I have very little patience with hours and hours of pregame blabbering, I just want to watch the game! So here's the schedule for the 2008 Super Bowl, also known as Super Bowl 42 or, for the purists (and Romans) reading this, Super Bowl XLII:

2 p.m.: Fox starts its pre-game coverage. Unless you're in the New York or New England markets, in which case the last two weeks have been one long pre-game show.

***KICKOFF TIME!*** also known as start time, or, "What time does the *&$@ game actually begin?!?"

6:17 p.m.: this is the time I've seen at every source I've checked, including the official NFL Super Bowl page and Fox Sports. The NFL site has a clock counting down the hours, minutes, and second to gametime, and they all indicate 6:17 p.m. Eastern as the starting time.

This is the official listed time, though the way sports leagues do things this may well be the time that the national anthem is played, or the coin toss is done, etc. But all the various sources are listing 6:17 as the official time, so that's the closest we're going to get.