For all the potential excitement of this year’s Super Bowl — Tom Brady’s chance to stick it to the N.F.L. commissioner, Roger Goodell, for his “Deflategate” suspension; Atlanta’s attempt to win only its second sports championship in 60 years; the dawning realization that the New England Patriots’ evil mastermind Bill Belichick bears a difficult-to-ignore resemblance to President Trump’s evil mastermind Stephen K. Bannon — it must be noted that this has not been the most thrilling N.F.L. postseason. Both conference championship games were blowouts, and in that respect they followed the lead of the rest of the playoff games: The average margin of victory has been 15.7 points, the largest in 14 years.

So it’s only natural that fans are hoping the Super Bowl will be a nail-biter. Even if you’re not a big sports fan and this is the one football game you’ll watch this year — showing up at your friend’s party, clam dip in hand, a little confused about who’s playing but still full of opinions about Colin Kaepernick — you know you want a good game. You want it to be close.

Well, allow this sports nut to politely suggest: You don’t really want that.

We all think we want a game that goes down to the wire. But those games offer only short-term, temporary satisfaction. The Super Bowl determines our champions, shapes our legends, sets our benchmarks for greatness. Which is why there is much pleasure to be had — and a deeper satisfaction to be gained — in the blowout.

Life is confusing and uncertain. The blowout gives us something definitive. The blowout gives us an answer.