Betting on the Super Bowl is almost as popular as the game itself. Most folks are content to pick a winner and cross their fingers, but others like their bets to be a little more, well, obscure.

These wagers, known as prop bets, can cover everything from how long a singer will take to finish the national anthem to who will score the game's first points.

Jeff DeLuca of the Yahoo! Contributor Network listed some of the strangest prop bets before the game kicked off. Here are some of the results:

Did Kelly Clarkson take too long to sing the national anthem? According to Bovada sportsbook, Clarkson went over 1 minute 34 seconds, which was the betting line cutoff. However, another source (unofficially) timed Clarkson at 1:33.81.

One could also bet on whether or not Clarkson would forget a word (she did not) and whether she would show her belly while singing (she did not).

Another popular bet: What color Gatorade would be dumped on the winning coach? The answer appeared to be "clear or water." If you bet on that, good for you, but you probably didn't get very good odds.

What about Eli's big brother, Peyton? If you bet that television cameras would capture the Colts quarterback relaxing in a luxury box while watching the game, you were out of money. By our count, Peyton was shown exactly zero times. In fact, we're not even sure if he was at the game.

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Say you were more interested in what would happen after the game? You could place a bet on whether the Dow Jones would rise or fall Monday. It fell, but not by much.

And then there was the halftime show. Folks who bet that Madonna would wear something on her head were happy to see her with a Thor-like helmet. But anyone who bet that the Material Girl would wear a Super Bowl jersey was out of luck and ended the day a few bucks lighter.

Oh, and by the way, the Giants won.

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Of course you do.

1) You should not punch anybody in the back of the head.

2) If you decide to taunt angry, irrational rioters by salsa dancing in their face, you probably will be punched in the back of the head.

I'm not even totally comfortable calling this a riot. I see a bunch of angry kids milling around. Fourteen arrests were made, 13 of them were UMass-Amherst students, and crowds were dispersed by smoke bombs and pepper balls.

Anyway, about the Giants fan who took a punch in the back of the head, I'm pretty sure he's fine with it. You can see him at about the 0:27 mark in the video ready to throw a fist, and then he shifts quickly into salsa dancing. These are the actions of a man who is expecting to be clocked in the head. He didn't even seem to be in a hurry to leave after he was.

Whatever the case, two large heroes in gray sweatshirts pulled him out of there and saved him from further harm. He will live to salsa another day. Hopefully, next time, not for the sole purpose of being a smug jerk.

Gracias, Barstool.

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The best story about post-Super Bowl heartache is this one: Dan Wetzel captures Tom Brady's pain immediately after losing again to the Giants. The second-best story about post-Super Bowl heartache is this one: Matt Light and Rob Gronkowski taking their shirts off and dancing their hearts out after the game.

The lesson here? When you are fiesta, you are always fiesta. Bigger pictures to follow.

According to Deadspin, these pictures were taken at the invite-only Patriots postgame party. LMFAO was there, as were Maroon 5, Steven Tyler and Earth, Wind & Fire. It actually doesn't look like a much different atmosphere than the one on the Giants team plane. It really is a fine line between winning and losing.

I can see some people getting bent out of shape over this, because some fans want the players to take the losses as hard as they do. But not everyone is this girl. Sadness and disappointment can find many different outlets.

I assure you, Matt Light, Rob Gronkowski and anyone else who danced at the Patriots party are competitors. They didn't give less effort than anyone else, and they are not less reliable in the future. They just chose to distract themselves from the sadness with a party and some shirtless gyrating. Matt Light might not get that opportunity very often.

Sometimes, dancing is the only way to get the pain out.

Many thanks, Deadspin.

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We know from the hit Hootie & the Blowfish song "Only Wanna to be With You" that the Miami Dolphins make lead singer Darius Rucker cry. And several months ago a mother taped her son crying after a Jets loss. After the Super Bowl, we can now finally add Tom Brady to that list.

A stunned — and sobbing — New England Patriots fan was videotaped by whom we now presume to be her ex-boyfriend in the moments after her team's Super Bowl loss to the Giants. The fan, in her Tom Brady jersey, begins her sniffling tirade against the "stupid" Patriots in classic fashion as she realizes that the team "will never play together again."

The presumed boyfriend can only respond ever so cleverly with "I'm sorry baby." Then he continues to videotape.

"If we get there again they're going to beat us again because we're so bad at the Super Bowl and I don't know why because we're so good at every other game," the crying Brady fan said.

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Much of the audio is inaudible due to her sniveling into her sleeve - the hysterical ranting of a fan who probably doesn't know that the Patriots forever owe Mo Lewis for becoming a dynasty. But at one point as she lamented there not being any fellow New England fans around for her to commiserate with, the statement "I feel like an idiot" was clearly heard. Whew, at least we're not the only ones who feel that way.

The scathing analysis, perhaps just a notch below that which is offered on Showtime's "Inside the NFL," continued at the 1:33 mark.

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"Yeah I know, I saw what happened. Everyone was just playing so stupid and they gave us a chance to win all the time and Tom Brady was just so stupid," she said, getting more hysterical.

Then a moment of lucidity as she realizes that what surely must be classified as an overreaction was making her look, well, she put it best before, "stupid."

"Now my makeup all over my face and I look like a friggin' McGoon," she said.

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Perhaps we are blessed that eventually the cameraman says "OK" and turns off the camera because we just can't turn away. Then to quote Hootie once again, if we were him we'd just "Let Her Cry."

You may now continue with your life.

Follow Kristian R. Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer

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Ultimately, what matters about a Super Bowl is how it's remembered years from now. So please, remember nothing you see about this video from Taiwanese animation company NMA, because if you do, someday recounting those thoughts will get you institutionalized.

That great catch Mario Manningham made along the sidelines? The ball was on fire and caught with a basket like the ones they collect money with in church. Ahmad Bradshaw briefly entered the Matrix before he went into the end zone. And God doesn't love Tim Tebow anymore.

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But in the end, the Super Bowl is just Jesus playing with action figures. Which is actually kind of a comforting notion, because if that's how the Super Bowl is controlled, then that's how I'm controlled, and I've always wanted to be an action figure. I hope I come with a championship belt or something.

Also, Madonna is a "geriatric Lady Gaga"? Come on, that's not fair. Madonna crushed it. You know what else, Taiwanese animators? Her halftime show was twice as bizarre as your postgame animation of it. She wins. Step your game up.

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The New York Giants were in high spirits on their return trip to Newark on Monday morning. In a video uploaded to YouTube by rookie linebacker Mark Herzlich, members of the team, led by running back Andre Brown, are shown singing and dancing on the plane to a catchy tune that's certain to get stuck in your head for the next 90 minutes:

"I got a ring! I got a ring. He got one too." It's like the complete opposite of that Beyonce song.

Thanks, HuffPost Sports

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On Sunday night, while his New York Giants teammates were celebrating winning a ring, linebacker Greg Jones was giving one away.

The rookie took to a knee on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium after his team's victory in Super Bowl XLVI and proposed to his college sweetheart, Amanda. Confetti was still falling from the rafters when Jones' girlfriend accepted.

Courtesy of IMAVEX.com

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"She was bawling," Jones told NJ.com on Monday morning. "I was like, 'I don't know how long she's going to keep crying.'"

Practice squad tight end Christian Hopkins held the ring during the game, then gave it to Jones after Tom Brady's Hail Mary fell incomplete. Had Rob Gronkowski caught that ball, Jones said he would have waited until another time to propose.

The couple met each other at Michigan State. Jones starred on the football team, while his future bride played basketball.

Jones spent most of his first year playing special teams for the Giants.

His story brings to mind that of former Boise State running back Ian Johnson, who proposed to his cheerleader girlfriend on the field after the Broncos' wild Fiesta Bowl victory in 2007.

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As Super Bowl MVP, Eli Manning earned a trip to Disney World. As Super Bowl runners-up, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots received an offer to take a trip to Aruba.

With an eye toward those famous Disney commercials and a deft marketing touch, the Aruba Tourism Authority has offered all-expenses paid trips to the entire Patriots roster.

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"While only the MVP of the winning club has the opportunity to jet off to another well-known destination, Aruba is making the offer to the entire New England squad," the ATA wrote in a press release that was noticed by USA Today's Game On! blog.

"We want to acknowledge and celebrate the hard work, dedication and season-long success of the team, despite their loss," said CEO Ronella Tjin Asjoe in the statement. "We believe there is no better place to recover after a loss than Aruba.  After all, we are known as 'One Happy Island.'"

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A relaxing trip to Aruba sounds like a good idea after giving away a Super Bowl like New England did on Sunday night. Although if some players decide to take up the tourism authority on the offer, the "one happy island" moniker may not fit. I shudder to think at what would happen if Gisele and Wes Welker passed one another at a tiki bar.

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Five years ago, Tom Coughlin still didn't get it.

The New York Giants' head coach was still a caricature to many; a control-obsessed head coach who adopted the surface methods of tough-minded coaches like Vince Lombardi and Bill Parcells. But what he didn't get was the soft underbelly of that approach -- the way Parcells used to get his players to buy in to the approach even as he was ripping them, and the way Lombardi talked sincerely about love while forging his dynasty in the hottest possible fire.

Coughlin first tried to turn that around in 2004, his first year with the Giants. After a successful tenure at Boston College and enough time on Parcells' staff to see how it was really done, Coughlin washed out as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars despite taking that franchise to an AFC championship game in its second season. Concerned enough about his ability to reach players in the way he needed to, Coughlin reached out to quarterback Kurt Warner, who was in his one season with the Giants, and asked for guidance.

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"I saw a great man, a great coach, but I also saw a man who, for some reason, didn't know how to combine those parts of his personality when it came to football," Warner told NJ.com about Coughlin. "He could connect with his family on such an intimate level but had no idea how to connect with his players. He was struggling badly. Tom was searching for the right way to lead without compromising his principles. I wanted to help. I thought I could help. I tried to help."

Warner knew what he was talking about. He was a scrub quarterback on the 1998 St. Louis Rams team taken over by Dick Vermeil. Contrary to his reputation as a sensitive man who will cry at the drop of a dime, Vermeil came in for the 1997 season, saw a team lacking mental toughness, and installed padded practices that lasted hours per day. It took outreach from the players and Vermeil's willingness to listen, but the coach eventually dialed things down a notch, and a very improbable Super Bowl win at the end of the 1999 season was the result.

Now, Warner was a superstar on the decline before a comeback, and he tried to tell Coughlin what he was missing. "Go home and make a list of all the things you think I need to do better as a coach," Coughlin told Warner, "and don't hold back."

Warner responded with an exhaustive analysis of the things Coughlin needed to do to improve. It was an unusual gesture from a coach to a player -- one would struggle to imagine Lombardi asking Bart Starr for a performance review -- but we're often most willing to listen to alternative options when our backs are against the wall. The players were revolting against Coughlin's style, and he had seen that no matter how successful the results, his one-dimensional approach would eventually have him out the door again.

It took two full seasons to really kick in, but Coughlin finally changed. He started explaining why rules were enforced, instead of just enforcing them. He started at least trying to display a modicum of patience with the reporters who asked out-of-bounds or silly questions. He let people see the man he had been unwilling to show as a public face before.

That happened before and during a 2007 season in which the Giants went on a late-season run and upset the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. The resulting success has seen Coughlin amass as many Lombardi Trophies for the Giants as Parcells did, which puts things together in a very nice circle. In the week before that second win over the Pats, Coughlin reflected -- as much as he could -- on how his approach has changed in ways that are more permanent.

"You're asking the wrong guy," he said on Friday. "I don't know how to answer that. I think the one thing that has happened, and I've said it a thousand times and I'll say it again, is that once the season is over, you have to take a hard look at yourself and do a valid self-analysis. That's very important if you're going to improve. Decide what it is you can change. Look at your team and decide what it is you can change and what is needed in terms of inspiration and motivation or how you get those messages across to those people. Do your research on the outside, whatever it is you believe in.

"I'm a great reader of autobiographies and historical autobiographies, whatever you get your hands on, and reference things that I think are important in order to win or be the very best that we can be. Probably the one thing over the years that may have happened over the years is I may have gotten a little more patient."

Indeed. Now, the message was more about winning, and less about a series of picayune regulations, delivered at a 100-decibel level without further explanation. Coughlin knew he couldn't do it alone. He started letting people in and really appreciating their contributions.

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"Surround yourself with great people, people who have an outstanding work ethic, people who are business-like, who are focused and concentrated," he said on Friday, when asked what it takes to be a winner. "Get everybody on the same page and have the same inspiration, same kind of drive, same kind of desire. Do the very, very best you can. Work to the best of your ability. Be efficient. Don't waste time. You have to be organized and you need to be in a position where you are mentally prepared for all circumstances that might happen in the course of a season.

"Football is a cumulative game. You must continue to work on the situational things and the things that might happen to you in various situations, but you have to be prepared. You try to put your players in that situation. You boil it down to blue-collar work ethic. You go to work every day and work as hard as you possibly can and surround yourself with great people. Keep your eye on the prize, which is very, very important to us and was a big factor in our ability to eventually win the division this year, knowing full well we were in contention all the way through. It was good to end it there."

When asked on the morning after his second Super Bowl win just what has made his Giants able to come back and win in situations like this, Coughlin said it about as well as it can be said.

"Mental toughness, resiliency, resolve. We keep playing, we keep fighting, and we're highly competitive. We do have great trust in each other, great belief that we can finish, and that if we keep playing one play at a time as hard as we can go that we will find a way to win."

And that's the difference now. The coach is distilling his message in a way that the players understand, believe, and take to heart.

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A Photoshopped image of Eli Manning dressed as one of those guys from "300," and the bottom of the shot littered with the fallen Patriots he vanquished. At least an inset of Bill Belichick looking sad or Tom Brady crying on Gisele's shoulder.

But no, the tabloids played it safe, both going with a picture of Eli Manning upwardly looking at the Vince Lombardi Trophy he was holding in his right hand and the headline "CHAMPS!" At least the Daily News had the decency to add "...AGAIN" to the bottom of its front page.

Though they played it straight on the front, in keeping with their usual tone, the back pages of both newspapers speculated about the job security of Tom Coughlin.

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