New England Patriots 7-3 New York Giants

"Tom Petty?" writes Daniel York, reflecting the view of most of the world's NFL watchers tonight. "Good grief, is anything else on for the next 45 minutes? What odds will you give me on a wardrobe malfunction?"

I reckon live blow-by-blow half-time coverage of my man-flu might be more pleasurable than Petty and boys mooring through "I Won't Back Down".

1min: Big blow. The tissue - low-quality GU Towers bog-roll - can't stand the force of Ashers' expulsions and tiny white flecks attach themselves to his usually dapper beard.

Half-time

The Patriots lead, but the unit of the game so far has been the Giants defense, particularly their line. They've through to Brady so many times. "Every time I expect the Giants to fold, they keep finding a way to stay in this game," offers Mr Bandini. "One way or another they go into the second half still very much in this game. They still have only three points to show for it, but the Patriots only have seven. I still expect the Pats to pull away in the second half, but I'm impressed at how the Giants have hung in the game."

Second quarter: Patriots 7-3 Giants: 0.11

Brady fumbles! The Pats had worked it out to the halfway line, but Tuck knocks the ball out of Brady's hands and the Giants recover. Manning has 10 seconds to find a way to the end zone, throws incomplete on his first attempt. And on his second. Bah!

Second quarter: Patriots 7-3 Giants: 0.54

"You sound a bit sad," says Andrew Goudie. "Is everything all right?" Thanks for the concern, Andrew (and also to Gary Naylor, who expressed similar sympathy). As I say, my sinuses are very sensitive, and the dust caused by drilling into the wall yesterday to put up some shelves has started a chain-reaction, domino-effect type-of-thing which means I am a bit poorly. The game hasn't done much to make me feel better, to be honest, it's been an attritional affair. A tactical time-out exchange deep in Patriots territory in the dying moments of the half raises a bit of excitement, but the Pats have the ball and won't give it up easily.

Second quarter: Patriots 7-3 Giants: 1.47

It's too far out for a kick at goal - if New York were three points down with seconds ticking they would have gone for it, but we're not at that stage yet. It's a punt and New England will have two minutes or so to drive 90-odd yards.

Second quarter: Patriots 7-3 Giants: 2.21

An all-action few minutes. Adalius Thomas sacks Manning, who fumbles. Bradshaw then pats it forward - not allowed to do that Bradders - but Smith is alert and picks it up. There's a 10-yard penalty, though, which pushes the Giants to the edge of field goal territory.

Second quarter: Patriots 7-3 Giants: 6.45

Brady is put on his backside twice in a row! First Strahan and Mitchell get to him, then Justin Tuck - superb name - does likewise. That's what they need to do - get in that pretty boy's face. New England punt and the Giants are going to have fine field position. GU's NBA correspondent Mark Woods is sat somewhere near Bandini in Phoenix and reports seeing Naomi Campbell dancing with lizards on US TV. Seconds later, Paolo reports the same. Maybe they've both been at the $15 "Premium lager".

Second quarter: Patriots 7-3 Giants: 8.44

Maybe I should just copy all Bandini-based emails in here and take it easy. Coming clean with you readers, I feel dreadful. The man-flu is in its early stages. I blame the dust caused by my putting up shelves yesterday. It's irritated my sensitive nasal areas. Anyway, the Giants have just had a couple of nightmare moments. First Manning gets sacked, then Bradshaw fumbles on a hand-off, but the Giants somehow recover it. That was scrappy though and they are grateful to be punting.

Second quarter: Patriots 7-3 Giants: 10.46

In comes a Bandini missive: "If the Patriots score a touchdown on this next drive, that's game over. Sorry, I know it's only the second quarter, but do you really see these Patriots blowing an 11 point lead in a Super Bowl?" They're punting now though, after some tough Giants tackling.

Second quarter: Patriots 7-3 Giants: 11.53

Interception! An eventful drive, which saw Manning go long downfield to Amani Toomer to take the Giants into the red zone and then incur a time delay penalty, ends when his pass to Steve Smith is tipped - by a Paul Robinsonesque Smith - and the Patriots pick up the first turnover of the game.

Second quarter: Patriots 7-3 Giants: 14.28

Jim Carey's here, Jenni McCarthy and Gisele Bundchen too. The Giants start at their own 40, after a shanked kick out of bounds.

Second quarter: Patriots 7-3 Giants: 14.57

Touchdown New England! Maroney goes right, the offensive line does its job and the Pats take the lead. There was something inevitable about the Patriots on that drive. I'm going to have to change tack here, because a) I can't keep up with the action, and b) I'd like to give you lovely readers more than just a verbal report of the game. We do more than that here.

Paolo Bandini's first-quarter thoughts: "Failing to score a touchdown on that first drive could come back to haunt the Giants. That was a good looking drive - they moved the ball 63 yards and took nearly 10 minutes off the clock, but then they only got three points for it. The San Diego Chargers could have won last week if they had taken their chances in the red zone, but they didn't, and look what happened. The Patriots are going to score points - if you want to beat them you better be able to do the same. That pass interference was brutal too, though I suspect Watson would have had the touchdown if he hadn't done it."

1st & goal at the NY1: Maroney runs it but the Giants hold firm.

3rd & 10: Brady looks for Benjamin Watson, but Antonio Pierse is all over him. Pass interference, so it'll be first and goal at the one yard line.

2nd & 10: Brady looks for Faulk again, but he drops it.

1st & 10 at the NY15: Brady throws high. Incomplete.

2nd & 8: Brady finds Kevin Faulk. First down.

1st & 10 at the NY25: Heath Evans tries to run through the middle. Gets two yards for his trouble.

3rd & 3: Brady picks out Wes Welker. First down.

2nd & 10: Pass for seven yards.

1st & 10 at the NY42: Brady throws incomplete

3rd & 2: Maroney finds the gap. First down.

2nd & 10: Maroney carries for eight yards.

1st & 10 at the NE44: What a horrible first play. A faked-reverse, but Brady is under the cosh and just gets the ball away in time.

Kick-off: Maroney takes it back 43 yards. Brady is going to start with very useful field position.

Field-goal attempt: And our man, Lawrence Tynes, puts the Giants 3-0 up.

3rd & 10: Manning completes to Smith, but only for a couple of yards. Bah! That would have been the start the game needed.

2nd & 10: Jacobs runs it outside, but goes nowhere.

1st & 10 at the NE18: Manning looks for Burress in the endzone, but the corner back Hobbs gets his fingertips to it. Nearly an interception there.

3rd & 7: Another blitz, and Manning is under a touch of pressure but he coolly finds Smith for the first down.

2nd & 10: New England blitz, but Jacobs is on the run again and collects three.

1st & 10 at the NE29: Incomplete - Manning to Boss.

3rd & inches: Bradshaw again, and another first down.

2nd & 3: A first carry for Ahmad Bradshaw, and he scurries for two.

1st & 10 at the NE47: That was a pretty breathless opening, and two third-down conversions for Manning. A solid start for young Eli. Jacobs goes on another battering-ram run and picks up seven.

3rd & 6: Manning in the shotgun, his line give him plenty of time and he finds Steve Smith. First down.

2nd & 7: Jacobs gets the carry and makes another yard.

1st and 10 at the NY42: Quick pass outside for three yards.

3rd & 6: Loose snap, but Manning finds Burress, in open field. First down.

2nd & 7: Jacobs again. Makes a yard.

1st & 10: Jacobs runs it for three yards, burrowing through the middle.

Kick-off: Giants receive but make it only to their own 22.

National Anthem dept. Jordin Sparks - "last year's American Idol winner" apparently - gives it the full welly for the Star Spangled Banner, a song that always gets the hairs on the back of my neck standing to attention. Politics aside, I love it...

The Giants stride out to the strains of Kanye West's Daft-Punk-sample-heavy hit Stronger, while Tedy Bruschi and Tom Brady lead the Patriots out to a tune I'm afraid I don't recognize. "Wow - I've been fortunate to get to some pretty major sporting events in my time, but the buzz when the teams came out was still quite something," enthuses Our Paolo.

The players are in the tunnel and we're 15 minutes away from kick-off.

"Beer prices are scandalous" reports our man at the scene, Mr Bandini. "$10 for a 'domestic lager' or $15 for a 'Premium lager'. Which appears to be Bud Light. Not that I'm indulging, of course... up here in the press box they've given us iced tea and a lunch box."

Preamble: Good evening folks and welcome to play-by-play coverage of one of the year's great sporting events - the Super Bowl.

And this year has an extra edge - we could very well see history in the making. The Patriots are undefeated and a victory tonight would make them only the second team in NFL history to record a perfect season. The 1972 Miami Dolphins managed it, but they played fewer games, so if New England lift the trophy they'd have a very decent case for claiming to be the best NFL team ever. Bar none.

Bill Belichick's side are in their fourth Super Bowl in seven years, and they won the previous three. The last time the Giants reached this stage was way back in 2001, when they got hammered 34-7 by Baltimore in what was far from a classic. Let's hope for a better showing from the underdogs this time around.

The Giants, though, have had a great post-season. They won away in Tampa, away in Dallas, and away in Green Bay to get here, while New England have been good - but not that good. Tom Brady was out-passed by Jacksonville's David Garrard and San Diego's Phillip Rivers in the Divisional and Conference games, though that might just give a clue to their all-round strength - running-back Laurence Maroney had cracking statistics in those matches, showing the Pats aren't over-reliant on Brady's arm.

GU's own Paolo Bandini is out in Phoenix, and will be blogging after the match. He's also going to be weighing in with his observations - and here's his first:

"For me it's a no-brainer: Patriots to win, and probably win easy. The Giants caught them off guard in Week 17 [when the Pats won a thriller 38-35] - they came out throwing, and found big plays when they needed them to stay on the front foot for much of the first three quarters.

"In that time, almost everything went right: they scored on the first drive, Eli Manning played one of the best games of his career and Domenik Hixon took a kick-off back for a touchdown. They still didn't win. This time the Pats are better prepared, healthier (they were missing two of five starting offensive-linemen last time) and better focused. Belichick teams are always ready to play on Super Bowl Sunday.

"I"m going to say the Patriots get ahead early and never look back. Full-time: Pats 34-17 Giants, and even then only with the Giants scoring a late TD to make things look more respectable than they were."

It's hardly going out on a limb - the Pats are 5-1 on with the bookies - but I'm using my amazing insight to tip a New England win, too. I reckon it'll be a bit closer than Bandini thinks, though. If Manning has a stunner and if Plaxico Burress can back up his fighting talk (and if he's fit) the Giants might even be up at half-time - when we'll be "entertained" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - but the Pats will probably run away with it in the third and fourth quarters.