SUPER SCATTERSHOOTING

Thoughts on weather, Pat Summerall, bye-week logistics – and the truth behind that legendary question posed to Doug Williams

By Mickey Spagnola

January 30, 2010

Just checked with the weather guys to grab the 10-day forecast for Fort Lauderdale, Fla: highs mostly in the upper-70’s, lows only as low as 60. But nearly every day at least a 20-percent chance of showers, with 40-percent on a couple of days.

This will be my 23rd Super Bowl. Some would call me a “lucky dog” and they would be right. I sure as heck am, especially if you consider this will be the fifth different organization to employ my services there: Dallas Times Herald, pool reporter for the Pro Football Writer’s Association, The Insider, www.dallascowboys.com and now the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee’s website (www.northtexassuperbowl.com).

Actually, amazing really, since my very first was Super Bowl XX in New Orleans (Bears vs. Patriots following the 1985 season) and then after not making the next two, Super Bowl XLIV will be my 22nd straight. However this game represents a far different slant to my duties than in the previous 22 years when my responsibilities were to cover everything that had to do with the NFL’s biggest game of the year. This time around I will be tasked to give some perspective on what the North Texas Host Committee will be doing to prepare for putting on the league’s big shindig for the very first time in North Texas, with Super Bowl XLV slated for Feb. 6, 2011, at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.

So this time, that perspective will be found on www.northtexassuperbowl.com in the form of articles, blogs and live interviews throughout the week from the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee’s location inside the NFL’s Media Center at the Greater Fort Lauderdale Broward County Convention Center. Hey, a little variety never hurts one’s soul.

Now, 23 might seem like a lot of Super Bowls to have attended. Well, that’s small potatoes compared to some of the “old-timers” who can date back to Super Bowl I (Packers vs. Chiefs, played at LA Memorial Coliseum), back when two networks actually carried the same game on television since CBS was doing the NFL games and NBC was doing the AFL games, all this before the NFL-AFL merger. Pat Summerall, the venerable broadcaster whose Super Bowl resume makes mine pale in comparison, reminded me of that. In fact, Summerall, who currently resides in the North Texas area and is certain to be an integral fixture leading up to Super Bowl XLV, will be recognized next week in Fort Lauderdale for attending his 43rd Super Bowl, having missed his only one sometime in the mid-to-late 1970’s. Rather remarkable.

So when you’ve been to this many Super Bowls, you know weather is important. After all, you’ll be setting up shop for a week in another city. This one is a healthy jog from the Atlantic Ocean and should be a piece of cake compared to those cold and snowy games in Minneapolis and Detroit.

Logistics have become somewhat easier for media members covering the game now that the NFL has consistently scheduled the dead week between the conference championship games and the start of Super Bowl week. The last time the NFL failed to schedule two weeks between the conference championship games and Super Bowl Sunday was for Super Bowls XXXVI and XXXVII following the 2001 and 2002 seasons.

Easier for the players, too. In fact, playing on back-to-back Sundays nearly cost the Dallas Cowboys the services of quarterback Troy Aikman in Super Bowl XXVIII, who was knocked out of that season’s NFC Title Game with a concussion. Aikman admitted he wasn’t all that with it when he arrived in Atlanta the next day for the team’s press conferences to begin Super Bowl week.

The “bye” also helps members of the media to collect themselves, able to have some time to research story ideas for Super Bowl week, and maybe prevent them from asking any number of dumb questions that are sure to arise with that many members of the press in one place for the better part of seven days.

By the way, the question universally considered the dumbest is nothing more than an urban myth. Trust me. I was there. The question? A reporter supposedly asked Washington QB Doug Williams at Super Bowl XXII: How long have you been a black quarterback? Of course, all that week Williams had been a Super Bowl novelty, the first African-American quarterback to start in the Super Bowl. The questions were endless. The guy at the heart of the urban myth, Butch John of the Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger, used to be a colleague of mine when I worked at the Jackson Daily News. We covered Ole Miss together before I moved on to Dallas. Now, look, I’ll admit Butch did a lot of goofy things in those days, but he shouldn’t get credit (blame?) for that one, although the question was asked somewhat clumsily. Research confirms this is how it really went down on a day the former Grambling State University quarterback continued to be asked about the significance of being the first African-American signal-caller to start in a Super Bowl:

John: “Doug, obviously you’ve been a black quarterback your whole life. When did race begin to matter to people?”

Williams, who didn’t clearly hear the question or possibly had tired of this singular line of questioning, responded rhetorically: “How long have I been a black quarterback?”

Thus, a legend was born, more urban than factual.

So stay tuned, no telling what will take place next week in Fort Lauderdale when we’ll be there to send back some of the flavor.

And remember: It’s only a year before the big show comes to our home, North Texas.