RSS 2.0 FeedFebruary 2009, Cover Stories, Sports TV, Sports TV
Super Bowl XLIII Chit Chat
And it all comes downto this....60 minutes of football. 60 minutes until one team goes on to thespoils of victory andone team has a very long, lonely winter to think about what might have been. "It's just one of those classic Ali-Frazier kind of matchups for a football geek like I am." – Collinsworth on the matchup
NBC sports anchor Chris Collinsworth knows football, having played for the Cincinnati Bengals as wide receiver for 8 seasons. During that time he reached the Super Bowl twice and lost to the same team in both contests. The first of which was due in part to a costly fumble he made. So he knows a thing or two about the Super Bowl. "The two Super Bowls I played in ( numbers 16 and 23 respectively)were completely different. The first one it was freezing in Pontiac – it was like zero degrees. A few of us rented a car and I remember us spinning donuts in the parking lot. That was the most fun we had. Forrest Gregg didn't believe in having us do anything. He just wanted us focused on football. Diana Ross sang the anthem. She looked great. And then we came out and played as horribly as we'd ever played. I fumbled, we fell behind 20-0…" "I remember having the opposite experience in Miami – we had a lot of fun. At the game, there were celebrities everywhere, Billy Joel sang the anthem, Christie Brinkley was with him. You can't help but notice that stuff. The 49ers winning drive, we were all hoping they would score quickly. We knew if we got the ball back with enough time on the clock, we would win." "In this day we not only document the winner, and that's pretty easy, everybody wants to give you an interview and everybody wants to celebrate the moment, but to help you understand what that loser is feeling like walking off that field with the other teams colors confetti blowing in their hair. That is not fun." As he turns his attention toward today’s match-up between the heavily favored Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals, he thinks there just may be a surprise in store for the Steelers. Coming from Kentucky with a lot of horse racing in our blood there, we're told when you're handicapping the horses to pay attention to nothing but the last three games or the last three races when you're getting ready for the Derby. Well if you pay attention to Arizona's last three games, look out." The actual Super Bowl game starts at 6pm/3pm ET/PT on NBC. However, the pre-game starts at 11am and by the time we actually get to kick-off, it’s a good bet all the tail-gating food will be but a distant memory. The one high light of the game will be the half time performance by Bruce Springsteen, who has promised viewers a 12 minute party like no other.
The Bengals went on to lose the game.
They didn’t get the ball back and Joe Montana hit John Taylor for the winning touchdown pass with a scant :34 left to play.
"For a football fan, I think it has one of the most compelling matchups you can have in a league. To be Kurt Warner, a guy who believes in getting all his backs and receivers out of the backfield, leaving himself unprotected, going against the Pittsburgh Steelers and the way that Dick LeBeau and Troy Polamalu and the defensive player of the year James Harrison like to bring the pressure, it's just one of those classic Ali-Frazier kind of matchups for a football geek like I am. So that is going to be tremendous fun for me.
Missy Lee is the publisher, editor and chief reporter for ILoveTelevision.com. Prior to starting ILoveTelevision.com she worked for TV-Now.com and the late Tony Bray. After living in LA and covering all things entertainmentfor a number of years, she moved back to her home state of Tennessee.