PHOENIX (AP) -The last time Michael Bloomberg went to the Super Bowl was 1973, when he watched the Miami Dolphins beat the Washington Redskins to become the only team in NFL history to complete a season undefeated.
The New York mayor will be rooting against a repeat of that feat when he cheers on the Giants against the unbeaten New England Patriots on Sunday.
“It’s one of those things where we can all root for our team against the other team and there’s nothing nasty about it,” Bloomberg told reporters Wednesday. “It’s all in good fun.”
The billionaire, mentioned as a possible independent candidate for president, is good friends with the Tisch family, co-owner of the Giants.
New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine is headed for the Super Bowl to root for the home team, even if the team is named the “New York” Giants.
Corzine has not placed any of the traditional bets with Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, although his office said attempts were being made to change that.
Corzine won a bet with Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle when the Giants beat the Green Bay Packers for the conference championship. Corzine won bratwurst, which he has yet to receive.
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AIRING IT OUT: Aircraft from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Air National Guard will patrol a no-fly zone over the site of the Super Bowl on Sunday.
The customs agency will have a Cessna Citation jet, Blackhawk helicopter and Pilatus P-12 aircraft patrolling the skies to enforce a no-fly zone 35 miles around University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, a western suburb of Phoenix, from 3 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., MST, on Sunday. A smaller off-limits zone will be in place from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
The P-12 is equipped with a camera system that will feed video to a joint operations center in Phoenix.
Also patrolling the area will be F-16 fighter jets from the 162nd Fighter Wing unit, based in Tucson. Jets also will fly a series of defense missions Friday morning over parts of Tucson, Nogales and metro Phoenix.
People should not be alarmed if they see aircraft flying lower than usual this week, authorities said.
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OLD TICKETS: Want Super Bowl tickets? No, not this year’s tickets – tickets for all 41 of the Super Bowls leading up to this one.
A collection of unused tickets from every Super Bowl has been sold at auction for $47,263.20. Both the private collector who sold it and the purchaser asked not to be identified by SPC Auctions, the Mission Valley, Calif., company that sold the collection online.
Bids opened Jan. 15 at $5,000.
Other items sold in the auction included a bat used by Ty Cobb from 1917 to 1921 for $87,114; a bat used by Babe Ruth in a 1921 game for $79,015; and a 1915 Ty Cobb baseball card for $10,015.
Tickets for Sunday’s game were going for $8,550 to $15,002 Wednesday on stubhub.com.
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LEFTY’S CHOICE: Phil Mickelson is a big-time sports fan, and he’s known to place a bet or two.
But he was a bit coy when asked to pick a Super Bowl winner.
“I don’t have a pick. I don’t plan on going,” said Mickelson, in town for the FBR Open. “If the Chargers were going to be there, I’d be going.”
But no prediction?
“No,” he said, adding, “I think it’s pretty obvious what’s going to happen.”
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GIVING UP THEIR HOME: Arizona star receiver Larry Fitzgerald said it’s odd to see the New York Giants using the Cardinals’ training facility this week.
“What’s even worse, insult to injury, we can’t even get into the building right now,” Fitzgerald said at a Pro Bowl news conference. “It’s like, ‘You can’t come over this week.’ The Giants have got it all locked over there.”
But he wasn’t really serious.
“That’s part of it,” Fitzgerald said. “We’ve got to give up our facility. They earned the right to play in the Super Bowl, and anything we can do to help them.”
The Giants are the third NFL team to use the Cardinals’ facility this season. The Chargers practiced their when fires raged in the San Diego area.
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GRIDIRON GREATS: As many as 70 NFL veterans are expected for a news conference Thursday to publicize efforts of the “Gridiron Greats,” an organization raising money to help former players in need.
Mike Ditka, Dick Butkus, Jerry Kramer, Gale Sayers and Eric Dickerson are among those expected to be there.
Several ex-players have been holding events around the country to raise money. The group plans to show items being sold in an online auction, including a set of plays drawn by Vince Lombardi, and a Harley Davidson signed by more than 25 retired NFL greats.
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GIANT GOALPOSTS: The New York Giants might have something of a home goal-posts advantage on Sunday.
The goal posts at University of Phoenix Stadium were built by a company in the northern Catskills town of Delhi, N.Y.
Sportsfield Specialties designed an upright that could be readily removed and reinstalled because the stadium’s natural grass field slides outdoors when not in use.
The man who designed the stadium, Peter Eisenman, has been a Giants season ticket holder since 1957.
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