The sport of politics. The politics of sport.

My dad, the Giants fans, called me three hours before kickoff on Super Bowl Sunday to deliver some news on a happy sighting on the Massachusetts Turnpike around Exit 10, outside lovely downtown Worcester.

“I just saw a ‘Brady-Moss ‘08′ bumper sticker,” he reported. He’s one of those classy Giants fans who appreciates the Patriots and respects my love for the team. He’s also married to a Pats fan, which is why he was on the way home after visiting family in New Jersey to watch the Big Game with my mom. Mighty big of him, considering he could have been surrounded by “blood:” the fellow Giants fans in his family.

“I’ve GOT to have one of those bumper stickers!” I said.

“If I can find one, I’ll make sure you get it,” he replied, his voice grinning through our cell-phone connection from New England to Virginia.

No word yet from my brother, a somewhat more surly Giants loyalist who seems to have written off the Patriots (who he already didn’t like) as “cheaters” after the news blip that was Spygate. All that’s behind us now …

Just as my family is split between Democrats and Republicans, so we happen to be split along AFC-NFC lines. Maybe we just represent the profile of the quintessential all-American family, defined by divided loyalties but still loyal, when push comes to shove, to “our own.” Maybe just like football fans all over America on this Biggest Sports Day of the Year — what some call our most important unofficial national holiday.

I like the Giants, but I’ve loved the Patriots since they were the original NFL underdog. I’m betting Belichick will keep them in an underdog frame of mind, especially since some have begun to declare their belief in an inevitable GIANTS victory today.

Approximately 100 million people are expected to tune into the Super Bowl, bringing America together in a way the political candidates can only dream of.

Barack Obama wisely showed up on Fox’s Football-Meets-Sports blitz this morning. He and George W. Bush were the only presidential-level politicians interviewed. I wondered why Hillary’s people didn’t try to get her on to wish the Giants well. With the presidential race tightening, could it have been a fatal oversight?

Yours Truly, A.F. Cook