While Super Bowl XLII is full of unique storylines – Patriots perfect season, evolution of Eli Manning, Tom Brady’s foot, the lack of proper strip clubs in Arizona – there is a familiar theme underlying the game.

 

Boston vs. New York.

 

Unlike its baseball counterpart, the football version of Boston vs. New York does not rank amongst sport's most heated rivalries. The Jets have never really been the Patriots' main rival, at least not since the merger, and the Super Bowl will mark just the fourth time the Patriots and Giants have played in the last decade (New England is 3-0 since 1998).

 

Despite a lesser history, it’s safe to say there will be no love lost between the two cities as game day approaches. The Super Bowl will solve the question of football supremacy, but the argument of best sports city will rage on.

 

While we tend to think the idea of a massive two-city brawl is intriguing, we instead turn to the Cold, Hard Football Facts to decide a winner in the battle of New York vs. Boston.

 

One of the best quarterbacks takes on one of the best pass rushers of all-time. In this case Taylor, a 10-time All-Pro, was a revolutionary player and is still the best pass rushing linebacker in NFL history. As good as that seems, Tom Brady is fresh off possibly the greatest single season for a quarterback, and could soon have his fourth Super Bowl ring to Taylor’s one. In terms of sheer success, Brady a MVP winner and three-time Super Bowl champion, has the edge. EDGE: Boston

 

We at Cold, Hard Football Facts don’t know much outside of football, so when it came to comparing other sports athletes we did what any sensible person would do, looked them up on Wikipedia and here is what we got. While it’s true Bill Russell was one hell of a player and the greatest winner in North American sports history, it would be impossible for anyone to top the Babe. The Sultan of Swat changed the way the game was played and his accomplishments even 70 years later still measure up with today’s best. EDGE: New York

The New York City Marathon has grown into one of the world's biggest races since its inception in 1970. But the Boston Marathon is the world's oldest and gets the nod for pure history alone. It began in 1897 and has evolved into a timeless tradition: it's held every Patriots Day, a Massachusetts state holiday that marks the Battle of Lexington & Concord. The holiday includes a re-enactment of the battle at sunrise and Major League Baseball's only 11 a.m. game, with the marathoners racing by outside Fenway Park. The New York City Marathon is held some random Sunday in November when people should be watching football. EDGE: Boston

 

Nine teams contributed to New York's 50 championships: Yankees (26), Mets (2), Dodgers (1), baseball Giants (5), football Giants (5), Jets (1), Rangers (4), Islanders (4) and Knicks (2). Boston boasts 31 from four teams:  Celtics (16), Red Sox (7) Bruins (5) and Patriots (3). EDGE: New York

 

While New York has the advantage in total championships, Boston has enjoyed greater recent success. Both the Red Sox (2) and Patriots (3) have won multiple championships since 2000, while only the Yankees' World Series victory in 2000 keeps New York from being shut out this century. EDGE: Boston

 

Not exactly the best timing for New York. The Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox are all among the very best in their respective sports. The Bruins sit on the back of the Boston sports bus, but even they remain in the thick of the playoff hunt. On the other hand, the Knicks have failed to make the playoffs since 2003 and are always in the middle of some type of off-court drama. Knicks coach Isiah Thomas is probably the biggest joke in sports these days, ruthlessly harrassed by his team's fans. EDGE: Boston

 

Boston is the largest city in New England. But it's no match for New York, the largest city in America. EDGE: New York

 

The Big Apple is just one of a handful of cool nicknames for New York, whereas "Beantown" totally sucks. In fact, "Beantown" sucks so bad that nobody who has ever lived in Boston for more than 5 seconds has ever uttered the word "Beantown" and they give dirty looks to people who do use the word, wondering how in hell their city developed an association with beans in the first place. Boston's name for itself is the "Hub" - as in, "Hub of the Universe." It's laughable, too, but sucks less than "Beantown." EDGE: New York

 

Seinfeld and Cheers are two of the most popular shows in television history. Seinfeld, one of a number of successful sitcoms based in New York, was named TV Guide's greatest program despite the fact that it was famously a show about nothing. Cheers, meanwhile, won more Golden Globe Awards (6-3) and was on the air for two more seasons (11-9). Cheers also took place in a bar. And its greatest character was a fat drunk. Sounds like the contributors to a certain website we know. EDGE: Boston

 

While we could have scoured academic journals to determine the best institution of higher learning, we didn’t. We based our winner on, what else, football. Columbia has sent 30 players to the NFL, including Hall of Famer Sid Luckman and most recently Jason Garrett and Marcellus Wiley. Harvard has sent 10 fewer players to the NFL but has active players in Matt Birk, Ryan Fitzpatrick and everyone’s favorite medical-student-turned-linebacker Isaiah Kacyvenski. Former Bills coach and GM Marv Levy is also a Harvard man. More importantly, Harvard (with Yale) essentially created the sport we know today as football, which was once called "the Boston game." EDGE: Boston

 

Despite being held at a major size disadvantage, Boston holds its own against Gotham. New York has the size, the nicknames, the championships and the cheesecake. But the Big Apple is matched by Norm Peterson and Boston's current dominance of the American sports world. It's a dead heat – with the edge going to the winner of Super Bowl XLII.