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Hot air: Setting up Super Sunday
07:22 PM CST on Friday, February 2, 2007
One viewer's guide to Sunday's Super Bowl XLI:
CBS offers up six hours of pregame programming Sunday, beginning at 11 a.m. with an NFL Films' "Road to the Super Bowl." Of course, that doesn't include Face the Nation at 9:30 a.m., where the guests include CBS' Jim Nantz, Phil Simms and Dan Marino as well as NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. How many tough questions do you expect Bob Schieffer to ask the rookie commissioner of CBS' network partner? Las Vegas would set the over-under at one.
•••
The Los Angeles Times reports that at a recent West Coast gathering of print reporters and network types, one inquiring mind asked CBS Sports boss Sean McManus if he thought six hours of pregame was enough for "people to be nauseated." Responded McManus: "Well, they may be nauseated, but they still watch."
•••
McManus, who doubles as the network's news chief, has drafted news anchor Katie Couric for pregame feature duty. But he did her no favors in green-lighting her report on Hines Ward. As you may know, Ward plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who played in last year's Super Bowl. The story of his Korean heritage was last year's hottest Super Bowl story. What's Couric cooking up for the 2008 presidential elections, a John Kerry retrospective?
•••
Be sure to catch Phil Simms' "All-Iron Team" at noon Sunday. It's really a clone of John Madden's All-Madden specials, but there is a twist. You probably think "All-Iron" means selecting rough and tumble types. That's wrong. Simms is obsessed with ironing his clothes. His All-Iron team is comprised of difference-making players whom he thinks are neat. This is no lie. You can't make up this kind of stuff.
•••
If you walk away from your TV during a commercial break, you will be missing millions of dollars worth of advertising. Some 30-second commercial units have sold for a record $2.6 million each. Any given two-minute break could earn CBS as much as $10.4 million dollars. Those are more expensive pitches than even Roger Clemens has dreamed of delivering.
•••
Stevie Nicks and Cirque du Soleil perform during the "official" pregame show, which kicks off at 2 p.m. Billy Joel sings the national anthem, and Prince is down to star during the NFL-produced halftime show. If only Simon Cowell was part of the broadcast team.
•••
Just guessing that Dick Enberg's pregame interview with former 49ers coach Bill Walsh, who is battling leukemia, will be a grabber, as will be Randy Cross' reports from Baghdad, where he is visiting with U.S. troops.
•••
It might only seem that Jim Nantz has been CBS' No. 1 forever, but the Bears-Colts will mark his first Super Bowl play-by-play assignment. He has twice hosted in the studio. Nantz will call the Super Bowl, Final Four and Masters over the next nine weeks. That's a dream trifecta for any broadcaster and a first. Only Curt Gowdy and Dick Enberg have ever called a Super Bowl and a Final Four in the same year.
•••
The 47-year-old Nantz said he has no plans to leave the broadcast booth anytime soon. His goal, he said, is "to one day say I broadcast 50 Masters. The one coming up in April will be No. 22. My 50th would be April 8, 2035. I'll be 75. I can't imagine after that there would be anything else to do."
•••
This year's technical innovation that CBS hopes will capture the imagination of its audience is a super-duper, slow-motion replay camera that will make routine slow motion look like fast forwarding.
•••
CBS trumpeted the fact that it went without sideline reporters this season, and they were hardly missed. But since the Super Bowl is all about excess, the network will deploy Steve Tasker, Solomon Wilcots, Lesley Visser and Sam Ryan to roam the sidelines. Maybe they could hold halftime news conferences with Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy as they leave the field.
•••
As he did in 2004, Boomer Esiason will flit between the CBS studio set and the radio broadcast booth, where he will provide analysis alongside Marv Albert for Westwood One network. According to the network, almost 24 million people will tune in to at least a few minutes of the game. Who knew that so many fans make emergency runs to the supermarket for extra chips and queso?
•••
The NFL estimates that as many as one billion people worldwide will watch at least part of the game. It will be broadcast in 232 countries and territories in 33 languages. Kickoff time in Beijing is 7:25 a.m. Monday. Should the urge hit, Sirius Satellite Radio will offer a gaggle of foreign language broadcasts.
•••
The Bears and Colts have produced strong ratings for the networks all season. The Bears play in the country's third largest television market, and the Peyton Manning-led Colts have gained a national following. But CBS Sports boss McManus believes a competitive game is the real impetus for attracting and keeping a large audience. "Ratings are determined not by the match-up but how deep into the game" it remains undecided, he said.
07:22 PM CST on Friday, February 2, 2007
One viewer's guide to Sunday's Super Bowl XLI:
CBS offers up six hours of pregame programming Sunday, beginning at 11 a.m. with an NFL Films' "Road to the Super Bowl." Of course, that doesn't include Face the Nation at 9:30 a.m., where the guests include CBS' Jim Nantz, Phil Simms and Dan Marino as well as NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. How many tough questions do you expect Bob Schieffer to ask the rookie commissioner of CBS' network partner? Las Vegas would set the over-under at one.
•••
The Los Angeles Times reports that at a recent West Coast gathering of print reporters and network types, one inquiring mind asked CBS Sports boss Sean McManus if he thought six hours of pregame was enough for "people to be nauseated." Responded McManus: "Well, they may be nauseated, but they still watch."
•••
McManus, who doubles as the network's news chief, has drafted news anchor Katie Couric for pregame feature duty. But he did her no favors in green-lighting her report on Hines Ward. As you may know, Ward plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who played in last year's Super Bowl. The story of his Korean heritage was last year's hottest Super Bowl story. What's Couric cooking up for the 2008 presidential elections, a John Kerry retrospective?
•••
Be sure to catch Phil Simms' "All-Iron Team" at noon Sunday. It's really a clone of John Madden's All-Madden specials, but there is a twist. You probably think "All-Iron" means selecting rough and tumble types. That's wrong. Simms is obsessed with ironing his clothes. His All-Iron team is comprised of difference-making players whom he thinks are neat. This is no lie. You can't make up this kind of stuff.
•••
If you walk away from your TV during a commercial break, you will be missing millions of dollars worth of advertising. Some 30-second commercial units have sold for a record $2.6 million each. Any given two-minute break could earn CBS as much as $10.4 million dollars. Those are more expensive pitches than even Roger Clemens has dreamed of delivering.
•••
Stevie Nicks and Cirque du Soleil perform during the "official" pregame show, which kicks off at 2 p.m. Billy Joel sings the national anthem, and Prince is down to star during the NFL-produced halftime show. If only Simon Cowell was part of the broadcast team.
•••
Just guessing that Dick Enberg's pregame interview with former 49ers coach Bill Walsh, who is battling leukemia, will be a grabber, as will be Randy Cross' reports from Baghdad, where he is visiting with U.S. troops.
•••
It might only seem that Jim Nantz has been CBS' No. 1 forever, but the Bears-Colts will mark his first Super Bowl play-by-play assignment. He has twice hosted in the studio. Nantz will call the Super Bowl, Final Four and Masters over the next nine weeks. That's a dream trifecta for any broadcaster and a first. Only Curt Gowdy and Dick Enberg have ever called a Super Bowl and a Final Four in the same year.
•••
The 47-year-old Nantz said he has no plans to leave the broadcast booth anytime soon. His goal, he said, is "to one day say I broadcast 50 Masters. The one coming up in April will be No. 22. My 50th would be April 8, 2035. I'll be 75. I can't imagine after that there would be anything else to do."
•••
This year's technical innovation that CBS hopes will capture the imagination of its audience is a super-duper, slow-motion replay camera that will make routine slow motion look like fast forwarding.
•••
CBS trumpeted the fact that it went without sideline reporters this season, and they were hardly missed. But since the Super Bowl is all about excess, the network will deploy Steve Tasker, Solomon Wilcots, Lesley Visser and Sam Ryan to roam the sidelines. Maybe they could hold halftime news conferences with Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy as they leave the field.
•••
As he did in 2004, Boomer Esiason will flit between the CBS studio set and the radio broadcast booth, where he will provide analysis alongside Marv Albert for Westwood One network. According to the network, almost 24 million people will tune in to at least a few minutes of the game. Who knew that so many fans make emergency runs to the supermarket for extra chips and queso?
•••
The NFL estimates that as many as one billion people worldwide will watch at least part of the game. It will be broadcast in 232 countries and territories in 33 languages. Kickoff time in Beijing is 7:25 a.m. Monday. Should the urge hit, Sirius Satellite Radio will offer a gaggle of foreign language broadcasts.
•••
The Bears and Colts have produced strong ratings for the networks all season. The Bears play in the country's third largest television market, and the Peyton Manning-led Colts have gained a national following. But CBS Sports boss McManus believes a competitive game is the real impetus for attracting and keeping a large audience. "Ratings are determined not by the match-up but how deep into the game" it remains undecided, he said.