Tomorrow, the waiting finally is over. No, the Rangers didn’t win another Cup. If only that could be possible this June. We’ll keep our fingers crossed. In any event, Super Bowl XLVI pits a rematch of SB XLII when the Giants and Patriots are set to do battle in Indianapolis.

It will truly be a place of Mannings with both Peyton and brother Eli in the RCA Dome while Dad Archie watches along with the rest of the Manning family. Tom Brady revisits the place where his team blew a big half time lead when Peyton Manning finally rose up and carried the Colts to a dramatic win before defeating the Bears for his only Lombardi Trophy. Even if it seems like a long time ago with Peyton about to get run out of town for the next hotshot QB Andrew Luck, it’ll still be a great setting with big bro again lending support to little bro on Super Bowl Sunday.

If it wasn’t unique enough four years ago after Peyton had won the previous year, here he is again in an odd setting which maybe the final time he’ll set foot in Indy as a Colt. That still is hard to fathom how they can toss a hero to the curb but that’s the world of the world of the NFL. An unforgiving business where you can become one of the all-time greats, setting all sorts of records and then once a career threatening injury sidelines you, you’re history. At least according to his agent, Peyton should be okay for offseason workouts to showcase for other interested clubs.

While that huge distraction deters from a highly anticipated rematch between Brady and Eli along with Bill Belichick and Tom Coughlin, the two combatants have a game to play tomorrow. Hopefully, it’ll be as good as the first which the Giants won thanks to some late heroics from Eli, unlikely hero David Tyree and Plaxico Burress.  

This time, the names will be different with the younger Manning looking for primary targets Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz, who’ve torched opponents all year. And while they were for the most part held in check by a stingy, ferocious 49ers D that took the Giants to sudden death, it’s been the consistency of both wideouts that should be a concern for New England. How to slow down a dynamic duo that can turn a routine catch into a highlight film? There’s the challenge for Belichick, Vince Wilfork and the rest of the Patriot D.

While the Pats contend with the Giants’ air attack, Big Blue must also concern themselves with still the one guy who can beat you in Bradym, who definitely would love to exact revenge after getting pulverized in Arizona. Sure. He’s coming off a poor outing in a fortunate win over the Ravens. But that’s when a great quarterback is most dangerous. It’s his and Belichick’s legacies that are on the line. Figure Brady to come out firing for chief targets Wes Welker and Rob Gronkowski, who won’t be wearing any protective braces.

Does someone else step up on either side like Mario Manningham or Bear Pascoe on the Giants or perhaps former Super Bowl MVP Deion Branch or even forgotten man Chad Ocho Cinco?  That’s what makes the Super Bowl so unique. You never know who the unsung hero could be.

Will either side be able to control the clock by running the ball? The experience of Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw should tilt it slightly in the Giants’ favor over BenJarvus Greene-Ellis Much depends on the lines. Who will win the battles in the trenches? The Giants boast a pass rush led by monster Jason Pierre-Paul, who can wreak havoc. Brady must also worry about Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck and forgotten man Mathias Kiwanuka. The play of Chris Canty and defensive leaders Michael Boley and Antrel Rolle give Big Blue a distinct edge in playmakers who can impact the game.  But all that doesn’t mean anything until they play the game.

All the smack talk, cockiness is just that. You have to back up the talk, which Burress did following his remarkable Super Bowl XLII prediction of 17-14, which left Brady speechless before a down had been played. It’s about mental fortitude. Who wants it more?

The Pats haven’t won in a while and are looking to cement their legacy. This is their seventh Super Bowl appearance. If they lose, it’s two crushing defeats in a row at the hands of the same team and a 3-4 record. But if they prevail, that would be four rings for Brady and Belichick, making them two of the greatest champions in football history. If the Giants prevail, it’d be pretty significant for Coughlin, who could rise to Canton status along with Eli, who would join an exclusive list of Hall Of Fame QBs who won at least two Lombardis. That he has to beat winner of three Brady again is a great storyline. Much of the focus will be on them along with the two coaches who once worked together for Bill Parcells. Pretty crazy.

It’s what makes this such a special game. So, what we think? I see another closely contested game with more points scored by both offenses. It could very well come down to who has the ball last. Are the Giants about to make history as the only 9-7 division winner to win the Super Bowl or will the Pats deal a harsh reality?

Everything points to the Giants with the offenses being even, except that both Cruz and Nicks are healthy while nobody knows what Gronkowski’s impact will be. Maybe Brady finds tight end Aaron Hernandez more. It’s a tough one to call. If the Giants get to Brady, it could be a long day. But what if Belichick takes away the deep ball and blitzes like San Fran. Granted. New England’s perssonel isn’t as good. You never know considering how calm he’s been this week. Almost like he’s enjoying it more. If his team wins, does he ride off to sunset? I don’t see him as the retiring type.

It just may depend on Brady’s will to win. He was embarrassed last time even though it was close. He has something to prove. That’s why I’m going against who I want to win.

SUPER BOWL XLVI PREDICTION:

GIANTS 27 PATRIOTS 31

MVP: Tom Brady, New England

Giant Meets Jet: Justin Tuck shakes Darrelle Revis' hand in Times Square after the first ever Super Bowl was delivered to New York/New Jersey in 2014.

-The chance of a Giants/Jets Super Bowl just got a lot more exciting. With today’s fourth vote giving the nod to New York/New Jersey for 2014 at the new Meadowlands Stadium which opens this summer, it energizes two passionate fanbases who can now dream the unthinkable. Imagine the first ever Super Bowl in classic cold weather as it should be played featuring both the locals who play their games there fighting for bragging rights. This is huge.

For years, not a word was uttered because it was about as possible as our chances with Jessica Alba. Now with a brand new spanking stadium, it’s reality. Imagine if the Giants and Jets really make this once in a lifetime marquee event. Picture all the press/superhype. It would be electric. Big Blue and Gang Green fans going at it over the airwaves and in the stands (hopefully not literally).

I never really cared one way or another if this actually happened but now that it’s official, how can one not be genuinely pumped? Even if neither team makes it which would royally suck, the Lombardi Trophy will be back where it belongs with its proud father looking on from upstairs smiling. Football was meant to be played in tough conditions. Not sunshine. The games I enjoy the most are the ones where heavy wind, rain or snow are involved because it truly tests our warriors. Football players are like gladiators battling for every inch, laying it all on the line. Now, we get the kind of rock ‘em sock ‘em pigskin Lombardi would appreciate. It’s about time!

-Do you think Brandon Jacobs cares to retract that statement if the two teams actually make the big game?

-A final thought on the whole New York SB Extravaganza. Let’s be real. The stadium is located in East Rutherford, New Jersey. So, it’s really the Garden State’s game. As a fellow New Yorker, even though the two clubs honor New York due to tradition which always leaves a bitter taste in Jersey friends’ mouths, they do play in New Jersey. Maybe it’s time to actually recognize that along with how nice the state is. Some of my best friends represent it quite well.

-Look. Superman finally arrived and ripped the Celtics for 32 points, 16 boards and four swats in the Magic’s well earned 96-92 overtime Game Four win at TD Garden avoiding the sweep. That’s great and all for the freak known as Dwight Howard, who could be confused for a superhero. He’s bigger and stronger than everybody. So, he should dominate. Especially in a league where the center is almost extinct. Somehow, when the big man who shares a birthday with me finally delivers, it’s overcelebrated. What ever happened to consistency? Somehow in this new Hyped Era Error, expectations dropped. Why???

-If ever there was a player whose name needed to be changed to Dog, we present the sad case of former NBA star Vince Carter. If he had any sorta drive, he could’ve been one of the greats. Instead, there’s a tireless worker like Reggie Miller calling him out on ESPN and justifiably so.

-Do you think Hedo Turkoglu would’ve bricked those two free throws in Game Two?!?!?!?!?!

-Who knew that KG still had this kind of fire in him? He looked done a couple of months ago. Maybe he was just playing possum the whole time.

-Is there a better pure shooter than Ray Allen? Even now, the former Uconn star is money in crunch time. You can’t give him any space.

-I’ll always say it until proven otherwise. With the game on the line, nobody is better than Kobe. LeBron, take notes. And that goes for the club that gets him.

-Really pleased to see the Suns rise up and send a message to LA that it won’t come easy. Can’t say enough about the kind of dominant performance Amare Stoudemire had. Those 42 and 11 were monstrous. Some great power moves and strong finishes too, resulting in three-point plays. Everyone of them emphatic. When his team needed a score, Amare delivered. Hopefully, he and the rest of the Suns can duplicate it as they look to even the series tonight.

-Figure Kobe to get more help from sidekicks Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, Ron Artest and Derek Fisher. They weren’t good in crunch time.

-In the NHL playoffs which have been totally unpredictable, we get the Blackhawks and Flyers for Lord Stanley. Two Cup starved traditional markets that haven’t won in a while. For Chicago, it’s been almost five decades since Bobby Hull and the Blackhawks won it all in ’61. Now, leading Conn Smythe candidate Jonathan Toews along with sidekick Patrick Kane plus money performer Dustin Byfuglien (Big Buff) take aim at bringing the best sports trophy back to the Windy City. When the puck drops for Game One at the United Center Saturday, that place will be on fire.

For the Flyers, it’s been a miraculous run starting with a shootout win over the Rangers on the last day of the season just to sneak into the playoffs. Since, all they’ve done is takeout the hated Devils, stun the Bruins in historic fashion from 3-0 down joining the Leafs, Islanders and most recently, the Red Sox. Then they took care of another destined team in Montreal, getting two Jeff Carter tallies to advance to their first Cup Final since 1997 when they were unceremoniously dumped out in four straight by the Red Wings. Can Mike Richards, playoff hero Simon Gagne, Chris Pronger and amazing story Michael Leighton bring the Cup back to Broad Street for the first time since they repeated in 1975?

Two great storylines for a league that’s heating up. NBC can’t possibly screw this up. Or can they?

-No matter what you think of it, the Subway Series matters. No. I’m not one of those who puts much stock in the six games the Mets and Yankees play. However, it’s impossible to ignore the turnout for it at Citi Field. With attendance way down in Year Two, they soldout the place. Plenty of walk ups who wanted to be part of the first three-game set between our two New York clubs.

Baseball is still No.1 here and probably always will be. With all the history dating back to the glory days of the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants along with the Yankees (formerly New York Highlanders), NYC is rich in tradition and could support a third team if that ever happened. Just experiencing the turnout the local Staten Island Yankees get anytime the Cyclones pay a visit to the Ferry Terminal for Class A ball is enough to fully grasp what baseball means in this town.

So, even if the cool half dozen might not mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of things for the Yanks and Mets, it means plenty to the fans. No wonder I got so much flak from J Beck, Johnny Rockets and all the other Met supporters the other night.

Who Dat?!?!?!?!?! Get your parrttttyy on Mardi Gras. Your team did you all proud tonight, winning their first ever Super Bowl. Congrats to the New Orleans Saints on stunning the Colts 31-17 in SB XLIV.

You sure earned it, beating one of the best quarterbacks Peyton Manning. Instead of crowning the four-time league MVP and Super Bowl champ as the all-time greatest QB, they’ll be talking about SB XLIV MVP Drew Brees‘ memorable performance. The former Charger, who was in the MVP discussion this season leading the Saints to a 13-3 record and the NFC’s top seed produced one of the best games ever by a Super Bowl winning signal caller going 32-of-39 for 288 yards and two touchdowns. The 32 completions matched a game record set by New England’s Tom Brady.

“We just believed in ourselves and we knew that we had an entire city and maybe an entire country behind us,” an ecstatic Brees expressed on the podium where proud Super Bowl winning coach Sean Payton declared that his guy was also the MVP of the season. Hard to argue considering Brees’ season was just as special as Peyton’s, tossing for 4,388 yards, 34 scores and only 11 picks along with a 109.6 QB rating.

“What can I say? I tried to imagine what this moment would be like for a long time and it’s better than expected.”

The amazing aspect is that he delivered the franchise’s first championship by leading the Saints back from 10-0 down, outscoring the Colts 31-7 the rest of the way. Given how sluggish they started against what was thought to be an offensive machine, it makes it that much more incredible. How many would’ve predicted that? In fact, when they fell behind a dime so quickly, we were fairly certain Manning and Co. would run away with it. Especially the way Indy executed in the first quarter, getting big contributions from back Joseph Addai.

Despite a couple of shaky series, New Orleans hung around making it a game thanks to the leg of Garrett Hardley. Somewhat surprising considering field goals don’t usually work against the Colts, who never could extend their lead. With Brees finally in synch with a lethal offense which got overlooked, they had two big second quarter drives with the first resulting in a Hardley 46-yard field goal and the second stalling at the Indy 1. After being stopped on third down, Payton went for fourth down but Pierre Thomas got stuffed with under 2:00 left.

However, the Saints’ D held to get the ball back which proved crucial with the offense getting another Hardley kick to pull within four. How many would’ve given the five-point underdogs a chance if they had only six points at the half? But who would’ve called Payton’s gutsy call on-siding, stunning the Colts by getting the ball back to start the second half? In one of the craziest Super Bowl scenes, Hardley’s line drive kick went off Hank Baskett creating a mad scramble for the ball which Chris Reis came out with after it took the refs 10 years to separate the pile.

The former Giant offensive coordinator’s bold decision to not risk giving a regrouped Manning and Co. the ball back was pivotal and will be remembered as one of the big game’s greatest moments. Payton later told CBS’ Jim Nantz that he talked to his team during the break about going for the on-sider that swung the momentum. They executed perfectly. Less than four minutes into the second half, Brees hooked up with Thomas for a 16-yard TD that saw the back break at least three tackles for the Saints’ first lead.

“I just told our guys you’ve got to make me look good on this,” Payton pointed out. “That really becomes like a turnover.”

“We really felt as underdogs we had the better team. To be in that position where maybe a lot of people were picking against us, we liked the spot we were in.”

Manning responded by taking the Colts down the field with Addai’s score putting them back ahead 17-13. But a Brees’ led drive produced another Hardley kick to slice it to one. An Indy drive then stalled at the Saint 33 setting up another turning point when vet kicker Matt Stover just hooked a 51-yarder wide left with 10:39 left. Noteworthy was that Jim Caldwell’s team was faced with a fourth-and-11 when the rookie coach opted to try a long field goal with an old kicker rather than pin the Saints deep. Hell. Going for it would’ve made better sense.

Instead, it allowed the Saints to work with a short field. Something they took full advantage of with Brees ripping the Colts’ secondary apart going seven-for-seven, including ex-Giant Jeremy Shockey’s winning score. Ahead five, Payton predictably went for two with Lance Moore somehow hauling in a low Brees throw for the key conversion. Originally, it was ruled incomplete but a great challenge by Payton resulted in a reversal with the officials concluding that Moore did have control and got the ball to the plane- pushing the lead to 24-17 with 5:42 left.

“Four years ago who ever thought this would be happening when 85 percent of the city was under water from (Hurricane) Katrina?” Brees noted of the disaster which struck the city. “Most people not knowing if New Orleans would ever come back or if the organization and the team would come back. … This is the culmination of that belief and that faith.”

With Manning zipping a couple to open targets, it seemed likely that the Colts would tie it and possibly force the first ever sudden death in Super Bowl history. Instead at the New Orleans 26, the great quarterback who had a chance to really cement his legacy tossed a pick six to Tracy Porter for the crusher, stunning everyone for a 31-17 lead with just over three minutes to go.

“We weren’t the Aints,” Porter bragged of a former label they’ll never have to hear about again. “We were a team of destiny, a team that can make big plays.”

That he would throw a bad pass which Reggie Wayne may have ran the wrong route was unbelievable. Especially because he hasn’t made those mistakes since the Pats had his number. The classy QB wouldn’t comment on what went wrong, just giving credit to Porter for a great play.

“I certainly know how it was three years ago when we won,” a disappointed yet composed Manning said. “I know the people of New Orleans and the Saints have that same feeling right now.”

“It’s time for the Saints to celebrate. It’s their field and it’s their championship.”

Most startling was how rattled Manning and the Indy O looked. With three timeouts and a two-minute warning, some very odd calls led to virtually no chance of a comeback with valuable seconds winding down. When they were on the verge of finally scoring, an uncharacteristic 10-yard penalty pushed them back with the Colts’ franchise leader tossing two incompletions including one intended for Reggie Wayne which was broken up on fourth down, clinching it for a pumped up Saints sideline with 44 seconds remaining.

All that was left was for Brees to kneel down and then the Saints Gatoraded their winning coach, leading to a huge celebration. Perhaps there should be a nine-day Mardi Gras to commemorate the magic moment for the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana, which proud owner Tom Benson was quick to reference.

“Everybody back in New Orleans gets a piece of this trophy,” he boasted.

“I think I could kiss him,” Benson added of the SB winning MVP quarterback.

Perhaps linebacker Scott Fujita put it in proper perspective of their special run, defying cynics who gave them little shot after lucking out against the Vikings two weeks prior thanks to goat Bret Favre.

“Look around the stadium. “It was like 6- or 7-to-1 (Saints fans). The black and gold just poured into Miami.

“The whole world was behind us. This was bigger than just a game for the Saints. We are the world’s team.”