You can’t escape the Super Bowl. Not in this country, not if you have internet access or a TV. The stories come in from all sides: Plaxico Burress predicts a 23-17 victory for the Giants and Tom Brady takes umbrage. The game will be decided by how well the Giants’ rookies play. The game will be decided by whether Eli Manning chokes or not. Everything depends on Brandon Jackson. Everything depends on the Patriots’ linebacking core.

It’s all about one thing, and then fifteen minutes later it’s all about something else.

Such is life in the media blitz days before the Super Bowl. It’s tempting to say that the hype has gotten worse in recent years, but it could just be that the various media outlets have gotten better at saturating the market. It’s not a question of coverage, anymore. It’s about selling the Super Bowl, framing storylines. And there can never be too many storylines. Not when it comes to the Super Bowl.

In many ways, it has a lot in common with the presidential primaries. In both cases the periods of action are relatively minor compared with the amount of media analysis before and after. Both capture the minds of the populace and divide us according to our loyalties and stances on things like health care and Randy Moss.

But do we really need to manufacture new angles of looking at the Super Bowl? It’s the biggest football game of the year. If you care at all about football, and often even if you don’t, you’re probably going to end up watching. Is it really going to enhance your appreciation of the game if you read an extended breakdown about both teams’ place kickers?

Consider the recent ESPN.com story on Patriots assistant coach Dante Scarnecchia. The headline reads: “Preparing to coach in his sixth Super Bowl, Scarnecchia avoids spotlight”. Well, no. Not any more. Not thanks to ESPN. They’re making damn sure that nobody hides from the spotlight on their watch.

The frustrating thing is that there’s already enough drama built into this game that you don’t need to frame it for us. There’s the Patriots, on the cusp of a historic unbeaten season. There’s the scrappy, determined Giants, led by Eli Manning and his teenage-boy sneer. What else could you want?

One of the best things about the Super Bowl is that it all happens on one day, and then it’s finished. Perhaps that’s part of the reason for the media storm. You don’t see this kind of build-up for the World Series or the NBA Finals, and a lot of it probably has to do with the understanding that there will be plenty of time to cover it in between games.

But in football you only get one chance, which apparently means you have to squeeze all you can out of that chance. That’s why molehills become mountains and players spend nearly as much time in interviews as on the practice field.

At least with the Super Bowl we get the simplicity and purity of the game itself to answer the final question. That’s something you can’t say for presidential races.