When last Sunday’s NFC and AFC championships concluded and the Super Bowl matchup became clear, some sports pundits and social media users wondered if people could get truly excited about a matchup that had already occurred within the last 5 years. “Giants vs. Patriots again?” some people moaned.

For the record, I’m excited about the big game (any chance to see Tom Brady get smashed, you know?). And judging by one metric, it appears that there is quite a bit of interest in watching this year’s Super Bowl…live.

Yahoo has announced via tweet that a couple of specific Super Bowl-related searches are up this week:

Hopefully (but highly unlikely), folks are able to happen upon some sweet information on winning free tickets. Actual tickets are going to cost you a pretty penny. For instance, right now a pair of lower club tickets is going for over $12,000 after 13 bids on eBay.

Today, a somewhat contradicting study said that football fans actually prefer watching the Super Bowl on a TV at home as opposed to actually attending the game.