Super Bowl Sunday is right around the corner with two of the league’s best going head-to-head for the distinction as Super Bowl champions. This time around the NFL’s most anticipated football game of the year will showcase a rematch of Super Bowl XLI between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants.

Back in 2007, the Patriots and the Giants squared off in what was thought to be a huge mismatch. With the Patriots winning every game up until that point, the Giants were big underdogs and had little chance of coming out on top against one of the best offensive forces in NFL history. Despite all the talk of an easy Super Bowl win for the Patriots, the Giants did seemingly the impossible by getting the best of Tom Brady and company and winning the first Super Bowl title in the Eli Manning era.

This time around the New York Giants aren’t considered to be the underdogs that they were back in 2007 against the New England Patriots. Not only are the Patriots banged up with an injured Rob Gronkowski (sprained ankle), arguably their best offensive weapon in the passing game, but this is more of an even matchup with the Giants beating some of the best teams in the NFL leading up to this game (Atlanta Falcons, Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers).

Needless to say, both teams will come into Super Bowl Sunday with the consensus that they are equals in terms of chances to win the Super Bowl. As of right now, the New England Patriots have the slight edge with -3 points spread.

Even though the New York Giants will put up a fight and could very well get the win, the New England Patriots are the same bet here in my opinion.

Even though the consensus was that Kenyon Martin would have to wait until about mid-February to sign with an NBA team, the veteran forward was cleared about two weeks early and now can get into serious talks with teams around the league. Reportedly, there are six teams interested in Martin’s services, but the versatile forward will only sign with a contender and a team that can give him solid minutes.

The six teams in the running for Kenyon Martin are the San Antonio Spurs, New York Knicks, Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers, Atlanta Hawks and the Los Angeles Clippers. All five of these teams have a shot of getting into the playoffs and possibly contending for a title, but so far the Clippers have put in the best offer at $2.5 million for one year.

The Miami Heat has also reached out to Kenyon Martin with a pro-rated veteran’s minimum salary. The Los Angeles Lakers would also offer a contract at this amount. The Atlanta Hawks are currently in discussions with Martin and might be able to offer him a big role with Al Horford out with injury.

At this point in time, Kenyon Martin could sign with any of these teams, but the Clippers seem to have the edge.

The one team that Phil Jackson would almost certainly considering coaching in the future is the New York Knicks. With Jackson winning a title with the Knicks during his playing days, the Hall-of-Fame head coach has had a soft spot for the Big Apple ever since and has always wanted to coach in New York ever since.

Now that the New York Knicks has a solid core of talented players that could compete for an NBA title over the next half decade or so with the right direction, this could be the perfect opportunity for Phil Jackson to get back to coaching in the NBA. With Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler leading the way, Jackson could implement the triangle offense and potentially be successful once again.

As of right now, the New York Knicks are struggling to create some team chemistry under head coach Mike D’Antoni. With that being said, if the team continues to struggle and gets knocked out in the NBA playoffs in similar fashion to last season a change could be made.

There is no question that the New York Knicks would love to bring in a big-name head coach like Phil Jackson that is extremely successful and familiar with the storied franchise, but whether or not the Zen Master wants to give it another shot remains to be seen.

Fortunately, just a few days away from Super Bowl XLVI, Rob Gronkowski is in Indianapolis and walking around without his walking boot. That is nothing but good news for the New England Patriots as it means that their star tight end will be on the gridiron this Sunday and will continue to be viable option for superstar quarterback Tom Brady in the Patriots’ offense.

Whether or not Rob Gronkowski will be 100% or anywhere near it remains to be seen. There is no question that this up-and-coming tight end is as tough as they come as he was able to return to the game against the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship game after injuring that ankle, but two weeks without practice and swelling around that ankle could hinder his play in the Super Bowl.

Needless to say, the Patriots coaching staff is excited to see Gronkowski walking around without the help of a boot. The one person that is happier than anyone else is Tom Brady with Rob Gronkowski being arguably his new favorite target in the passing game. This could change the Giants’ game plan on defense, but should still make this a very competitive and compelling game.

There is no question that since the Chris Paul trade right before the beginning of this NBA season, the Los Angeles Clippers have quickly turned into a force to be reckoned with in the Western Conference. Not only were the Clippers able to get their hands on arguably one of the best point guards in the league, but they also added veteran players like Chauncey Billups, Caron Butler and Reggie Evans into the mix.

The combination of all these talented players around up-and-coming forward Blake Griffin has been instant success, but now the Clippers have made their vastly improved squad that much better with the addition for free agent forward Kenyon Martin to a one-year deal worth $2.5 million. Even though the consensus was that Martin wouldn’t be able to sign until the end of the basketball season in China, the veteran forward was able to break free early and ultimately decided to join the Los Angeles Clippers.

This was a smart move by both the Clippers and Martin as it makes this squad that much more talented at the forward position. Not only did Martin sign for the most he was offered from any team ($2.5 million), but he might get a good chunk of minutes sharing time with Caron Butler at the small forward position and a good chance to contend for a title.

LeBron James and company struck a big blow recently by getting the best of reigning NBA MVP Derrick Rose and his Chicago Bulls in South Beach. This win is what propelled the Heat over the Bulls in the NBA power rankings this week, but it also dropped Chicago from the top spot to number four.

If the Miami Heat continues to play this well with a healthy Dwyane Wade and LeBron James competing for another MVP award, there could be no stopping this team in the Eastern Conference this season.

#2 Oklahoma City Thunder (16-4)

Coming into this shortened NBA season, the Oklahoma City Thunder was considered to be the favorites to come out of the Western Conference and reach the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history (in OKC).

It appears to be so far, so good for the Thunder and Kevin Durant and company are without a doubt the best team in the West besides the recent loss to the up-and-coming Los Angeles Clippers.

#3 Denver Nuggets (14-6)

As arguably the most surprising team in the NBA this season, the Denver Nuggets have proven that they are much better team without Carmelo Anthony and with the new additions like Danilo Galinari and young point guard Ty Lawson.

With the youth on the team leading the way and star center Nene Hilario staying healthy, the sky has been the limit as they could head into the playoffs as a high seed in the West.

#4 Chicago Bulls (18-5)

Derrick Rose and company are still one of the best teams in the league and ready to make another deep run in the playoffs, but Rose can’t do it all on his own as this team could be looking to improve via trade before the March 15 NBA deadline.

#5 Indiana Pacers (13-6)

One of the biggest free agent additions in the league coming into this season was the signing of David West. With West and Danny Granger leading the way, the Pacers have become relevant once again in the Eastern Conference.

Fortunately, after going back and forth with the Denver Nuggets for months, the New York Knicks were finally able to make the blockbuster trade and finally bring a superstar caliber player back to the NBA’s biggest market. This move was thought to instantly make the Knicks a playoff contender and possibly in the NBA title hunt in the Eastern Conference as Carmelo Anthony would be playing alongside star big man Amare Stoudemire.

Not only did the Knicks have to perennial All-Stars in Stoudemire and Anthony, but New York also had some talented young players like Landry Fields to help bring this team back to life as one of the best squads in the East. The Knicks did make it to the playoffs last season, but were dominated by the rival Boston Celtics and ultimately swept.

This season things were thought to be different in New York as they would be a legitimate NBA title contender with the addition of Tyson Chandler and Baron Davis. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case as the Knicks have struggled to compete in the Eastern Conference and look like they could miss the playoff altogether.

With that being said, there have been plenty of trade rumors floating around the Big Apple with Amare Stoudemire and or Tyson Chandler being on the trading block. There is no telling what the Knicks could get in return for these big men, but the consensus is that if anyone is getting dealt at this point for value in return it is Amare Stoudemire.

There has been talk of a deal with the Orlando Magic to acquire superstar center Dwight Howard, but the Magic don’t seem too interested in making this deal. More potential trade proposals are bound to come with the March 15 NBA trade deadline drawing near and the New York Knicks continuing to struggle.

There is no question that the Indianapolis Colts could very well be at the beginning of an extensive rebuilding process after the worst season in franchise history (2-14). With the number one overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft, the Colts will select Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck and look to make him the future face of the franchise. Obviously, that means four-time NFL MVP quarterback Peyton Manning could take a backseat sooner rather than later or be out of Indianapolis altogether before the beginning of next season.

Now that Peyton Manning’s future is very much up in the air right now and could be decided within the next few weeks, the question about the team’s best wide receiver Reggie Wayne has been raised. With Wayne’s contract expiring, the team must make another tough decision over one of their best players and despite the unappealing aspect of rebuilding after being one of the league’s elite teams for so long, Wayne seems open to returning to the Colts.

The news for Reggie Wayne being open to re-signing with the Indianapolis Colts has to get rookie quarterback Andrew Luck excited as it would give him a Pro Bowl caliber wideout along with one of the best tight ends in the game with Dallas Clark at his disposal. There is no question that Wayne hopes Manning will get back healthy for at least another year or two in Indianapolis, but having Luck under center won’t be bad either for the veteran wide receiver.

This past Sunday, the NFL Pro Bowl was pretty much as advertised with the final combined score totaling 100 points. The AFC came out on top of the NFC as anticipated by a score of 59-41. Even though there was some impressive quarterback play by every gunslinger that got under center on Sunday in Honolulu, Hawaii, Miami Dolphins wide receiver Brandon Marshall stole the show with a record-breaking performance.

With 176 yards and four receiving touchdowns on just six catches, Brandon Marshall proved why he is still one of the best wideouts in the NFL. Marshall was on the receiving end of touchdown passes from three different AFC quarterbacks in rookie Andy Dalton (Cincinnati Bengals), Philip Rivers (San Diego Chargers) and Ben Roethlisberger (Pittsburgh Steelers).

The NFC did have their fair share of highlights as well with Aaron Rodgers (Green Bay Packers), Drew Brees (New Orleans Saints) and rookie Cam Newton (Carolina Panthers) throwing for two touchdowns apiece. The only problem is the game got out of hand once Newton was under center as he threw a game-high three interceptions and basically gave the win to the AFC.

Another rookie quarterback Andy Dalton put the nail in the coffin with a 3-yard strike to Pro Bowl MVP Brandon Marshall with about eight and a half minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. As if that weren’t bad enough, Derrick Johnson (Kansas City Chiefs) picked off Cam Newton for a 60-yard interception returned for a touchdown that put the game out of reach for the NFC.

This season the same can’t be said for the Dallas Mavericks as they have lost key players to free agency like J.J. Barea, Caron Bulter and Tyson Chandler. Even though the Mavs were able to bring in talented veteran players like Lamar Odom, Vince Carter and Delonte West, Dallas isn’t the same team they were last year and might struggle just to make the playoffs this time around.

With an 11-8 record (2^nd place in Southwest division) and a banged up Dirk Nowitzki, the Dallas Mavericks are going through the same thing that the Los Angeles Lakers are with younger and faster teams getting the best of them on a nightly basis. Both the Lakers and Mavs are still very talented basketball teams with great players like Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nowitzki that could lead these squads deep in the playoffs, but the fact is both of these storied franchises could be headed towards an inevitable rebuilding process.

Despite this most likely being the case for the Mavericks in the near future, Dirk Nowitzki remains confident that the path to the NBA Finals in the Western Conference still goes through Dallas:

“I haven’t seen one team in the West that I’m scared of.” Nowitzki said via ESPN. “I really haven’t. I think we can compete with all of them.

“Oklahoma City has probably the best record, but I think we’ve played them well every time we’ve seen them and everybody else has been up and down.”

Personally, I think the Mavs are done unless they make a trade for Dwight Howard or Deron Williams. There is still a slight chance that they can compete with a team like the Oklahoma City Thunder, but it is doubtful in my opinion.