Seahawks RB Marshawn Lynch finally opened up Thursday in his NFL-mandated media session, expressing frustration over why he is being forced to speak with reporters when he feels he has nothing to say.

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WalletHub has created an infographic that provides numbers absolutely vital to experiencing Super Bowl Sunday, including the fact that an estimated 1.25 billion chicken wings will be consumed in service to the unofficial national holiday. Enjoy:

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By Peter King, Sports Illustrated

TEMPE, AZ.—With all 53 players on the active roster and 10 practice-squad members healthy enough to work, a rarity for this late in a season, the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks opened their practice week for Super Bowl XLIX with their weekly “Competition Wednesday” practice on the campus of Arizona State University.

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PHOENIX -- Amid talk of purported advantage gained by using deflated footballs, the New England Patriots have a starter who has been twice suspended by the NFL for drug rules violations, including the first four games of the 2014 regular season.

But in all the chatter regarding the sports ethics of the Pats, no one has offered a scolding for their hire of CB Brandon Browner.

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As media scrutiny intensifies in the week leading up to Super Bowl XLIX, QB Russell Wilson and CB Richard Sherman -- arguably the two most recognizable Seahawks players --  bypassed traditional news outlets to release insightful, wide-ranging essays. 

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Pearl Jam guitarists Mike McCready and Stone Gossard sat next to each other, each battling their emotions and reaching different conclusions as they watched the NFC championship game wind down two weeks ago at McCready’s house.

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During his five minutes of interrogation on Super Bowl Media Day, Marshawn Lynch responded to 29 questions by answering "I'm just here so I won't get fined" 29 times. Little did Lynch know that he might get fined anyway. The NFL is going to review whether the hat that Lynch wore during the event, which sported his "BeastMode" logo, was permissible.

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After losing Red Bryant and Chris Clemons in free agency, Brandon Mebane to a season-ending hamstring injury in Week 10, and Bobby Wagner for five weeks at mid-year, it seemed unlikely the Seahawks would duplicate last year’s feat of leading the NFL in total defense. But by allowing 39 points in their final six games, the Seahawks finished No. 1 again in fewest points (15.9) and yards (267.1) allowed, only the fourth franchise since the 1950s to do so.

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PHOENIX -- Two podiums down from Marshawn Lynch, teammate Cliff Avril had a different view of Super Bowl Media Day at U.S. Airways Arena Tuesday.

"This is one of the most fun parts of the situation," he said. This is cool.”

As it should be for players. Say what you will about the absurdity of the event -- as I and thousands of other journalists have for nearly the entirety of its 49-year existence -- the staggering attention garnered for feats at the pinnacle of American sports should be fun for the players. At the least.

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During his Media Day session, Patriots RB LeGarrette Blount didn't sound worried about facing the Seahawks' defense in Super Bowl XLIX.

“I don’t care about them being the top defense, that doesn’t bother me," Blount said Tuesday. "They were good enough to get here, just like we were good enough to get here. They’re not immortal. They can be beaten.”

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After avoiding interviews the past two seasons, Seahawks RB Marshawn Lynch has succumbed to holding a pair of press conferences. One was real and done to save money. The other was fake and done to make money. Both were entertaining.

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“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority."

John Emerich Edward Dahlberg (Lord Acton to his close friends) wrote these oft-quoted words in April 1877 in a letter to Archbishop Mandell Creighton. The two were debating how historians should view and write on past matters of corruption within the English hierarchy and the Catholic Church.

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Seahawks fans watched in various degrees of horror the past March as a parade of operatives key to the 43-8 Super Bowl triumph bolted town, lured by greater dollars than the champions could pay. On March 11-12 alone, the Seahawks lost in free agency DEs Red Bryant and Chris Clemons to Jacksonville, WR Golden Tate to Detroit and RT Breno Giacomini to the New York Jets.

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CHANDLER, AZ. -- If Seahawks fans and others around the country weren't taking Deflate-gate seriously, they will now.

In an unscheduled appearance before reporters Monday night after arrival at the team hotel for the Super Bowl Sunday, Patriots owner Robert Kraft angrily denounced the controversy over tampered footballs and said if no fault is found with his franchise, he will demand an apology from the NFL.

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Perhaps trying to make the point that he'd do anything to win Super Bowl XLIX, Patriots CB Brandon Browner told ESPN that he'll encourage teammates to injure Seahawks CB Sherman and FS Earl Thomas when the Patriots and Seahawks meet Sunday (3:30 p.m., NBC).

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PHOENIX -- Less than a month ago, one of the key participants in the Seahawks' crucial goal-line stands in the NFC Championship against Green Bay was in Spartanburg, S.C., working his valet parking business.

"Guys get out of their cars, they don’t have their suit jacket on yet, so I take it off the hanger and put it on them," Landon Cohen said last week in the Seahawks locker room. "Then they find out, 'Oh my gosh, this guy plays football too.'

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PHOENIX -- The theme of this year's Super Bowl, now including the Seahawks' uproarious departure as well as their blunt-spoken arrival, is plain: Outlaw balls. And that isn't just the Patriots' equipment malfunction.

As thousands of 12s swarmed the route of the Seahawks buses through the city of SeaTac on the way to the airport Sunday morning -- "Instead of having the game in the stadium, it was in the street today," said DT Michael Bennett -- one curbside family stood out: Mom, Dad and two little ones holding their crotches.

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The Atlanta Constitution reported Sunday that the Atlanta Falcons -- to no one's surprise -- will name Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn as their head coach the day after Super Bowl XLIX. Quinn, who has presided over the NFL's top-rated defense each of the past two seasons, had two interviews with the Falcons, who cannot officially name Quinn until after the final game.

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The NFL has placed the Seahawks and running back Marshawn Lynch on notice that if Lynch makes another vulgar gesture after scoring a touchdown, or any other time during Super Bowl XLIX Sunday, the team will be penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Lynch has been fined twice this season for grabbing his crotch following touchdowns, but no penalties were assessed because game officials did not see them.

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Americans love betting on the Super Bowl, and there’s no limit to the options available to bettors on Super Sunday. Cruise the internet, and one can easily find wagering opportunities, from the color of New England coach Bill Belichick’s hoodie on game day to the odds on RB Marshawn Lynch grabbing his crotch after scoring a touchdown.

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