I cannot believe I am about to say this, but I grew bored with the NFC championship. I predicted Seattle would win, but I had no idea Carolina would forget to show up. The Seahawks dominated this game in front a great home crowd. The final: 34-14. (Carrie Underwood singing the National Anthem turns out to be the highlight of the evening.)

And now a few observations:

- This is the Seahawks' first Super Bowl trip, the third for head coach Mike Holmgren.
- If Seattle is to win the Super Bowl, who has to have a bigger day: Matt Hasselbeck or Shaun Alexander? That's a tough question to answer.

Earlier today, the Steelers punched their Super Bowl ticket asthe Steelers beat Denver, 34-17.

My take:

- Even at 33, Jerome Bettis still has great feet. This will be his first Super Bowl appearance.
- The Steelers' defense gave Jake Plummer fits; how many sacks did Plummer shake off?
- Did I hear one of the CBS announcers refer to the Steelers' dominance in the 1970s as the "Iron Curtain" or is there something about Terry Bradshaw we don't know about?
- The Steelers have had two coaches in my lifetime: Bill Cowher & Chuck Knoll; it's time for Cowher to win a Super Bowl.
- Was Jake Plummer wearing his old Arizona jersey under his pads today? He sure played like it.
- The Broncos season was barely dead & gone before Houston announced Broncs' offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak as head coach. A contract will be negotiated later this week.