Celebrities see Patriots perfection

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The undefeated Patriots are headed toward a date with perfection this Sunday. That's the opinion of the majority of celebrities who participated in the 19th annual Scripps Howard Celebrity Super Bowl Poll. Out of the 100 famous folks who made predictions, 63 believe that the New England Patriots will win Super Bowl XLII, while only 36 picked the New York Giants. One celebrity, actor Paul Newman, didn't pick a winner. "As an Easterner, it's delicious having two great "local" teams," said Newman. "I wish it were the days before overtime. Then, I'd root for a tie."Most of the celebrities picked New England because of Tom Brady, the Patriots' All-Pro quarterback who threw for an NFL-record 50 touchdown passes this season.Newman's wife, actress Joanne Woodward, predicts the Patriots will win, 28-14."I'm loyal to New England, and I'd pick them even if they weren't favored due to a superstar named Brady," she said.Singer Andy Williams likes the Patriots, 21-7. "The difference will be Tom Brady who will continue to make his march towards being recognized as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time," he said.Other celebrities liked the Patriots and Brady for more eclectic reasons. "With a name like Brady, how can they fail?" said actor Christopher Knight, who played Peter Brady on the "Brady Bunch." "The Pats haven't lost yet, and I see no reason they'll stumble now."Comedienne Judy Tenuta sees New England winning, 28-21. "The Patriots will win with swiftness and ease," she said. "Not just because Tom Brady is Victoria Secret's dream, but because they are the world's best football team."In the previous 18 years of the Celebrity Super Bowl Poll, the celebrities have picked the winning team 12 times, including last year, when 71 percent correctly predicted that Indianapolis would beat Chicago. In another good omen for Patriots fans, Haley Joel Osment, the 19-year-old actor who has correctly predicted the last eight Super Bowl winners, foresees New England winning, 34-20. "I will be cheering on the Giants, as I imagine a great number of people across the country will be," said Osment. "Unfortunately I am going to have to go with the undefeated team this year for my pick."Although New England has been listed as a solid 12-point favorite by the Las Vegas bookmakers, there are some celebrities who insist that the underdog Giants will pull off the upset.General Mike Hayden, the Director of the CIA, forecasts the Giants winning, 28-24. "The spread favors the Pats, but careful intelligence work looks beyond the obvious," he said. "The Giants are hot now. Three playoff wins on the road (like the Steelers before Super Bowl XL). Regular season finale shows they match up well against the Pats. Besides, nobody's perfect!"Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams thinks the Giants will win, 37-21. "Eli Manning has more incentive to win because he's trying to make his parents love him more they love his older brother," he said. "That's a bigger incentive than Tom Brady's desire to win yet another ring and bed yet another supermodel. It's a question of diminishing returns."James Denton, who stars on the TV show, "Desperate Housewives," picks the Giants, 23-20. "I just think, (they have) superior passion, a little superior defensive line," he said. "The Patriots seem a little bored to me. They're clearly the better team, but 19-0 is tough to do. And they've been kind of running on fumes."The Giants even brought together two rivals who rarely agree on anything: FOX TV host Bill O'Reilly and his nemesis, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann. Olbermann sees the Giants winning, 27-21, while O'Reilly picks New York, 31-30.If the Giants win 31-30, O'Reilly will join tennis legend Martina Navratilova (1998) and actor Dennis Farina (2005) as the only celebrities in the history of the Scripps Howard Celebrity Super Bowl Poll to pick the winning team and get the score exactly right. (E-mail David Nielsen at nielsend(at)shns.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.net)