By Marc Bona, The Plain Dealer
You've probably heard there is a big game Sunday.
You know the AFC's New England Patriots (15-3) play the NFC's New York Giants (12-7) at 6:30 p.m. in Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium in Super Bowl XLVI. Translation: Really Big Game 46. So here are 46 trivial tidbits, culled from a variety of sources. We provide this as a service: something to read during the ridiculously long pregame coverage:
Tuning in: Last year's game averaged more than 111 million viewers -- the largest audience in TV history. With two major markets represented and marquee quarterbacks competing (the Patriots' Tom Brady and the Giants' Eli Manning), the game is expected to top that figure.
Hear the national anthem: Kelly Clarkson, the first champion of "American Idol," will sing the anthem. One of her songs is "My Life Would Suck Without You." What Patriots fans will sing if Brady is injured.
Bet the national anthem: One of the proposition bets is how long it will take Clarkson to sing the song, over or under 1 minute, 34 seconds.
"America the Beautiful": Country power couple Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton will sing "America the Beautiful" before the game.
And the band played on: The Indiana University Marching Band will play during pregame festivities. It will probably do better at its performance than the university's football team did this year. The Hoosiers finished 1-11.
Halftime "concert": Halftime features Madonna, who will be joined by Nicki Minaj and others. The Material Girl will croon-dance-gyrate her way in front of a sold-out crowd and millions watching on television. Good thing she's not shy. The show is the year's most-watched musical event. Last year, millions tuned in to catch the Black Eyed Peas, Slash, Usher and others jump around the stage in Texas. And, of course, brace yourself for the crush of the fabricated crowd.
What did they pay!? All of NBC's TV-commercial airtime for the game sold out way in advance. Average cost for a 30-second spot? $3.5 million. That's $116,667 per second.
Attention grabbers: Super Bowl ads are 58 percent more memorable than the average commercial, according to Nielsen Media Research.
Along for the ride: Acura and Lexus will advertise for the first time during a Super Bowl.
Ad time: An NFL game is 60 minutes. Last year's Super Bowl had 46 minutes, 10 seconds of ads.
Bueller. . . . Bueller: Expect Matthew Broderick to appear in an advertisement as the title character he played in 1986's "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."
Head north: The site of Sunday's game is north of every Super Bowl played, with only three exceptions -- Detroit, Minneapolis and Pontiac, Mich.
Puppy Bowl: Animal Planet knows a good thing, and Puppy Bowl VIII is it. Back are the water bowl cam, kiss cam and an aerial view provided by hamster pilots aboard a blimp. New this year: Meep the bird will Tweet all the action beginning at 3 p.m.
Lingerie Bowl: Lingerie Bowl IX pits the Los Angeles Temptation against the Philadelphia Passion in Las Vegas. The Cleveland Crush finished its debut season. The Crush -- like its NFL counterparts the Browns -- will not be competing in the league's title game. The Crush finished 0-4.
Big ticket: The average resale price for a Super Bowl ticket was reported to top $4,000 more than a week ago.
Parking bucks: An RV space at the game was listed as high as $900.
Whole new ballgame: The game is a rematch of the 2008 Super Bowl, a 17-14 Giants win. It was the only time two teams with "New" in their team's names faced each other in the game. (More trivia: The only time two teams with "San" in their names met was in 1995, when the San Francisco 49ers beat the San Diego Chargers, 49-26.
'Hi, I'd like to order . . .' The National Restaurant Association estimates 48 million Americans will order takeout or delivery while watching the game.
Super chicken: More than 1.25 billion portions of chicken wings will be consumed this weekend, according to the National Chicken Council's 2012 Wing Report. Yes, there is such a thing.
Got the munchies? The No. 1 snack choice during the game for 32 percent of viewers will be dips and spreads, while chicken wings are second at 23 percent, according to the third annual Supervalu Snack Down Survey by Harris Interactive.
Speaking of snacks: A personality for brown M&Ms will be unveiled during the game.
Home sweet homes: Home stadiums for the teams are not where you think they might be. New England's is in Foxborough, Mass., while the Giants play in East Rutherford, N.J.
Close to home: According to Rand McNally, the distance from Foxborough to Indianapolis is 937 miles (15 hours, 2 minutes). From East Rutherford, it's 709 miles (11 hours, 27 minutes.) The game's official home team is New England.
His alma mater, baybee! Basketball coach-turned-commentator Dick Vitale graduated from and then coached at East Rutherford (N.J.) High School.
Who's on the sidelines? Forget the players, make sure you know your mascots. The Patriots have Pat Patriot, an American Revolutionary war figure. The Giants are among a handful of teams without a mascot.
EBay matchup: The Giants top the Patriots here with more listings, and the priciest, on the auction site eBay. The highest-priced item was an abstract, 16-by-20-inch oil painting on canvas from the artist Tommervik. It shows two players, one with an 'ny' on his helmet. An autographed 2000 Brady rookie card numbered 12 of 100 was listed at $79,999.99. More than a week before the big game, there were 70,543 items relating to the Giants; the Patriots had 58,696.
Big bonus: Play on the winning team and you get $88,000. Losers take home a mere $44,000.
Local flavor: Patriots punter Zoltan Mesko went to Twinsburg High School. He was born in Romania and was a homecoming king at the University of Michigan.
Wacky wagers I: Dozens of proposition bets exist -- who will score first, who will win the first coaches' challenge, and so on. One of the wackiest wagers might be on something that doesn't even take place on the field -- viewership. Do you think the total number of TV viewers will be over or under the projected 117 million? The favored bet, by the way, is over 117 million.
Wacky wagers II: Folks, if you're betting which color Gatorade will be dumped on the winning coach, you might have a problem. But in case you are interested, here is the line: yellow (+175), orange (+225), clear/water (+300), red (+550), green (+600) and blue (+1,000).
Gubernatorial bet: Should the Patriots win, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is offering 46 cases of New York-made Greek yogurt, 46 dozen bagels from Ess-a-Bagel in Manhattan and 46 cheesecakes from Junior's in Brooklyn. If the Giants win, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick will send 46 Centerville Pies from the Pie Ladies, Legal Sea Foods chowder and six cases of Food Should Taste Good chips. Winnings will be donated to food banks.
Mayoral bet: The traditional bet between mayors is a bit different this year: A family from the winning city will be treated to a trip to the losing city. Boston's Thomas M. Menino and New York's Michael Bloomberg said the tour will include two nights in a hotel, dinners, performances and tours of breweries. Winners will be chosen from an online drawing.
Vantage point: Oregonlive.com says according to techbargains.com, an online shopping site, 59 percent of people would rather watch the game from home than from the stands.
Other side of the coin: How important is the coin toss? The team that wins it has won the game 22 times and lost 23. Wow factor: The NFC team has won the coin toss the past 14 years.
Get the trophy case ready: The Tiffany-made Lombardi Trophy, awarded to the game's winner, traveled from New Jersey via Brinks to Indianapolis. It is 7 pounds, 22 inches high, valued at $25,000 and takes about four months to craft. Next year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of the legendary coach whose name is associated with the trophy: Vince Lombardi.
All an act: Rooney Mara, who starred as Lisbeth Salander in the 2011 movie "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," is the granddaughter of the late Giants owner Wellington Mara. Patriots receiver Chad Ochocinco, no stranger to cameras on and off the field, had a stint on "Dancing With the Stars" in 2010.
Never say never: There has never been overtime or a shutout in a Super Bowl. There has never been fewer than 21 points scored in the game.
On the air, Ohio style: Play-by-play man is Al Michaels, who many remember from his dramatic call ("Do you believe in miracles?!") of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team's victory over the Soviet Union. One of his early jobs was calling games on radio for the Cincinnati Reds. Analyst Cris Collinsworth was born in Dayton and played for the Cincinnati Bengals.
How do you say "sack" in Spanish? Sirius XM Radio will broadcast the game in nine foreign languages: Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, German, Hungarian, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch and French.
Secure site? The game is always a high-security affair. In addition to worrying about everything from terrorism to pickpockets, there is a special concern: exploding manhole covers. The Associated Press reports that there have been explosions in Indianapolis Power & Light's network of utility cables. "A dozen underground explosions have occurred since 2005, sending manhole covers flying. Eight explosions have occurred since 2010. The latest, on Nov. 19, turned a manhole cover into a projectile that heavily damaged a parked car and raised concerns about the safety of Super Bowl visitors." Solution? It cost about $180,000 to buy 150 locking manhole covers.
It's official: Comedian-actor and Indianapolis native Mike Epps is the official Super Bowl ambassador. Papa John's is the official pizza sponsor.
Media/fans day: Tuesday's media day was open to fans for the first time. That is, fans who ponied up $25 each to hear players pontificate on a variety of subjects.
Streaming live: For the first time, the NFL will stream the game live -- for all those who don't have a big-screen television or a nearby watering hole.
Local fans: Cleveland-area Patriots fans will gather at the Boneyard, 5900 Mayfield Road, Mayfield Heights. Sorry, we think local Giants fans are staying in for this one.
Post-game show: The ratings-coveted post-game slot goes to "The Voice." The singing-competition show will air immediately after the game on NBC. Last year, it was "Glee" on Fox.
Countdown to 2013: Next year's game is Feb. 3 in New Orleans.
Sources: Washington Post, Associated Press, stocklemonblog.com, fox59.com, iuhoosiers.com, Plain Dealer wire services and archives, The Detroit News, USA Today, thebiglead.com, NFL.com, assorted press releases, Bloomberg, Time, sbnation.com, Fox News, Grantland, Boston Globe, nj.com, vincelombardi.com.
http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2012/02/super_bowl_xlvi_-_46_trivial_f.html
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