Here we go! Right now I'm waiting at the airport with photographer Dan Buckley for our flight to the desert.

Buckley has been to Super Bowl after Super Bowl over the years with the Sports Machine, so he is a wily veteran. For me, it's my fifth trip to the big game, and it never gets old. By now I know what to expect. The schedule of events every year is basically the same but the media contingent is always growing. The NFL issued a record 4,800 credentials this year. As we saw at media day yesterday, not everybody credentialed for this event is an actual journalist.

There will be plenty of time to talk about and break down the game. For the record, I would like to see the Giants win because I'm rooting for Eli. I admit it I'm a Manning lover. Cool family. How often to you have a NFL quarterback dad with two NFL QB sons? I also graduated from the U. of Tennessee with Peyton so I've been a Manning fan for a while.

Tomorrow we will likely head to the Giants media availability to talk to Geoff Pope, who is a rookie from Howard University. He signed a free-agent contract with the Dolphins but was cut before the season started. I'm sure at the time he was bummin', but how lucky was this dude? He got dumped by a team that won ONE game all season and landed with the Giants. Now he's going the Super Bowl.

There was a point today when I did not think that I would be making it to Phoenix. At least not today. I had a little mishap during a pickup hoops game around lunchtime. I was going for the loose ball and got T-boned. Busted just above the left eye. Dizzy for a minute, then a little blurry vision, and then blood.

Not good, I thought.

"Reverend Ron" and Gary, two of the regulars at the thrice-weekly game, said, "Oh yeah, that will need stitches." So it was off to the ER at Suburban Hospital I went. They stitched me up nicely. Two layers.

It was kind of a funny conversation I heard at the ER between the nurse and the doctor: "Which is less likely to show up on TV -- black or blue thread?"

They decided on blue, so I have 7 blue stitches above my eye. By the time the plane lands I need to think of a better story! Chasing a loose ball in pick-up basketball? Not that sexy of a story!

One doc suggested that I could say I was hitting on Giselle and Tom Brady popped me. I don't think Mr. Brady has anything to worry about.

Anyway, when you see me reporting from Glendale tomorrow with some blue stitches you'll know it wasn't because I kept asking Steve Spagnuolo about the Redskins job.

I'll be blogging all week, so I will talk to you again tomorrow.

-- Dan Hellie