Kenny Chesney Makes Tough Pick for Super Bowl Sunday

Kenny Chesney's pick for the Super Bowl boils down to Peyton versus Payton. The country superstar is close friends with both Indianapolis Colts quarterback, Peyton Manning, and New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton ... so who is he rooting for?

"I would love to see the Saints win the Super Bowl, because they've never won it, and what it would mean to the city of New Orleans," Kenny tells NOLA.com. "After Katrina, the music scene in New Orleans took such a hit. Everything did. If they win the Super Bowl, it would be a shot that the town needs. I'm pulling for that.

"I didn't have an allegiance to New Orleans growing up," he continues, "but the more I've played there and been there and seen the spirit of the town ... it's a great music town and a great sports town. It's a town that I've grown to love."

Kenny was in New Orleans to watch the Saints win the NFC championship against the Arizona Cardinals -- the win that gave them a trip to the Super Bowl. "It was the most alive room I think I've ever been in, and that includes me being on stage in front of thousands of people," Kenny says of being in the stadium. "You felt alive in it."

Kenny might be pulling for New Orleans, but he acknowledges Indianapolis will put up a hard fight. "[Peyton's] got the kind of personality that makes players want to play hard for him. He's hungry, and he's not jaded," Kenny says of the Colts quarterback, who already has one Super Bowl ring. "He really wants to succeed at this. He wants to be great and wants his players to be great."

But Sean Payton is also a force to be reckoned with. "Sean's idea of determination and working hard goes beyond what some people's idea of working hard is," Kenny says of the Saints' coach. "And you add his personality on top of that, and his work ethic, and his spirit, and his love for the game, and love for life, I think that's what makes Sean who he is, and why players love him so much."

Super Bowl XLIV airs Sunday at 6:25 PM ET on CBS.