I am jetting to New Orleans as I write this, busting it in a tin can flying nose-first into 130 mph winds (you should have seen how this sentence looked before the turbulence stopped). To my left is a guy with a pen, making notes in the column of his USA Today. It looks as if he scribbled something with pluses and minuses on a picture of Ray Rice. For the purpose of this column, he was making final calculations before placing a bet.

To my right, someone is reading the New York Post, which is splashed with this headline on the back page: "Big Game Bettors' Guide."

Inside are several pages of picks, predictions, breakdowns, all against the point spread and the total. Mainstream betting coverage of the Super Bowl. If the axiom about journalism is true, that the tabloids do it, are derided, and then everyone follows, well, by golly, it won't be long now before The Economist hires me as its (unbylined) full-time betting expert.

The Super Bowl, as we know, is the biggest betting event of the year. The question this year is: Will it be the biggest one ever?