Sixty Degrees of Separation

Beat New York?

We did that just the other day, Angels over Yankees in the American League playoffs.

Beat New Jersey?

We did that too, Lakers over Nets in the NBA Finals.

Never knowing when to quit, New York and New Jersey have joined forces in an effort to land a future Super Bowl, competing against Los Angeles for the same prize.

New York would get Super Bowl Week -- the six days and nights before the game -- for obvious reasons.

(Although the “Exotic Erotic Commissioners Party” in North Jersey would be unprecedented in pro football.)

New Jersey would get the game, in Giants Stadium. Considering the current state of the Jets and Giants, league officials are confident any such Super Bowl would be played at a neutral site.

Los Angeles counters with the Rose Bowl, hallowed home of the Granddaddy of Them All, give or take the odd Miami-Nebraska clunker, as well as five previous Super Bowls, although none since 1993. We’re overdue.

NFL owners will meet again in May to dole out the 2007, 2008 and 2009 Super Bowls. That gives them ample time to consider both bids.

Los Angeles: A Super Bowl would enable the league to get back into the nation’s second-largest market.

New York/New Jersey: In late January, when Super Bowls are traditionally played, it is very, very cold.

Los Angeles: A Super Bowl would be seen as a goodwill gesture to a city abandoned by the NFL.

New York/New Jersey: The average temperature in New York during January is about 33 degrees.

Los Angeles: A Super Bowl could trigger the kind of Rose Bowl renovations needed to lure an existing NFL team to relocate in Los Angeles.

New York/New Jersey: The average high in New Jersey during January is 38 degrees; the average low is 24.

Los Angeles: After San Diego in 2003, the next three Super Bowls will be played in Houston, Jacksonville and Detroit. After that run, the league won’t want to take a winter vacation in Hollywood -- it will need one.

New York/New Jersey: The coldest temperature ever recorded in the state of New Jersey is minus-34 degrees in River Vale, Jan. 5, 1904. River Vale is about 17 miles from Giants Stadium.

Los Angeles: Tourists in town for the Super Bowl will be able to enjoy leisurely rounds of golf, outdoor tennis and patio dining at the area’s many outstanding restaurants.

New York/New Jersey: Jan. 19-20, 1978, a blizzard dumped 13.6 inches of snow on New York.

Los Angeles: A crowd of 103,985 -- the biggest in Super Bowl history -- watched the Pittsburgh Steelers rally to defeat the Los Angeles Rams, 31-19, at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 20, 1980.

New York/New Jersey: On Jan. 25, 1821, the Hudson River froze, allowing thousands to cross the ice from New York to New Jersey. On Super Bowl Sunday, this could help expedite traffic flow around Giants Stadium.

Los Angeles: The Dallas Cowboys came within three points of the Super Bowl record when they defeated the Buffalo Bills, 52-17, at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 31, 1993.

New York/New Jersey: On Jan. 25, 1780, it was 16-below in New York.

Los Angeles: January 2007 would mark the 40th anniversary of the first Super Bowl, which was played in Los Angeles, at the Coliseum, with the Green Bay Packers defeating the Kansas City Chiefs, 35-10.

New York/New Jersey: Remember the “Sopranos” episode where Paulie and Christopher get lost in the woods, they’re up to their shins in snow, Paulie loses a shoe, the sun sets, they think they’re going to freeze to death and they wind up huddled in a plumber’s abandoned van, shivering and sucking on packets of fast-food relish for sustenance? That’s New Jersey in January.

NFL owners, the choice is yours.

Consider the Source

At last week’s NFL owners’ meetings in New York, several owners addressed the prospect of a New York/New Jersey Super Bowl.

Buffalo’s Ralph Wilson, being from Buffalo, isn’t keen on the idea, telling reporters he believes “the Super Bowl should be played under championship conditions. I feel uneasy about having the game played where there may be a chance of bad weather.”

However, New England’s Bob Kraft thinks football in the snow is great fun, noting how exciting last year’s Oakland-at-New England playoff game was.

Kraft’s Patriots won that game, due in large part to the freezing temperature and inclement conditions. Who would you rather have kicking a field goal in the snow with a trip to the conference final on the line, Adam Vinatieri or Sebastian Janikowski?

Raider owner Al Davis has used many adjectives to describe that game. “Exciting” isn’t one of them.

Going for 6-0

Drew Bledsoe, who passed for 29,657 yards in nine seasons with the Patriots, plays against his former team for the first time today when Buffalo plays New England at home.

Bledsoe is about to join a select list of NFL quarterbacks who have passed for 25,000 yards with one team and then got the chance to oppose that team in a regular-season game. Only five others have done it -- and here is how they fared in their first games against their former team:

John Hadl, playing for Green Bay against San Diego in 1974: Green Bay 34, San Diego 0.

Dave Krieg, playing for Kansas City against Seattle in 1992: Kansas City 26, Seattle 7.

Boomer Esiason, playing for the New York Jets against Cincinnati in 1993: New York 17, Cincinnati 12.

Joe Montana, playing for Kansas City against San Francisco in 1994: Kansas City 24, San Francisco 17.

Warren Moon, playing for Minnesota against Houston in 1995: Minnesota 23, Houston 17, in overtime.

Scoreboard: Quarterbacks 5, Former Teams 0 ... with Bledsoe favored to make it 6-0 today.