You know what’s awesome? Sleeping in on weekdays. Days off.

These are the rare times in the grind of life when you’re supposed to be up and alert; you are supposed to be on the job site, or at your cubicle or in Spanish class, but you are not. You are in your bed. Or you are on your couch. Good times. Good times, indeed.

So you figure with the Colts playing in the Super Bowl on Sunday, starting classes a little later on Monday in Indianapolis wouldn’t be a big deal, right? After all, last time around when the Colts were in the Super Bowl, a bunch of bus drivers called in sick and classes got canceled anyway.

But no, that’s just not how it’s going to go down, reports the Indy Star (this link should work if that one doesn’t):

School districts can institute two-hour delays only for emergencies, such as bad weather or utility problems, according to the state. Those kinds of delays receive automatic waivers from the state. Districts delaying for other reasons would have to apply for a waiver, and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett signaled today that he would not look kindly on granting one for the Super Bowl.

[ ... ]

District spokeswoman Kim L. Hooper said the district was exploring its options to ensure that the district complied with state law.

Department of Education spokesman Cam Savage said the state presented IPS with two options: Either make up the day later in the year or extend the school day by two hours on Monday. Either one might be complicated by the district’s contract with teachers, which dictates both starting and ending times and how many days teachers work.

Oh, I see, there’s a state law that says you can’t start class late just because of the Super Bowl. Makes sense. There’s always a third option here, though: creating a huge snowstorm, rendering school canceled for the day.

Surely some devil child has the ability to alter the weather in Indianapolis, no?

UPDATE: They’re getting the two-hour delay anyway. FREEDOM REIGNS. Enjoy the sleeping in, kids.

Remember how Dwight Freeney’s ankle is reportedly pretty bad, and the Pro Bowl DE is questionable for the Super Bowl?

Well now we have the visual, via SB Nation:

Dear lord. That’s the size of like two of my necks.

Freeny said today at media day he may take an injection to help out with the pain, and for as much as he wants to play, the doctor’s final advice will steer his ultimate decision.

More power to him if he plays. I just hope he can fit a shoe over that thing.

Watch this video. It’s quite good.

I know it’s an over-covered storyline by now — THE SAINTS ARE SYMBOLIC OF NEW ORLEANS’ RISE — but it’s also incredibly gripping. It’s something you can’t help but root for, even for part-time cynics like me.

The Colts have gotten their Super Bowl in the Manning era … over the Bears of all teams. Do we really want this again? No. No, we don’t.

In closing, I say only this: Geaux Saints.

There’s been a lot of chatter this morning about whether or not Bill Belichick is an idiot for deciding to go for it on fourth-and-2 from the Pats’ own 28-yard line with 2:08 to go when his team was up six. On the surface, this does seem a bit silly: if you don’t make it past the first-down marker, the Colts only have to go 28-29 yards in two minutes for a game-winning drive. And that’s exactly what happened: the Pats were stopped short, and Peyton Manning lead the Colts to victory on a game-winning drive.

You rarely, if ever, see an NFL coach go for it this deep in his territory with these kind of results at stake. But just because you don’t see it that often, doesn’t mean it doesn’t come with logic behind it. There’s been studies that show it makes sense for teams to go for it on fourth down every time.

And as Advanced NFL Stats shows (HT: SB Nation), the win probability for the the Pats if they go for it in that situation is 79 percent. And if they don’t go for it and punt? 70 percent. Therefore, Belichick’s call, at least according to the odds, was the right one. Now, there is some exception here:

Statistically, the better decision would be to go for it, and by a good amount. However, these numbers are baselines for the league as a whole. You’d have to expect the Colts had a better than a 30 percent chance of scoring from their 34, and an accordingly higher chance to score from the Pats’ 28. But any adjustment in their likelihood of scoring from either field position increases the advantage of going for it. You can play with the numbers any way you like, but it’s pretty hard to come up with a realistic combination of numbers that make punting the better option. At best, you could make it a wash.

Any way you slice it, it’s just a situation that shows you can play the odds in every situation at all times, and still come out on the wrong side of them; unless the odds are 100 percent on your side, there’s always a chance the results won’t be in your favor.

Just ask Shane Battier about that one.

In this day and age of athletes who are constantly talking about the importance of self, it’s refreshing when someone steps to the forefront of the media and points out that “THERE IS NO ‘I’ IN ‘TEAM’!” (Yes, smartass commenter, I’m aware there is in fact a ‘ME’ there. No need to point that out.)

Reggie Wayne appears to be one of those athletes — which is particularly awesome considering just how many annoying wide receivers (if I had to venture a guess, well, I’d probably throw out the number 85) are in the NFL and just how many poor public spectacles (See: Shockey, Jeremy) the University of Miami has produced recently. I say that because he showed up to training camp driving a dump truck with a hard hat on to prove the point that he’s ready for some legitimate hard work this year.

Via Larry Brown Sports

And yeah, it seems over the top, but that’s because he’s driving a freaking dump truck. Still, it gets the point across, everyone in the media has noticed it and you best believe that Wayne’s teammates won’t take his point lightly.

Marvin Harrison and Peyton Manning go together like lamb and tuna fish. So it’s always surprising — even if Reggie Wayne is the best receiver on the team by a long stretch at this point — to hear rumblings that Harrison is unhappy.

Or, you know, asking for his release. Which is exactly what, according to Adam Schefter, Harrison has done. It’s a pretty sad day too, when you consider Harrison is as much a part of this franchise’s face as any other player on the team.

Although, in fairness to the Colts, Harrison refused to restructure his deal and was going to be the most expensive receiver (in terms of cap number) in the NFL next year; that’s just a luxury Indy couldn’t afford.

Still though, it’s going to be sad/awkward to see Harrison and Manning part ways after so many touchdowns. The question though, becomes more of a “whiter” and less of a “when.”

Schefter proposes that Harrison could land in Philly with Donovan McNabb, who he played with at Syracuse. That’s certainly a good call, considering he would fit perfectly alongside DeSean Jackson as a steady, possession receiver.

I’ll propose (because I’m doing it with every other free agent) that the Bears consider making a run at Harrison. Yes, he’s old (like Jeff Garcia!) and yes, he’ll probably want decent money. But he’s good at catching the ball and he would be a perfect compliment to someone like Devin Hester on the outside. It’s probably even more unlikely than Garcia, but it’s at least something to consider for the WR-hungry Bears.

The returns on Lucas Oil Stadium were favorable last evening.  This should come as no surprise: It’s nice, it’s new and it has a roof that you can open and close! But with anything new, there were also a few detractors. Like season ticket holders that can’t, um, quite see the game from their seats.

From the Indy Star (via Sports by Brooks):

One of them, Paul Carnes, Indianapolis, paid $1,280 for two season tickets, not including playoffs. His view is obscured by a hand rail that runs the length of the field.

Standing isn’t an option, he said, because fans behind him get mad. Worse, people emerging from a nearby ramp often obscure the whole field.

“This is terrible,” Carnes said. “I hate it.”

Colts vice president Pete Ward said the team doesn’t consider such seats “obstructed view.” The hand rail, Ward said, is a building code requirement that’s “an issue with a lot of the new stadiums. We’re looking into what, if anything, can be done to improve the situation.”

As The Star reported in July, about 200 seats do have what the Colts consider an obstructed view, because of a design decision to make room for more seats.

Hey, would you like to hear an obvious, terrible joke? GREAT.

/clear throat, pulls mic close as it makes feedback noise

What’s the deal with these Colts fans getting angry about not seeing the game? It’s not like they wanted to watch with how bad their team played!

/umbrella rings neck, yanked off stage at open mic