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•Tom Petty wondered all week how to squeeze a 30-year career into the 12 minutes.

Here's how: Petty and his Heartbreakers rattled off "American Girl," "I Won't Back Down," "Free Fallin'" and "Runnin' Down a Dream" in 12 minutes during Sunday's halftime show, with enough time in between for Petty to switch guitars. Fans accompanied "Free Fallin'" with a nifty light stunt — each person removed a tiny flashlight from underneath his or her seat and waved it rhythmically during the chorus.

• "American Idol" winner Jordin Sparks looked nauseous as she took the stage to sing the national anthem before Sunday's game; imagine if she knew people were betting on her.

The over/under on the length of Sparks' national anthem was 1 minute 37 seconds, according to numerous Las Vegas oddsmakers. Sparks went over the limit, clocking in at 1 minute 50 seconds. Sparks was the unexpected star of the Super Bowl; the daughter of former Arizona State and New York Giants star Phillippi Sparks nailed what we believe is the best anthem since Whitney Houston.

• Whaddaya know, Bill Belichick dressed up for the Super Bowl. The Patriots' ultra-casual coach ditched his usual gray hooded sweatshirt for a red one with the name "Patriots" in block letters across the front. Belichick did give the new duds some of his own, ummm, flair. He cut off the sleeves at the elbows and — we're guessing — dirtied it up before game time.

Belichick's new sweatshirt can be found on NFLShop.com. The cost: $69.95 — sleeve-hacking not included.

• Any doubt who the Patriots' team leaders were was erased as the team took the field Sunday. Quarterback Tom Brady and linebacker Tedy Bruschi led the team out of the locker room and onto the University of Phoenix Stadium turf. Brady walked the tunnel with his helmet off, only to pop it on seconds before entering the field of play.

•Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce has received unwanted grief all season for his big mouth. Sunday, it helped the Giants take an early lead. Pierce, a former UA standout and defensive co-captain, correctly called "tails" during the coin toss. The Giants opted to receive, and took a 3-0 lead.

Members of late coach Bill Walsh's family helped with the coin toss; former 49ers Steve Young, Jerry Rice and Ronnie Lott also participated.

• Outside of used cars, nothing in the world depreciates in value faster than Super Bowl memorabilia. Fans lined up 10 deep to buy Super Bowl commemorative programs ($20), T-shirts ($30) and jerseys ($85) just hours before game time. Most of the gear was part of an exclusive game-day stadium collection.

We can only imagine that it's about half-price today.

• We figured the average fan spent at least $20 on food and drink upon entering the stadium. Individually portioned pizzas were $9. Beer was $10, and came in either a plastic bottle or a commemorative cup. Bottled water and sodas were $5; peanuts were $4.

• The Fox pre-game show noted that 5 percent of all avocados purchased annually go toward Super Bowl snacks. Ironic, then, that we couldn't find a single avocado inside University of Phoenix Stadium. Apparently, Glendale wasn't doing its part.

• The NFL handed out its final award of the postseason Sunday, naming Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor the Walter Payton Man of the Year. Taylor has been active in charity work; his foundation raises money for children's charities.

• The Super Bowl was a good place to be seen.

Tennis star Roger Federer, singer Nick Lachey and "The Office" star John Krasinski were among the stars in the stands as the game kicked off. "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest and judges Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson were fixtures during the pre-game show, held in the University of Phoenix Stadium parking lot. Willie Nelson performed "Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys" with Sara Evans — though he left out the words "girls of the night" during one verse. Censors!

Still, we couldn't help but be impressed by the women in the stands: Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen and actresses Kate Hudson, Jenny McCarthy and Pamela Anderson all watched the game from luxury boxes …

• The "60 Minutes" stalwart watched the game from the auxiliary press box in section 401. The 89-year-old Rooney was a regular in the media center all week. Most allowed Rooney to put journalistic objectivity on the shelf for the week: He is a longtime Giants season-ticket holder.

The Arizona State marching band perform as part of the pre-game show. They played the Sun Devils' fight song before leaving to polite applause …

• Half-empty stands at the FBR Open. J.B. Holmes outlasted Phil Mickelson on the first playoff hole Sunday, about a half-hour before kickoff. By our estimation, most fans were already home, warming up the artichoke dip.

• Super Bowl security was tight, as expected.

We were ushered to a cordoned-off area hours before game time and asked to put our laptop bags on the floor and step away. Police then brought a bomb-sniffing dog through the room for a quick scan. The dog — we named him Officer Sniffy —gave everything a quick smell, and the bags were cleared for entry.

Per Cardinals policy, fans received pat-downs on their way into University of Phoenix Stadium. Before the game, the crowd was shown an emergency evacuation video just in case there was any … unpleasantness.

— Ryan Finley