Super Bowl Media Day – For The Record

Sunday, for just the third time ever, the world’s biggest sporting event is happening less than two hours away from Fayette County.

The first time Houston hosted the Super Bowl back in 1974, tickets were $15, Charley Pride sang The National Anthem and the Minnesota Vikings were upset with their game-week practice accommodations at Del Mar High School while the Dolphins got to enjoy the Oilers’ practice facility.

The second time Houston hosted the Super Bowl, in 2004,  Janet Jackson’s halftime wardrobe malfunction overshadowed what many considered the most exciting NFL championship game ever – with five ties and/or lead changes in the fourth quarter alone before New England prevailed 32-29 over Carolina.  

Monday, I (and a few thousand other folks in the media, (and I use that term “media” loosely because there was a one guy using a turkey leg instead of a microphone to interview players) were fortunate enough to get access to Super Bowl Media Day to try to find out what we can expect from Houston’s third Super Bowl.

But in the name of fan interest, and the almighty dollar, the NFL has turned the annual media day festivities into something worth selling tickets for.

Now called  “NFL Opening Night,” 10,000 fans paid $20 bucks each Monday to pour into Minute Maid Park and (along with a nationwide television audience) watch the players and coaches from the Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots be interviewed – sandwiched around a concert by “X Ambassadors” - a band my slightly younger yet somehow much hipper wife was embarrassed I had never heard of.

There was a huge partition set up in the outfield of the Astros’ baseball park with one large stage and various little press conference type podiums set up for the most popular players on each team, while the rest of the players were let loose amongst the mass of media.

The fans sat in the stands to watch and listen to the proceedings – with the help of big screen video boards and handheld radio devices. If this whole set-up sounds wacky, that was nothing compared to what it was like being in the middle of it all.

At times it seemed like the bigger stars might have been the ones asking the questions instead of the ones answering them.

At one point Cowboy great Michael Irvin was to my right and his hall of fame teammate Deion Sanders was to my left – both working for the NFL Network. Not far away was Olympic Gold Medal gymnast Simone Biles, asking questions for “Inside Edition.”

By the way, Deion gets a lot, I mean a lot, of makeup applied to his bald head before going on camera to minimize any glare.

Then there were some not so famous journalists.

Cooper Manning (the least famous of the three Manning brothers) was working for Fox Sports wearing a suit that looked like it was made out of $100 bills.

There was a guy from an Austrian media outlet wearing a wedding dress while asking questions, and another guy from a Houston radio station was wearing a trash can.

First the Falcons were brought out to this wild group of “journalists.” 

Of course, quarterback Matt Ryan was immensely popular and seemed to have a good time answering most of the questions, even trying (and failing) to be able to name all 13 receivers who have caught touchdown passes from him this season.

Most of the Falcons seemed like nice guys and just generally happy to be here (a certain sign that the Patriots will probably beat them Sunday).

“Patriots fans are really struggling to find anything to hate about you guys,” a New England reporter implored Atlanta defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux. “Give us something.”

Babineaux didn’t take the bait.

Nor did his teammate Mohamed Sanu, Atlanta’s star wide receiver, when asked about President Trump’s travel ban on refugees and citizens from seven Muslim countries. 

“I just pray that us as a country and a world can just be united as one. It’s really hard for me to talk about this now, it would take a lot of time, so I just want to focus on the game and just talk about football,” said Sanu, who is the only Muslim player in this year’s Super Bowl.

 Politics also came up when the Patriots came out for their interviews.

New England star quarterback Tom Brady was asked on more than one occasion about his friendship with Trump.

“I’m not talking politics at all,” Brady said. “I just want to focus on the positive aspect of this game and my teammates.”

The 39-year-old Brady, regarded by many as the greatest quarterback ever, is going for his record fifth Super Bowl victory Sunday, and said he’d like to keep playing a few more years, though he talked about the sacrifice he has to make to keep playing at a high level at that age.

“You have to have the willingness to commit to certain lifestyle,” Brady said. “When you are 39 there’s lots of things you have to cut out of your life.”

Like sugar?

Gatorade was a big sponsor of Monday’s event, with bottles of the stuff strategically placed on all the podiums.

At one point, between questions, Brady opened up a bottle of the stuff, took a sniff – and then asked for a water.

Brady’s famous wife, supermodel Giselle Bundchen, was not in attendence, but he was asked about her. 

“She doesn’t like anyone hitting me. She always says, ‘Throw the ball really fast, really fast.’ So that’s what I try to do,” Brady laughed.

Even the usually stoic Patriots coach Bill Belichick cracked a few smiles when asked about music.

“Lady Gaga will be performing at halftime. Are you a fan?” one reporter asked.

“We’ll be inside at halftime,” Belichick said.

“You know any Lady Gaga songs?” the reporter pressed to which the coach could only chuckle.

Back over at Brady’s podium Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. (who the heck was he working for?) had climbed on a step ladder to try to get the quarterback’s attention.

But there was no stealing the spotlight from Guillermo Rodriguez, who was reporting for the Jimmy Kimmel Show. 

“Tom Brady, how do you stay so good looking?” he asked.

By this time Guillermo had abandoned that turkey leg in favor of a traditional microphone.

Soon the Patriots’ hour in the media spotlight was over and they cleared the field. X Ambassadors played a few more songs, some fireworks lit up the night sky over downtown Houston and Super Bowl LI (tickets for which were selling for an average of $3,000 Wednesday) was one day closer to reality.