring blowouts of yore are gone for good. Is league parity responsible for that happy outcome? And if so, does that mean socialism works?