Mallis also guessed that the outcome would be in doubt, and the New England Patriots won on a late field goal by Adam Vinatieri.

And many more

Ty Warren's wife is going to have to find him another birthday present.

The New England defensive lineman, who turns 24 on Super Bowl Sunday, was planning to come to the game even if the Patriots didn't make it.

"I was talking to my wife earlier in the year and she asked me what I wanted. I said that would be a good present for me," he said. "So we were planning on going anyway."

And how about a second Super Bowl ring for the second-year player?

"It would be icing on the cake," he said.

Paint it black

It's the second straight Super Bowl for the Patriots, but the fifth in a row for the company that paints their logo in the end zone.

World Class Athletic Surfaces, of Leland, Miss., provided about 600 gallons of paint to color the grass in Alltel Stadium, including the teams' logos in the end zone and the Super Bowl logo at midfield. With cool temperatures and showers before game day, this year has been a challenge.

"They put a tarp on (the field), and water's been on top of it and water's underneath it. The paint's not really drying," said Tra DuBois, the company owner. "But being our fifth one, it's been special."

Work on the painting began in December, when the NFL playoff field took shape. DuBois said he was mixing the Eagles' shade of green and creating the stencil for the team's end zone logo while the Patriots were beating the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship Game on Jan. 23.

The logo patterns and first batch of paint arrived at Jacksonville that night. The next day, the crew at the stadium gave the field the first of four pregame paintings.