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PHOENIX - A year ago, Pete Carroll stood at a podium in a New York City hotel, less than 12 hours after his Seattle Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl. Charlotte Hornets Jerseys . He spoke about what would happen next.The first meeting that well have, Carroll said, will be tomorrow.Sounded a bit over the top, even from the ever-enthusiastic coach. A moment later, he continued the theme, insisting: We really have an eye on whats coming, and we dont dwell on what just happened. Well take this in stride.Turns out he knew what he was talking about. Fast forward to Sunday, when Carrolls Seahawks will face Bill Belichicks New England Patriots in the Super Bowl with a chance to do something that, for many reasons, was thought to be too tall a task in todays NFL: win a second consecutive championship.Its tough to win it once. Thats the hard part. Winning twice doesnt happen (anymore), said Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, whose team went back-to-back 10 years ago, making for the longest drought without a repeat champion in the nearly half-century of Super Bowls.The NFL is built for parity — the way the draft is set up, the way the schedule plays out, the hard salary cap. All those things trying to level the playing field, Brady said. Its hard to get here. Its tough to win it. Its certainly tough to win it two times in a row.It has happened only eight times in league history but used to be a semi-regular occurrence. Indeed, the first two Super Bowls — well, it wasnt called that back then — were both won by the Green Bay Packers.Then the Miami Dolphins won consecutive trophies five years later, followed by the Pittsburgh Steelers (who did it twice), the San Francisco 49ers, the Dallas Cowboys, the Broncos and the Patriots.The hardest thing in terms of repeating is not the focus of repeating, said Seattles Russell Wilson, who can become the first starting quarterback to win a pair of Super Bowls within his first three seasons. Its: How do you get to the Super Bowl in general?There are all the ways mentioned by Brady that the NFL legislates competitiveness.And there are other factors. Reigning Super Bowl champions have a shorter off-season. Successful teams lose players and assistant coaches (Seattles top receiver, Golden Tate, left as a free agent, as did defensive lineman Red Bryant, for example). Champions often are filled with veterans who might feel satisfied.Last seasons Seahawks, though, had the fourth-youngest roster for a Super Bowl winner, with an average age of 26 years, 175 days, according to STATS. The Steelers who won the 1975 Super Bowl were the youngest champions, and they followed that up by earning rings again a year later.Its always hard to match the intensity ... of every opponent, especially after youve won one Super Bowl, said Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Irvin, a wide receiver on Dallas 1993 and 1994 Super Bowl champions. After you win the Super Bowl, you need to go play 16 more Super Bowls the following season, and then go through the playoffs to get back to the Super Bowl. So its a tough go.As if setting out to prove that point, the Seahawks did not start this season particularly well.The pressure was there early in the season, defensive end Cliff Avril said, but then we just forgot about it ... and I think thats what let us take the next step to be able to get here — not thinking about it.Seattles record was 3-3 in mid-October, then 6-4 after a loss at Kansas City in mid-November. Thats when Carroll held a meeting with a dozen players to air out a few things.It was a huge impact, for us to be in a room together and openly and freely express our concerns about the team and not hold anything back, receiver Doug Baldwin said. I thought that was crucial for our growth as a team.That also happens to be when middle linebacker Bobby Wagner returned from injury.Seattle has not lost since.Theyve dominated the NFC the last two seasons, so well be playing the best team, Patriots safety Devin McCourty said.As for how much motivation New England derives from trying to prevent Seattle from winning another Super Bowl, McCourty added: Leading into it, it doesnt matter what they did last year. It doesnt really affect us. But if we stop them, then its a cool story to talk about.___Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich___Online:AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/AP_NFL Michael Kidd-Gilchrist Jersey .C. - Steve Clifford isnt exactly singing his teams praises after the Bobcats won for the sixth time in seven games. Alonzo Mourning Hornets Jersey . Levante, which had lost five straight including a Copa del Rey game last weekend, fell behind at its Ciutat de Valencia stadium when Ionut Sapanura opened the scoring for Elche in the 26th minute. http://www.hornetsteamproshop.com/Cheap-Percy-Miller-Hornets-Jersey/ . Alexander was released last week by the Edmonton Eskimos, where he spent the past three seasons at safety. He had 121 defensive tackles, five special teams tackles and seven interceptions in 51 regular-season and three playoff games.HAMILTON - Drew MacIntyre made 32 saves for his first shutout of the season and the Toronto Marlies defeated the Hamilton Bulldogs 2-0 in the American Hockey League on Friday. Greg McKegg and Jerry DAmigo had goals for the Marlies (24-12-4), who have won six of their past eight games. Dustin Tokarski stopped 20 shots for the Bulldogs (19-17-4). Fridays game got off to a frantic start, with Hamiltons Christian Thomas enjoying two quality scoring chances before Torontos Brad Staubitz drove wide on Jarrod Tinordi and slipped a shot just wide of Tokarskis far post. The clearest opportunity fell to Sven Andrighetto five minutes into the first period, as he split the Toronto defence and broke in alone on MacIntyre. The winger moved to his backhand and was stopped by a sliding MacIntyre, but drew a penalty in the process. The goaltenders judgement served him well with four minutes to play in the period, as he rushed out of his crease to snuff out a developing break. Joonas Nattinen emerged from the penalty box and collected a loose puck behind Torontos defenders, but MacIntyre successfully challenged him just inside his blue-line. The Bulldogs were left to rue their missed opportunities when McKegg opened the scoring for Toronto on the power play at 18:20 of the period. McKeggg took an initial shot from the blue-line and followed the ensuing scrum into the slot with Martin St. Cody Zeller Hornets Jersey. Pierre serving a tripping penalty. Wade MacLeod eventually found him with a cross-ice pass that he quickly deposited past Tokarski. The fast-paced first period gave way to a more defensive second, as the Marlies comfortably protected their lead. Toronto scored a short-handed insurance goal as DAmigo spearheaded a solo rush at 15:45 of the period. The Marlies winger was tripped as he broke through the slot, but kept enough control to slide the puck past Tokarski, who was diving to his far post. Hamilton outshot Toronto 24-18 through forty minutes, but rarely tested MacIntyre in the subdued second period. The Bulldogs nearly broke MacIntyres shutout bid eight minutes into the third period, as Mike Blunden and Gabriel Dumont whacked at a loose puck in the low slot. But the goaltender reacted well to deny the attempts through a screen and smother the puck. Hamilton was 0-for-7 on the power play, while Toronto converted on one of five power-play opportunities. Notes: Attendance at Copps Coliseum was announced as 9,983 … Brandon Kozun played his first game for the Marlies since being traded to Toronto by the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday. ' ' '