I think everyone I talked to thought Philly would be here - I had a feeling Carolina could beat them, but nobody I talked to agreed. Well, now we've got a another parity-bred Super Bowl with two teams that weren't supposed to be there. Who picked Carolina or the Patriots to be here at the beginning of the year? Wasn't it supposed to be Tennesse/Colts/Pittsburgh vs Philly/Rams/Bucs? I love this - Philly, the media darlings got kicked in the groin (or should I say the ribs), and showed once again that being a media darling doesn't make you a Super Bowl participant. I must say I do feel bad for the fans. That's gotta suck. To have the entire sports world praising your team all year, only to have it all ripped away from you at the end from a team that nobody even talked about all year.... hey, gotta love the underdog.

Now, for the Super Bowl prediction - as well as both defenses played, you gotta give the edge to the Patriots. They held an offense that seemed to be the most dangerous to only two touchdowns. I'm not sure the Panthers could do that. Carolina doesn't have a frightening offense, and I think New England will show that. However, I also think that Carolina will do a great job against the Patriots. Though I think the Patriots should win this game, I'd have to root for Carolina - partly because I'd love to see Brady's team get burned by a "tuck-rule"-type of call, and partly because I like to see new teams do well against the odds. It's nice to see fresh stars emerge.