SOURCE: Las Vegas Review-Journal

All the amateurs come out to party on New Year's Eve, and all the amateurs come out to place their bets on Super Bowl Sunday.

It makes for two of the wildest days of the year in Las Vegas, and Sunday turned out to be one to remember.

In the days leading up to Super Bowl XLII, almost every "expert" who weighed in on the game picked the New England Patriots to roll over the New York Giants.

Even most professional handicappers and wiseguys were siding with the Patriots as 12-point favorites. They were 18-0, and how could they lose to a Giants team that lost six regular-season games?

No way Eli Manning and Tom Coughlin could beat Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, right?

The "experts" got it wrong, the amateurs got it right, and the sports books got hammered as the underdog Giants won 17-14.

I toured seven books Sunday to get a feel for the atmosphere and gauge public opinion. Here is the day's play-by-play:

10:07 a.m. -- I answer a phone call from my friend Brooke, who never placed an NFL bet before this season. She loves the Giants and just placed her largest wager of the season on them at plus-12.

11:02 a.m. -- The four-hour pregame show starts on Fox. Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson are talking. For some odd reason, Ryan Seacrest is nearby on a red carpet.

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