One of the great beauties of sports is that it’s the ultimate reality television and you never know when you’re going to see something historic.

Even in the Super Bowl, America’s biggest sporting event you are rarely guaranteed to see history.

That is not the case in Super Bowl XLIX.

Everyone in attendance (with ticket prices tripling over last season) and the hundreds of millions watching on television around the world are guaranteed to witness history on Sunday evening.

If the Seattle Seahawks win their second straight title, it will not only mark the first time that a team has repeated as Super Bowl champs in a decade, but it will also put the “Legion of Boom” and company among the greatest defenses to ever suit up.

“I think we’ll be the Paul Bunyans of the NFL,”Seahawks’ defensive end Michael Bennett said of his team when asked about their legacy if they win on Sunday. “We’ll be the best.”

When taking into account the very best defenses of all time, three teams immediately come up: the 1985 Chicago Bears, the 2000 Baltimore Ravens and the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. As statistically dominant as those teams were, they defeated Tony Eason, Kerry Collins and Rich Gannon in their respective Super Bowls and none of the three reached a second Super Bowl within a decade of winning.

If Seattle can pull off the back-to-back, they will have defeated Peyton Manning and Tom Brady in consecutive seasons, two of the very best to play the game.

“They’re different in their own ways,” Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner said when comparing Manning and Brady. “Future Hall of Famers, but we’ve taken down Hall of Famers in the past.”

If Seattle were to win, dynasty talk would follow shortly after.

“Just like our mentality every game, it’s game-to-game, it’s year-to-year,” Sherman explained. “We don’t think about dynasties or history or anything like that. We just go out and play the game, and let the chips fall where they may. We let everybody else discuss those things and determine where we stand. We can’t do anything but try hard and play hard, and do the best we can.”

Seahawks linebacker K.J. Wright was a little more forthcoming when putting his team’s legacy into perspective.

“I absolutely think we’ll go down among the greatest defenses of all time,” Wright said. “The Bears, the Ravens, Buccaneers, we should be considered right up there with them.”

“We can definitely talk about it,” Wagner added. “We have to win the game first. But if we win the game, we can talk about it.

On the other sideline, the combination of Brady and Bill Belichick are already locks for the Hall of Fame. They’re playing and coaching for the rarified air of “GOAT” (greatest of all time) status.

“Personally, I feel like he’s probably going to go down as the best quarterback to ever play the game,” Patriots’ running back Legarrette Blount said. “When he’s on your side, you always have a chance of winning the game, no matter what the score is or who you’re playing against.”

There is great respect among the two men not only from their own team, but their opponents as well.

“They have a great owner, a great coach, a great quarterback,” Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett said. “[They’re] just a great team. That’s a great organization. Any player in the NFL would love to play for that team and that coach. I mean, they’re winning. If you want to win, you go to the Patriots, and they’ve done a great job of winning. Tom (Brady) has been a great quarterback.”

Looking at the sheer numbers, a win on Sunday should make Brady the most accomplished quarterback of all time. He will have won four Super Bowls, tying him with Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw.

Where Brady has the leg up is that he’s been to more Super Bowls than any quarterback in the history of the game as this marks his sixth time in the big game. His two Super Bowl losses shouldn’t be counted against him, as he directed his team to leads late in those close losses and getting there and losing is better than either losing earlier in the playoffs or not even qualifying for the playoffs.

“I mean, it’s amazing sitting here and thinking this is the sixth time I’ll be doing this,” Brady said. “It’s really a privilege. I’ve been very lucky over the years to play on great teams and sustain injuries – I had a type of injury in 2008 where I didn’t get to play – and since then I’ll never take these things for granted. You may lose, I come off the field and say, ‘At least I have a chance to go out and play the next week.’ It’s pretty special. My teammates are really excited.”

As for Belichick, this is the ninth time he’s been to the Super Bowl if you count his years as an assistant with the New York Giants. With a win he will tie former Steelers’ head coach Chuck Noll with four Super Bowl titles as a head coach. When you add in that he’s done it in the salary cap era of football the accomplishment becomes that much more amazing.

“There’s never a satisfaction with what happened in the past,” Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said. “There’s always a forward-thinking vision with both of them. When the season ends, we’re not basking in the glory of however many victories we had or whatever we’ve accomplished. We’re looking forward to the combine and the draft like that. I remember, we were in the locker room after the AFC Championship game and someone was having a conversation about the Senior Bowl. There’s always a push forward and what can we do to be better. We understand that this year’s challenge is going to end with our last game and then we’re on to next year’s challenge. If you sit there and look at what you’ve done and you’re satisfied with that too long, I think you get complacent. I’ve never seen either one of those two guys even have a hint of complacency in their job. The way that they come in and work the next year like last year never even existed, is really, really a neat thing to see.”

The success of Brady and Belichick stems from the combination of world-class talent and relentless work ethic. Brady has arguably played with one Hall of Famer on offense in his career and Belichick has rewritten the Patriots script year after year with personnel changes.

They are quite possibly the most versatile combination in league history, if not the very best.

“This game’s huge,” Pro Bowl tight end Rob Gronkowski explained. “It’s just based on legacies … for a lot of players – for Tom [Brady], for Vince [Wilfork], for the whole organization, and I feel like it bases the legacy of myself. Having a Super Bowl is huge. It’s a lot different than being the MVP or having an award for being the Outstanding Player. Being a Super Bowl champion, I feel like if it occurs, no doubt it’ll be one of the greatest things to happen.”

Just as any Super Bowl, one team and fan base will be ecstatic on Sunday night and one will ponder what could’ve been. This Sunday, history and legacies are on the line and there will be higher highs and lower lows than we’ve seen in quite some time.