MEDIA DAY IN SOUTH FLORIDA

Mickey Spagnola breaks down the bizarre events that come with media day

By Mickey Spagnola

February 2, 2010

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – If it’s Tuesday and it’s the Super Bowl, then ah, it’s Media Day.

And Media Day it was at Super Bowl XLIV, out at Sun Life Stadium, home for Sunday’s battle between the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints.

This is the day for all the crazies to come out, when gimmicks are a premium and no question ever seems out of the question. In fact a colleague attending his first Super Bowl Media Day asked if he would have been out of line, butting into an interview with Peyton Manning with a highly parochial question, knowing the answer would have only served him and no one else.

“Are you kidding me?” was my response. “Ask away. At least you have a legitimate question.”

Now in this my 23rd Media Day, this probably was the calmest one in the past decade or so when gimmicks were raised to unreasonable heights at times, sort of reminding me of the first time I visited the dock in Key West, where most came to watch the sunset with some sort of attention-seeking act.

That the interviews with both teams had to be moved into the huge club areas of Sun Life Stadium because of Monday’s rain storm and expected rain on Tuesday might have contributed to more sensible decorum among media members. Although, on this day, media becomes a much expanded term.

Why the entertainment news show ET has now become such a staple at Media Day the show actually has its own little staging area to carry on with its antics. This time, it was a little karaoke contest between several members of each team, the Saints practice squad tight end Tyler Lorenzen winning the trophy for best rap while dancing, too.

See what I mean.

Now Media Day next year when Super Bowl XLV comes to North Texas won’t be so vulnerable. The roof at Cowboys Stadium makes the festivities weather proof. Of all the things the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee will have to worry about when staging the first Super Bowl in the area, weather won’t be one of them – much like the folks at this year’s Cotton Bowl, the first to be played at Cowboys Stadium. As Cotton Bowl president Rick Baker said with the game approaching, “I didn’t check the weather once this week.”

So there is one advantage to having a Super Bowl in North Texas.

And a few members of the North Texas Super XLV Host Committee had the privilege of attending a Media Day on Tuesday, including Vice President and COO Tara Green, Vice President of Special Events Kit Sawers and Vice President of Communications Tony Fay. While the NFL runs the show, the Host Committee does have to set up and cater the event.

They also got to see some of the acts. Let’s see, there was a “reporter” for Telemudo wandering around wearing these huge black-feathered wings, claiming she was “the Saints angel.” What an angel she was.

There was a guy claiming he was some sort of Zen chief and another working the room recruiting players for his “new league,” the Lingerie Football League. Nerve is never lacking on this particular day when one year a “reporter” for Azteca TV dressed in a skimpy white wedding dress and yes, asked Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, “Will you marry me?”

But no matter the shenanigans, there was a distinct North Texas flavor to Media Day. Remember, Saints head coach Sean Payton spent three seasons with the Cowboys as an assistant coach, and Saints defensive assistant Adam Zimmer was raised in Coppell, Texas, by former Cowboys assistant and defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer. Saints defensive tackle Remi Ayodele spent time on the Cowboys practice squad and the 2007 season on their 53-man roster, having gone to high school at South Grand Prairie.

That Saints’ North Texas flavor doesn’t stop there. Punter Thomas Morestead, from Pearland, Texas, played his college ball at SMU. Rookie quarterback Chase Daniel, who has bounced back and forth between the Saints active roster and practice squad, is from Southlake, where he led Carroll High School to a state championship before moving on to the University of Missouri. His high school teammate Garrett Hartley is the Saints kicker.

And don’t forget Saints starting linebackers Scott Fajita and Scott Shanle spent time on the Cowboys’ 53-man roster.

As for the Colts, there’s defensive back Melvin Bullitt of Garland, Texas. He went from Naaman Forest High School to Texas A&M, same high school as rookie defensive back Jacob Lacey. Charlie Johnson, a starter at offensive tackle, grew up in Sherman, Texas, and Colts deep snapper Justin Snow is from Fort Worth.

That’s a lot of guys who missed playing a Super Bowl basically in their backyard by just one year, but keeping the rich tradition of North Texas football history alive.

Now these Tuesdays at the Super Bowl don’t end with Media Day. Oh no, next year’s Host Committee members will still have more research to do before the day is done. It will be off to the South Florida Super Bowl XLIV Host Committee Media Party on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach behind the Delano Hotel.

Tough work, but no stone need be unturned when preparing for your first Super Bowl, just one year away.