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The Boss Spices Up a Dull Super Bowl Week in Tampa

Posted on January 30, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

NFL Super Bowl Report No. 6, Friday Jan. 30, 2009

TAMPA — It took The Boss to add a little life to a Recession-dimmed Super Bowl Week in Tampa.

 

During Bruce Springsteen’s love-in with the sports media at the media centre this week, the halftime show told a story about how the 12-minute “party” is going to work.

 

Those familiar with Springsteen’s concerts know that his shows run between three hours and three and a half hours and anyone who has seen one will tell you its the best money he or she ever spent on a rock concert.

 

So yesterday, when Bruce arrived for his pre-Super Bowl visit, he explained how he’ll get his three-hour show to 12 minutes.

 

“The idea of the show is that you’re going to the Meadowlands, the regulars are playing and you get lost on the way,” Springsteen said.

 

“And you’re watching your clock … you stop in a bar and get some directions and the bar gets held up while you’re there. It takes another 45 minutes to get out of there. Then you come back and you miss your exit on the turnpike, see. And you drive around to get back around. And so you make it into the stadium at 2 hours and 48 minutes into the show. That’s what you’re going to see: the last 12 minutes.”

 

Clear?

 

2) In an effort to make this year’s Super Bowl more exciting, people down here have decided that a rivalry between Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald and Pittsburgh’s Hines Ward.

 

It’s a crock for one reason. Larry Fitzgerald doesn’t care about Hines Ward and vice-versa. 

 

You have to give these two receivers credit. They are at the Super Bowl to help their teams win, not to help give bored sportswriters something to scribble about.

 

3) The following headline came blaring off a sheet of paper in the Super Bowl Media Centre on Thursday:

 

NFL NETWORK FEATURES 8.5 HOURS OF LIVE PREGAME AND POSTGAME COVERAGE FROM SUPER BOWL XLIII

  

“On Super Bowl Sunday, NFL Network features six and a half hours of NFL GameDay Morning pregame show coverage and two hours of NFL GameDay Final wrapping up Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa.”

 

What in heaven’s name could they possibly talk about for 8 1/2 hours?

 

It’s Pittsburgh’s defence vs. Arizona’s offence. There, save yourself 8 1/2 hours of tedium.

 

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Super Bowl Week gets Duller: The Conversation is now Down to the Plight of the Lightning.

Posted on January 29, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

NFL Super Bowl Report No. 6, Thursday Jan. 29, 2009

 

TAMPA — Tomorrow night in Tampa, the Lightning will play host to the Philadelphia Flyers in a game that is expected to draw about 14,000 ticket buyers to the St. Pete Times Forum. It won’t. There will probably be 10,000 (maybe) in the building.

 

Still, that’s a lot better than Tuesday night of this week when maybe 8,000 showed up to watch the Lightning come from behind and beat Montreal 5-3. 

 

Of the 8,000 in the building, about 5,000 were wearing Canadiens jerseys. No wonder you can get an NHL ticket in this town for 10 bucks. There is nobody going to hockey down here. At least not at NHL rates they aren’t.

 

Super Bowl Week should have helped the NHL draw a big crowd here in Tampa. Instead, it’s done nothing to get people interested in a team that has won six-of-eight and is playing very intriguing hockey these days.

 

The NHL is in bigger trouble than we thought.

 

2) You know you’ve reached the point of “Dull Super Bowl Week” when the biggest story making the rounds is the one where Arizona wideout Larry Fitzgerald will happily restructure his contract to make it possible to keep teammate Anquan Boldin in Arizona for the long term.

 

The NFL controls the words and actions of these players so carefully, that if one of them said anything that could even remotely inspire the opposition, it would be news for a week. In fact, the biggest story here in Tampa this week has been how few people care about the Lightning. 

 

At least Celine Dion, Rihanna, Fall Out Boy, the Eagles and Randy Moss have arrived in town. Finally, got some real celebrities in this place. 

 

3) According to the NFL, despite the downturn in the economy, media from 28 countries will cover all the preparations and game – the most countries ever to be represented at a Super Bowl site.

 

Japan and Mexico have sent the most media organizations to Tampa Bay — 22 outlets apiece. Next comes Canada and the United Kingdom, which are sending 18 media outlets each to Super Bowl XLIII. Including Winnipeg’s own 92-CITI-FM.

 

There will be a total of 141 international media organizations in Tampa this year, compared to 116 for Super Bowl XLII in Arizona last year.

 

However, the number of media credentials issued for the Super Bowl is down for the first time, according to the NFL’s media department. In fact, the NFL said there were fewer requests.

 

Although there are more media outlets receiving credentials than ever before — 633 this year compared to 576 last year — the number of specific credentials requested dropped from 4,786 for last year’s game in Phoenix, Ariz., to 4,589 for Sunday’s game in Tampa.

 

It’s a brave new media world out there. In fact, as newspapers die a slow death, there are more internet sites at the game than ever before.

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Somebody needs to get caught trying to solicit a hooker.

Posted on January 29, 2009 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

NFL Super Bowl Report No. 4, Wednesday Jan. 28, 2009

TAMPA — Here in Florida’s Bay Area, there appears to be one major problem with Super BowlXLIII. Other than Cardinals wideout Larry Fitzgerald’s offer to restructure his contract to keep teammate Anquan Boldin in Arizona, there is no compelling story.

 

Both teams are filled with nice guys. The quarterbacks each have good stories as professionals, but no one is overcoming a debilitating disease or a horrible childhood. It’s just a nice collection of former college stars who have grown up to be solid pros.

 

Sadly, there is also a feeling that this game will be over before it starts. Pittsburgh is a seven-point favourite today and could be an 8 or 10 point favourite by Sunday. 

 

Obviously, somebody needs to shoot himself at a strip joint (and there are a million strip joints in Tampa) or somebody needs to get caught soliciting a hooker. Somebody? Anybody?

 

2) Down here on the West Coast of Florida and over in Orlando/Lake Buena Vista, you would not know the Arizona Cardinals were in this coming Sunday’s Super Bowl. This place is dominated by Pittsburgh Steelers fans.

 

Steelers shirts and hoodies are everywhere and it makes you wonder if either Cards fans have yet to arrive from the West or if they’re ever going to arrive at all. It would appear that on Sunday,  the Cardinals will be the home team in name only.

 

3) You might not think these two Super Bowl Teams have much in common. The Pittsburgh Steelers, the AFC champs, are from a hardscrabble industrial town and will be playing in their seventh Super Bowl. The Arizona Cardinals, the NFC Champs, are from the hot, dry desert and will be playing in their first.

 

However, there is one thing that keeps these two franchises forever linked. 

 

Way back in 1944, there was a shortage of players – and men for that matter – because of the Second World War, so the Steelers and Cardinals merged for a season and formed a team called Card-Pitt. The Cardinals were based in Chicago at the time and the teams split home games between’s Chicago’s Comiskey Park and Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field. 

 

So how good were they? Sportswriters at the time nicknamed them “the Carpets.”

 

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