Want to know who will win this Sunday's Super Bowl between the New York Giants and Baltimore Ravens? Town Crier reporter Rita Ferrandino has a solid theory.

"Bet the Ravens," she says. "They have a murderer on the team. A MUR-DER-ER!."

Excellent point.

Granted, not all football fans necessarily bet on the games, and Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis was acquitted of murder charges last summer, but it's still a tough point to dispute.

Especially since Lewis and the Ravens' defense do play with murderous rage. They simply are the hardest hitting defense in the league, which is bad news for the Giants and quarterback Kerry Collins.

Collins has been great in the playoffs, but he has a reputation as a quarterback who gets flustered with pressure, and he will see plenty of pressure Sunday. Look for the Ravens defense to record two or three picks on the way to shutting down the Giants' offense.

It won't be easy for the Ravens defense either, but they will find a way to score 17 points, while the Giants will mange just six. Some items to remember while watching the Super Bowl. The lowest scoring Super Bowl was in 1972, when Washington beat the Miami Dolphins, 14-7. Also, no team has ever been shutout, and no Super Bowls have gone to overtime. We could see both on Sunday.

Let's see what some other area "experts" think will happen Sunday.

Cooperstown football coach Steve Pugliese: My heart is with the Giants, but I think the Ravens will win the game. Their defense is just so punishing, and the old saying goes that defense wins championships and I believe that. I think it will be a close game, but I don't think the Giants will score a touchdown. Final score: 13-6.

Longtime Cooperstown football coach Ted Kantorowski: I think it will be an extraordinarily close game, and I lean toward the Giants because of their offense. Collins has done superbly well in the playoffs, and the Ravens just don't have the offense to compliment their defense. I see a very close game, with the team making more mistakes losing. I like the Giants by 10 points or less.

Jim Jordan, another former Cooperstown football coach: I like the Giants because I think they have great momentum going. They have a balanced offense where they can run or throw the ball, and their defense has been dominant. I think they'll find ways to score even though everyone talks about the Ravens defense. Final score: Giants 24, Ravens 17.

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There was a time when playing on the varsity basketball team as a sophomore was rare, but not anymore.

A look at area team's rosters shows not only is it commonplace for sophomores, but now for freshmen as well to not only be on the team, but be key players.

The Cooperstown boys basketball team has three sophomores and a freshman on the team, including three starters in 10th graders Billy Hribar and Jeremy Holmes and freshman Shane Connolly. Sophomore Tyler Harris is an important player off the bench as well.

Perhaps the best example of a young star player is Milford eighth grader Shannon Weir, who scored a career-high 34 points in a Tri-Valley showdown with Morris last Wednesday, and is already in the midst of her second varsity season.

Weir's father, Jim, is the coach of the Milford girls team, and her two older sisters, Becky and Kim, were both stars for the Wildcats..

One of the secrets to the Milford boys basketball team's success in recent years has been the addition of a sophomore to the varsity. Players like 1,000 point scorers Ryan Seward, Seth Petronis and Patrick Kelly all played at least three varsity seasons, and all won at least one Tri-Valley Championship during their careers.

Even the Cherry Valley-Springfield boys, who rarely have underclassmen on the varsity, are being led in scoring by sophomore Evan Lane.

Some schools and coaches have been reluctant to put underclassmen on the varsity, but it's becoming clear that the teams who do have a competitive advantage.