| TAMPA, Fla. — I’ll bet you thought
you’d already heard and read everything there is to know about Super Bowl XXXV by
now. Sure, you know that the game will be played at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium
between the AFC champion Baltimore Ravens and NFC champion New York Giants. You may have
known that just over 72,000 will attend the game as fans, and another 2,000 or so will be
involved in its production. And you know that one of the things that makes it the Super
Bowl is that the production will almost certainly be way over the top. But who’s
going to take it over the top, and what are this year’s plans to get it there? The
television portion of Super Bowl XXXV belongs to CBS-TV, and this will be the 14th
Super Bowl the Columbia Broadcasting System has brought us, with kickoff at 6:18 p.m.
Eastern time. Greg Gumbel will handle the play-by-play, with color commentary from Phil
Simms and sideline reports from Armen Keteyian and Bonnie Bernstein. A three-hour pregame
show will be anchored by Jim Nantz and include Mike Ditka, Randy Cross, Craig James, Jerry
Glanville and Dick Enberg, with reports from Lesley Visser and Marcus Allen, beginning at
3 p.m. ET.
The television audience will include live audiences in 201 countries/territories
receiving broadcasts in 26 different languages. The worldwide audience is projected to be
in excess of 800 million people.
If you prefer the radio call, as some of us do, find the CBS Radio affiliate in your
area and catch the play-by-play from Howard David, with color from Matt Millen and Boomer
Esiason and sideline reports from John Dockery and James Lofton and pregame and halftime
shows with Tommy Tighe. This broadcast will be significant, as it will be the last for
Millen, who leaves the radio and TV booths to run the Detroit Lions immediately following
this game.
The pregame show at Raymond James Stadium can only be described as an extravaganza with
the theme "Life’s Super in Central Florida." The cast will include more
than 900 local participants, featuring Tampa’s own rock group PYT, members of the
Krewe of Gasparilla, Styx and Sting. The show will be narrated by comedian Kevin James of
the hit show "King of Queens." It will also include a stirring rendition of
"America the Beautiful" by Ray Charles and a stadium flyover by B-2 bombers. The
pregame show will climax with a rendition of the national anthem by the Backstreet Boys
and an F-16 flyover.
The coin toss has become a special honor at every Super Bowl, and this year the
honorees will be four guys with some history in Super Bowls in Tampa. Marcus Allen was the
MVP of Super Bowl XVII in Tampa when the Raiders beat the Redskins, and Ottis Anderson was
the MVP of Super Bowl XXV in the Giants’ victory over the Bills. They’ll be
joined by Tom Flores and Bill Parcells, the coaches of those two Super Bowl champs.
Of course, the halftime shows of Super Bowls have taken on epic proportions in recent
seasons, and this year’s should be no exception. It is produced by MTV and celebrates
the universality of music. The stars will be the rock band Aerosmith, and the pop group
*NSYNC, with the bands performing together for the first time ever. The stage will be 360
degrees, with ramps extending out into the stands. In addition to all kinds of special
audio, lighting design and pyrotechnics, several special surprise guests will join the
show on stage for the finale.
Special guests at the game will include the co-winners of the 2000 Walter Payton NFL
Man of the Year Award, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Derrick Brooks and the Chicago
Bears’ Jim Flanigan. This is the only league award that recognizes a player's
off-the-field community service as well as his playing excellence. The winners are
announced every year at commissioner Paul Tagliabue’s press conference on the Friday
before the Super Bowl. This is the 31st year of the award and the first time
there has been a tie in the voting.
Officiating the Super Bowl is a special honor based on how officials are rated for
their performances over the course of the regular season. Basically the officiating crew
is an all-star team of the best at each position, as opposed to a crew that has worked
together all year. The referee in Super Bowl XXXV will be Gerry Austin. Austin has 19
years' experience and numbers two Super Bowls among the 18 playoff games he has already
worked. The umpire is Chad Brown, the head linesman will be Tony Veteri, the line judge is
Walt Anderson, the field judge is Bill Lovett, the side judge is Doug Toole and the back
judge is Bill Schmitz. The seven-man crew has a total of 78 years of NFL experience and
collectively has worked 64 other postseason games and three Pro Bowls.
Perhaps you haven’t seen the two clubs’ injury lists yet? It looks like every
player on both rosters should go, but a few are dinged. For the Ravens, Peter Boulware
with a shoulder, Cornell Brown with a thigh, Billy Davis with a knee and Kim Herring with
an ankle are all probable. The Giants’ list includes Greg Comella with a bruised
buttocks, Reggie Stephens with a foot, Amani Toomer with an ankle/knee and Shaun Williams
with a hamstring, and all are probable.
Finally, are these the two best teams in the NFL this year? Right now they are.
Consider this: The Ravens and Giants have a combined winning streak of 17 games coming
into this Super Bowl, the second-longest streak in history, with the Ravens having won
their last 10 and the Giants having won seven straight. Only the Dolphins and Redskins had
a longer streak of 18 in 1973, but 16 of those wins belonged to the Dolphins while the
Redskins had won two. Both the Ravens and Giants are hot.
Folks, if there’s anything else you need to know to be prepared for Super Sunday
XXXV at this point, I can’t imagine what it would be. Now it’s time to just sit
back and enjoy.
To Super Bowl index page |
