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The Circus Is In Town

Tribune photo by JOSH POLTILOVE

Arizona Cardinals DL Alan Branch was one of the winners in Entertainment Tonight's "Dancing With The Super Bowl Stars" competition at media day.

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By BAIRD HELGESON and JOSH POLTILOVE

bhelgeson@tampatrib.com jpoltilove@tampatrib.com

Published: January 28, 2009

TAMPA - There was a squealing drag queen from Telemundo. There were beefy football players who twirled a sequin-clad dancer in a Super Bowl version of "Dancing with the Stars." And a "journalist" measured the arm muscles of players as she cooed into the camera.

Media Day offered a healthy dose of the surreal Tuesday, but most who attended the much-hyped media circus felt it never reached the levels of bizarre attained in past years.

"Last time, I got interviewed by a hand puppet," said Steelers left tackle Marvel Smith, recalling the team's last Super Bowl appearance three years ago. "I haven't had anything like that this year."

Roughly 3,000 journalists from around the world attended this year's Media Day on the sidelines of Raymond James Stadium. Journalists got an hour with players and coaches of each of the two teams that will play in Sunday's championship game; the Arizona Cardinals from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. and the Pittsburgh Steelers from noon to 1 p.m.

To be sure, it was odd for journalists to so outnumber the athletes. Weirder still, the most in-demand players and coaches sat on elevated platforms - almost god-like - to field questions from down below.

Taking It All In

For players, it was equally surreal to see hundreds of camera-wielding journalists pour down the stairs as if a dam had burst.

Players crafted their own imagery.

"It reminds me of National Geographic," said Pittsburgh offensive lineman Max Starks, a former University of Florida Gator. "When they show the ants coming out of the anthill. ... You see people coming out of all the tunnels and crevices."

Steelers backup quarterback Charlie Batch was among several players who recorded the experience on personal video cameras.

Players said it's tough to fully appreciate a week with such a frantic pace. They often pointed their cameras at the people interviewing them.

"I want to be able to watch it later and take it all in," Batch said.

Journalists sometimes served up offbeat and silly questions to goose players into unexpected answers that strayed from their more polished responses.

Careful listeners learned that Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward is scared of spiders.

What was the oddest question a journalist asked Steelers nose tackle Casey Hampton?

"A weird dude asked me some weird stuff. ... Do I feel the spirit, or something," Hampton said.

A few journalists stroked players' egos.

Ines Sainz of TV Azteca in Mexico measured players' biceps. She was trying to find the strongest player.

"It's not very big," Arizona backup quarterback Matt Leinart said as Sainz prepared to wrap the tape measure around his bicep.

"Eighteen," she said. "It's big enough."

Telemundo Sports Network reporter Joel Bengoa walked around in a tight red dress, a blond wig and without a close shave. He was the Cardinals' self-described fairy godmother, with heart-shaped glasses.

He seemed more interested in causing a stir than serious journalism.

"I am going to get me some later on ... interviews," he said when cameras and other journalists converged on him, ignoring nearby Cardinals players.

At past events Bengoa has reportedly dressed as a sumo wrestler, Princess Leia and a black-caped astrologist. He said his goal was to make the players happy.

Journalists Have Different Opinions

A 10-year-old from Lakeland took a more serious approach.

Shelby Fallin, an aspiring journalist from Lakeland's Griffin Elementary School, scored a major coup when she interviewed former Buccaneer defensive tackle Warren Sapp.

"This is really neat because I actually get to cover the Super Bowl," said Fallin, who works for Scholastic News, a magazine distributed across the nation.

Some members of the press corps had less unvarnished enthusiasm.

Keith Olbermann, host of "Countdown" on MSNBC and co-host of NBC's "Football Night in America," said Media Day has become a "cliched zoo."

Michael Wilbon, a sports columnist at the Washington Post, said Media Day has lost some electricity over the years. Now, he said, far less legitimate media, such as the muscle-measuring TV Azteca reporter, treat Media Day like a circus.

"It went over the top and came down," he said.

Sometimes it takes a person on the edges to bring the meaning of an event into focus.

Saundra Oneal has spent the month polishing and hand-washing ashtrays and soap dispensers to prepare the stadium for big game.

She watched journalists huddle in a concourse waiting to be allowed on the field. They had millions of dollars in cameras, lenses and recording equipment.

"When you stop and think about it," she said, "it's just crazy."

Reporter Eddie Daniels contributed to this report. Reporter Baird Helgeson can be reached at (813) 259-7668. Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691.

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