Tuesday, January 22, 2001
4:45 p.m.
SOMEWHERE OVER MIDDLE AMERICA
Dear Diary,
Well, we’re off. We’re coasting at some 30,000 feet above the country that will soon be obsessed with Super Bowl XXXV. That is, if we the media do our jobs and bring out the most compelling pregame story lines and give y’all a reason to want to buy into the hype machine that accompanies this annual tradition.
It’s not all hype though. Trust me. There are some great stories that you’re going to hear about over the next seven days. And not just the quarterbacks either. Sure, you will hear about how Trent Dilfer has returned to the town that spurned him, to do what he could not do with the Buccaneers -- win the big one. And you’ll hear about Kerry Collins, who overcame his own self-destructive ways to resurrect his career under the glare of the New York City spotlight.
But there will be so many other stories worth telling. Keep looking here throughout the week and you will hear them.
The terrain beneath this plane has changed from white to gray to brown and green. What's that below me? Is that Illinois? Will hundreds of thousands of Bears fans greet this Super Bowl with a great shrug, knowing that their team was out of the running by the end of September?
Could that be Ohio down there? And is that a mass grumbling I hear, Browns fans spitting the name "Modell" like a curse for stealing away one city's team and finally taking it to the Super Bowl in its new home?
Perhaps we are traversing Tennessee, home of the Titans, the team that could be -- perhaps should be -- playing in this Bowl, if not for the Baltimore Ravens, the only team to have beaten the Titans in their new home. Do the Tennessee fans have fond memories of last year's big game, the first Super Bowl in that franchise's short-lived history, and do they feel a sort of kinship with Baltimore for having stolen away with another city's heroes, finally reaching the Super Bowl to further twist the knife?
That could have been St. Louis down there. They know all about that familiar song-and-dance -- the franchise shuffle. They played that game, they lost the Cardinals, they stole the Rams, and they won a Super Bowl. But that was last year.
Speaking of which, could that be Atlanta? We must be deep into Dixie as we begin our descent. Atlanta, home of last year's extravaganza, wasn't all fun and games when you consider the icy weather, the general whining of the national media -- who wanted to play more golf than the conditions allowed them -- and then the whole double murder Ray Lewis thing. Has Lewis recovered? Have the victims' families recovered? Will Tampa face the same crises? Or will fun in the sun reign this year?
Once again, stay tuned.
I just got about halfway through a new book I picked up at Christmas. It's called "Fifth Quarter -- The Scrimmage of a Football Coach's Daughter." It's written by Jennifer Allen, whose father was George Allen, the legendary coach of the Bears, Rams and Redskins.
I was compelled to put this book on my wish list (thank you to sister-in-law Beth for ordering it for me) because I wanted to get a first-hand account of what life is like for a girl growing up in a sports-obsessed household.
See, as I was growing up, I never had a sister, and never gave it much thought. But now I've got a little girl of my own -- she'll be three next month and is the apple of her daddy's eye -- and for some reason the summary of Allen's tale really spoke to me.
I mean, I'm suddenly very sensitive to the fact that kids in general -- and little girls in particular -- can get lost in the shuffle when their fathers really throw themselves into their work. And judging by my daughter's reaction when I left her for my eight-day journey this afternoon -- every tear a little dagger ripping into my heart -- I know she's old enough to notice the difference when Daddy's around and when he's not. So I'm taking mental notes as I read Allen's memoir on life with a father who typically worked 16-hour days during the season and left his family for a two-month training camp in summer.
So far, it's a very engaging read. In fact, it's quite a contrast from another sports book I got for Christmas. It's written by a well-known New York sportswriter, and it chronicles the inside workings and hidden scandals of an even better-known all-sports cable TV network.
It's funny -- the Allen book is written in crisp, lively language. The stories are intriguing, the characters leap off the page. It's a real page-turner. And the cable exposé? After slogging through 50 pages, I had to put it down. It's in dire need of editing -- that is, proofreading (which is inexcusable for a published book), fact-checking and streamlining to clean up redundant copy. Plus, the writer appears incapable of telling the story without his own biases clouding picture. That might have been expected or at least understandable from a self-proclaimed "freelance journalist" like Allen, but she comes across as a true professional. Too bad the author of the cable kiss-n-tell didn't force himself to approach the same standards.
Time to close up shop and get ready for the big Media Day blitz on Tuesday. It starts bright and early -- we'll be picking up our credentials by 9:00 a.m. and in the stadium interviewing the Giants by 10:00. See you then . . .
Check back throughout the day tomorrow and the rest of the week to read more from our Super Bowl Diary.
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