Joining the Circus

For the second time in my life, I'm covering a Super Bowl. As you can imagine, I'm pretty excited about it.

Super Bowl XLI is in Miami, just a 2 1/2 hour drive across the state. The last time I covered a Super Bowl (XXXIV), it was in Atlanta, and I was working in Northeast Missouri... so it was about a 14 hour drive. By comparison, scooting across the Everglades is a breeze.

Unfortunately, Dolphin Stadium is just a little too close. Our station isn't paying for us to stay in Miami, so every day, that means we're driving 5 hours roundtrip before we even really start doing our work for the day.

It also means that yet again, I'm missing the ultra-swanky media parties. Believe me, I'm not happy about it at all. Even worse, I got an invite to a couple VIP events over the weekend-- a Beach Barbecue Friday hosted by Kanye West-- and a beach party Saturday night... Ludacris was performing, Biz Markie was the DJ. Sure, I would have felt a little out of my league at both of them, but think about what an interesting experience it would have been.

Last night was the big media party, hosted by Miami-Dade county. Where was I? In my apartment, taking a nap. Resting up... because I'd had a long, long, long day on Tuesday.

I spent it at the biggest media circus in the Sunshine State: Super Bowl Media Day. And while it was just as bizarre as everyone has described, there was a sense of order around all the chaos. Maybe it's the giant ticking clock on the scoreboard that tells you exactly how long you have before they kick you out of the stadium. I'm not sure.

Some of the strangest things I saw and heard at Media Day?

1) A reporter asking one of the Chicago Bears "Do you think Tyra Banks looks fat?"

2) A reporter (not the same one) asking one of the Indianapolis Colts "Since Barbaro died, is that a bad omen for the Colts?"

3) ESPN poppa-bear Chris Berman actually talking to me. In a real conversation. Very cool.

4) A puppet interviewing players. Upon further investigation, I've determined he was a Chilean puppet.... if that matters.

5) The little "special" guys from American Idol (the ones that Simon ripped because he thought they were simply talentless, and didn't realize that they were more "special" than all the other people at the audition). They were on assignment from Jimmy Kimmel Live and coaxed Adam Vinatieri into singing "Take me out to the Ballgame" with them. Vinatieri was a total sport.

Anyway, to get to Miami in time for Media Day, we had to leave work at 6:00 a.m. That meant I had to be up at 4:30 a.m. Like I said, it was a long, long, long day.

Before I left, Cory told me to be on the lookout for Bill Simmons, who is a writer for ESPN.com. He's a pretty funny guy. But because he's a writer, I don't really know what he looks like.

Every year, Simmons does a little photo blog from Media Day. And as it turns out, he was about four steps behind me the entire time. Literally. Here's one of the pictures he took:

Yep. That's the back of my head.

My co-worker Randy called me to tell me that my picture was on ESPN.com. He's apparently a pretty observant guy, because I wouldn't have even given that photo a second look.

To get an inside look at the chaos of Media Day, check out Simmons' article. It's several pages long, but it's almost all pictures, so it only takes a few minutes to peruse. Plus, as an added bonus, you get to see a larger picture of the back of my head. How's that for enticement?

In the meantime, I have to get ready for work. I'm leaving for Miami in an hour.