By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
PHOENIX – At 10:47 a.m. Mountain Standard Time Tuesday, New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick fielded his first non-football question of Super Bowl XLIX Media Day.
“What is your favorite stuffed animal?”
Belichick, resplendent in his trademark hoodie, smiled and responded, “I like a little puppet that I can put my fingers in.”
Thus, there’s a good chance he would have enjoyed the puppet show being performed by a Mexican television crew not far from his interview booth. All part of the craziness that is Media Day, held at Talking Stick Resort Arena.
Or, as Damon Bruce, my Bay Area colleague calls it, “Anti-Media Day.”
Over 5,000 media types were shoehorned into an area of the arena floor usually occupied by the Phoenix Suns. Unlike 2008, when Media Day was held at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, this affair was much too crowded, apparently by orders of the NFL to make it look like the demand for this event had increased.
The result was diminished satisfaction for anyone trying to get some legitimate work done.
The media for this exercise mostly come in from all over the world for a chance to ask this Sunday’s Super Bowl participants questions that have nothing to do with football.
This sort of thing bothers many of the rank-and-file, not so with Tim Ring of Phoenix television station KTVK Channel 3.
“I think it’s an attitude that the players have when it comes to Media Day,” Ring said. “Both teams are happy to be here, and it’s an honor to be here. I think the day-to-day media grind for any NFL team is difficult. Players don’t always want to talk, they don’t really want to bothered because they have other things they think are more important, and they’re probably right.
“But with Super Bowl Media Day, you know what you’re getting with some of the oddball questions,” he continued. “So a player’s guard is down, you know you’re going to sit there for an hour, you know you can’t sneak away, you have to answer every question. But these guys know that from the get-go, and their attitude is mostly the right one. It’s all in good fun.”
Ring is quick to point out that for “the real working media,” there are plenty of interview opportunities throughout the rest of the week. “Every player and coach is well aware that they’re going to answer the same questions about 20 or 30 times.”
Providing allegedly needed bling to the festivities were Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski of NBC Sports, who were assigned to Media Day and now seemed to be attached at the hip for all public appearances, not unlike Siskel & Ebert or Hoda & Kathy Lee.
Weir was wearing a crimson suit with a heavily-jeweled necklace, and Lipinski was looking fine in a red dress. Lipinski asked Seattle safety Kam Chancellor how he would design a costume for the Legion of Boom.
Chancellor responded, “Something with a warrior outfit.”
Weir followed up: “With sparkles?”
Chancellor: “No sparkles. It would be fierce.”
Kevin Frazier of Entertainment Tonight thinks the frivolity of Media Day helps the players relax during a hectic week.
“The thing is, most of this stuff is overanalyzed all week long,” Frazier said. “I get to come here and have fun with Michelle Williams (formerly of Destiny’s Child). It’s pretty amazing.”
Frazier and Williams made the Patriots’ Rob Gronkowski literally sing for his complimentary Xbox One. “We talked to Microsoft and we’re giving away Xbox Ones. But it doesn’t work without Michelle.”
Williams added, “We know Kevin is too shy to sing these songs, and this is what I do, so we’re just having fun. The players are cracking me up because they’re so shy to sing and I know that’s not really their job. So it’s fun to see them get out of their comfort zone a little bit.
“We want the players to tell us something about themselves, like what’s your favorite ice cream or singer, just something to take their minds off everything else that’s so serious.”
Other highlights included Richard Sherman of Seattle and Gronkowski of New England being selected as their respective teams’ best dancer.
“My dancing style is very unorthodox,” Sherman explained. “I just let my body make the moves!”
Sherman likes having Katy Perry on hand to entertain at halftime on Sunday and was asked about his own singing prowess.
“The Lord blessed me with many talents, but singing was not one of them,” he said.
On the subject of football, Sherman said of facing Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, “It’s fun, it’s fun for competitors. It’s a great challenge for us and anybody who’s ever been an elite competitor or an elite player enjoys those moments against other great players. It brings the best out of you. I think we as a group and as a team enjoy going against an elite team because it brings the best out of us.”
After eight years in the NFL, this is the first Super Bowl for Darrelle Revis of New England.
“It’s pretty awesome. I mean, this is what you play for every year. In the offseason you work hard to get to this point and when you get there, like right now, it’s so surreal to me. It’s awesome, but it’s also crazy. But at the same time, it shows that hard work pays off, and there’s still work to be done. We have one more game left as a team to accomplish our ultimate goal, which is holding the Lombardi Trophy up.”
On the subject of Jets fans watching Revis play in the Super Bowl for New England, the ex-Jet said, “It’s not really my fault. I didn’t make the call. Management made the call at that time and they felt it was best to get rid of me. So that’s the situation. That’s how I look at it.”
Marshawn Lynch, the Seattle Seahawks star running back, was in predictable form and turned in one of the best pre-Super Bowl press conferences in recent memory. This should have surprised no one who was crowded up to his interview booth, waiting for some useable kernel of wisdom.
Known for his one-word answers to postgame questions, Lynch fulfilled his obligation to the NFL by spending exactly five minutes at his interview booth, answering 29 questions with the same answer:
“I’m here so I won’t get fined.”
With that, Lynch left the building with 57 minutes officially remaining in the Seahawks interview session, choosing instead to let his running do the talking on Sunday.
Presumably with a properly inflated ball.
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