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GLENDALE (ARIZONA) - YES, it is quite possible that Super Bowl Sunday, the biggest religious holiday in sporting United States, will be stolen by half-time performer Tom Petty and a couple of commercials.
It does not matter.
One way or another, when the gun signals the end of Super Bowl XLII and the confetti falls, the sport will get a big winner.
Either the Patriots will complete their 19-0 run for a perfect season and make glorious history, or the Giants will pull off an all-time stunning shock.
So how can the viewers possibly lose? How can this game, no matter how badly it is played, not earn a special place in history?
If the Patriots were 17-1, there would not be this discussion.
If the Giants had a few more star players and past Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning was playing instead of his younger brother and erratic quarter-back Eli, there would not be this discussion.
But, because the Patriots are undefeated and already being mentioned among the best teams in pro sports history and the Giants have no business being in the Super Bowl based purely on logic and common sense, the grand stage will produce an epic team, even if the game itself is nothing special.
The story line is all set.
The Patriots will not be cast as cute and lovable come kick-off, and that is their fault.
They committed some sins that understandably turned people, who are not Patriot fans, off.
They cheated in the season opener with their camera secretly taping the New York Jets' defensive signals and using it to figure out what defences the Jets were calling from the sidelines.
Bill Belichick was smacked with a US$500,000 (S$708,000) fine, the highest ever handed to an NFL coach.
The Patriots were fined US$250,000 and stripped of a No 1 draft choice. Still, many thought the team got off easy.
Their spiritual leader on defence, Rodney Harrison, was suspended early on for using human growth hormone and then had the audacity to take issue when asked about it.
There were mid-season accusations of unnecessarily running up the score and embarrassing opponents.
The play-offs brought the disappearance of wide receiver Randy Moss, who spent time defending himself publicly against a battery allegation by a Florida woman.
And, if you believe players on other teams, they are the dirtiest team in football.
Nose tackle Vince Wilfork has been fined four times this season for acting like a thug.
Offensive lineman Matt Light was accused by Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora of saying and doing things in a pile-up that might get him arrested in public.
And, of course, the entire episode of pin-up quarter-back Tom Brady and his injured, not-injured foot as the Patriots played mind-games with their opponents.
It does not help that his girlfriend is the jealousy-inducing Brazilian Victoria Secret's model Gisele B�ndchen.
But another reason the Patriots, winners of the last three Super Bowls, are despised in some parts is that they keep on winning.
Society likes it when winners are humbled or wounded, neither of which have applied yet to the Pats.
Those elements belong exclusively to the Giants, clearly the Super Bowl underdogs.
They have reached this far on determination and fight more than talent and skill and star power. They began the season 0-2.
Their quarter-back and coach and defence were under siege. Plus, in the regular-season finale, they played at full strength in a game against the Patriots when they did not need to, if only to try and deny the Patriots a perfect run.
All of the above has endeared the Giants to the public, a strange and rare situation for a team from New York - whose Yankees team are considered the evil empire for spending their way to glory.
'We may never be in this situation again,' Giants middle linebacker Antonio Pierce said. 'Might as well take advantage.'
So that is what is so grabbing about this Super Bowl - the classic big dog-small puppy confrontation, and the winner will be everyone who witnesses the outcome.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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