John Katsilometes passes along the fearless Super Bowl predictions of some celebrities

kats@lasvegassun.com

Sunday, Feb. 5, 2006 | 12:34 p.m.

If celebrity prognostication is to be trusted, the Pittsburgh Steelers will beat the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL.

In its annual celebrity Super Bowl poll, Scripps Howard News Service asked dozens of celebrities, politicians and other public figures (including, curiously, legendary sex symbol Mamie Van Doren, who likes Pittsburgh, 42-17) and the Steelers were favored by a majority of those who responded.

Several who offered their forecasts have ties to Las Vegas. Those who picked the Steelers included (predicted final scores listed when provided):

Andre Agassi; comedian Phyllis Diller, Steelers by 8; occasional Vegas headliner Regis Philbin; world middleweight boxing champ Jermain Taylor (who beat Bernard Hopkins at the Thomas & Mack Center), 24-17; Molly Sims of "Las Vegas," 20-17; James Lesure, also of "Las Vegas"; noted Vegas party scenester Kevin Sorbo, 31-21; Motley Crue vocalist Vince Neil, 21-7; Flamingo comic George Wallace, 28-21; Chef Bobby Flay (Mesa Grill at Caesars Palace), 20-17; Penn Jillette, 21-17; and Carrot Top, 31-24.

Those backing the Seahawks included Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams (whose strip runs daily in the Sun), 35-24; "Hairspray" at the Luxor co-star Susan Anton, 31-28; Centennial mural artist LeRoy Neiman, 34-21; and reigning Miss America Jennifer Berry, crowned last month at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts, 24-17. There might not be many mall appearances in Pittsburgh for the former Miss Oklahoma ...

NoteMart

Love is in the air: The Stratosphere has completed the morphing of the Top of the World Lounge into Romance at the Top of the World. Romance features a more plush decor, bottle service, upscale drinks and a view of the Las Vegas Valley that is rare and (evidently) romantic ...

Tupac lives: Madame Tussauds Las Vegas at the Venetian announced last week it plans to immortalize late rap star Tupac Shakur on April 5 when it opens its new "On Stage" attraction. The shirtless image of Shakur will join wax figures of Prince, Bono, Mick Jagger, Elton John, Little Richard, Billy Idol and Elvis. Shakur was shot on Sept. 7, 1996, while sitting in a car on the corner of Koval Lane and East Flamingo Road and died six days later ...

Order of Juice: God help you if your iPod includes music from both Juice Newton and KC & The Sunshine Band, but those acts have been added by Silverton Vice President of Marketing David Krause to the variety-spiced lineup at the Silverton. Newton performs March 18; KC & Co. follow on March 24-25 ...

Paperback writer: Beatles fans tend to gravitate toward each other, no matter what the occasion. On Thursday morning at Preview Las Vegas at Cox Pavilion, I asked LVCVA President and avid Beatles fan Rossi Ralenkotter if he'd been reading the book, "The Beatles: A Biography," by Bob Spitz. Ralenkotter said he'd just started it and agreed that (so far) the Spitz book is the best account of the Beatles story ever published ...

Full plates: Reader Jim Anderson of Henderson checks in with a vanity-plate sighting on a Toyota Prius, "PRIUSNV," which can mean it is a Prius being driven in Nevada, or a play off ... some other term. Anderson's own plates read "30NOUT" (for, 30 and out), as he worked for 30 years for one of the three big auto makers in Detroit and retired, at age 48, with a full pension.

Fabulous Las Vegas runs Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in the Las Vegas Sun. John Katsilometes can be reached at 259-2327 or 812-9812, or at kats@lasvegassun.com.