All hail The Numbers Guy blogger at The Wall Street Journal for daring to address a topic that many people mention in the runup to the Super Bowl but that few understand: the official “passer ratings” for quarterbacks. He discusses the history of the rating (which dates back nearly four decades), as well as the fact that quarterbacks themselves have barely a clue as to how it’s computed. For mathematically inclined readers who’ll be bringing their slide rules to Super Bowl parties, he links to an old GQ article that discussed the formula in detail. Meanwhile, TV viewers who are weary of seeing Peyton Manning in countless commercials will be praying that Eli Manning ends up with a dreadful passer rating on Super Sunday. If Eli leads his underdog Giants to victory on Feb. 3 and makes himself a bankable brand endorser, commercial pods on sports programming could soon be even more Manning-intensive.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver