Sights And Sounds From Super Bowl Media Day

Behold Super Bowl fans. It's Media Day. Journalists from around the world were at Raymond James Stadium this morning for what is perhaps best described as the NFL's annual freak show. Our staff takes note of the carnival-like atmosphere.

1:09 p.m.: Media Day is over and journalists are pouring out of Raymond James Stadium. The Steelers are heading to the field for a team photo.

1:08 p.m.: Steelers nose tackle Casey Hampton had to think when he was asked, "What was the weirdest question you've been asked?"

"A weird dude asked me some weird stuff a second ago," said Hampton, who is 6-foot-1 and 325 pounds. "Do I feel the spirit or something?"

Yup, that's weird.

1:07 p.m.: Three Steelers took part in an "Entertainment Tonight" dance competition. Cornerback Bryant McFadden, long snapper Jared Retkofsky and safety Tyrone Carter showed off their salsa moves with dance partner Renee Sapp.

McFadden won the coveted disco ball trophy with a score of 9 and held it high. " '09 champion, baby," he said.

He gave the credit for the win to his partner. "She showed me the moves. She was patient with me."

Sapp danced with all three Steelers and with two Arizona players who took part in the dance competition earlier in the day (see the earlier post).

Asked whether McFadden was the best of the five dancers, Sapp was coy.

"I can't answer that, but he got the most points," Sapp said.

The competition was judged by dancer Scott Montague. He gave Carter an 8. Retkofsky, who was the heaviest of the competitors at 260 pounds, received the lowest score, a 7.

There will not be a dance-off between McFadden, who won the Steelers challenge, and Alan Branch, who won the Cardinals portion of the Dancing With the Super Bowl Stars competition.

12:40 p.m. : Wayne LaVelle came all the way from Honolulu to cover the Super Bowl for Hawaii Five-O Sports Media & Entertainment. This week, he's hanging with Chris Kemoetu, a lineman for the Steelers who is also from Hawaii.

"I'm the only dude from Hawaii. That's why they call me Super Bowl Wayne."

Super Bowl Wayne gave the 344-pound linebacker some candy from the islands.

"The weather is nice and getting some candy basically made me feel like I was at home," Kemoetu said.

12:05 p.m. Pittsburgh offensive lineman Max Starks, a former Florida Gator, stood up in the stands moments ago as the media was unleashed upon his team.

"It reminds me of National Geographic," he said. "When they show the ants coming out of the anthill. ... You see people coming out of all the tunnels and crevices."

Starks says the zoo aspect of Media Day just adds to the event's mystique.

11:59 a.m.: Time for the Steelers to talk.

11:59 a.m.: Good news for Tampa police Officer David Barton. So far he has not had to shoot any unruly journalists or athletes. No drugs, either, said Barton, who works in narcotics.

11:55 a.m. : Linebacker Karlos Dansby is a good sport.

As Arizona's time in the spotlight came to an end, he fielded a few remaining questions. He obliged one woman's request that he talk about why kids should stay in school. He thanked God for his ability. He was gracious during inane questions.

The dumbest question? He replied: "I have the feeling it is the one you are about to ask."

11:45 a.m.: Michael Wilbon, a sports columnist at the Washington Post, said Media Day over the years has become a cliche. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, there was a time when Media Day was an electric event.

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

Wilbon said that people have to work too hard to make Media Day a big deal now. Some media members are wearing customes. "Thank God for the TV Azteca girls," he said, referring to reporters from the Mexican media who are measuring biceps of players.

This is Wilbon's 22nd media day.

It's turned into a bit of a freak show, Wilbon said.

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

"It's now so much of a zoo, it's a cliched zoo," he said. "I wrote my piece on this before I came out here. I wrote it in 1987."

11:21 a.m.: Security is shooing journalists from the sidelines to give the Cardinals time for a team photo and the Steelers time to get into position for their time under the media spotlight.

Frank Krauser has attended 16 Media Days. Krauser, president and CEO of the NFL Alumni Association, says the event has gotten more professional, but also a little more routine.

10:58 a.m. Inez Sainz of Azteca, in Mexico, is walking away measuring players' biceps.

She just walked over to Arizona backup quarterback Matt Leinart with a tape measure and asked whether she could measure him.

"It's not very big," Leinart said as she started to wrap the tape measure around his biceps.

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

10:52 a.m.: Cardinals defensive lineman Alan Branch hoisted the disco ball proudly, having won the Dancing With the Super Bowl Stars challenge.

"I welcome all challengers," he said. Branch received an 8 from celebrity judge Warren Sapp, one point higher than his challenger, Gabe Watson.

"It means a lot," Branch said of the title. "I came here with a good game plan."

10:32 a.m.: Cardinals defensive linemen Alan Branch and Gabe Watson were practicing their dance moves shortly before 10:30 a.m. Kevin Frazier of "Entertainment Tonight" had organized a rumba dancing contest for the players.

"With media day, what are you going to get?" Frazier said. "You're not going to get anything Earth-shattering here."

As a result, he said, he wanted to do something entertaining. The winner for the Cardinals will receive a small disco ball.

Asked how a winner will be determined, Frazer said, "Warren Sapp is going to judge."

He's serious.

10:17 a.m.: Telemundo's Joel Bengoa, self-proclaimed fairy godmother of the Arizona Cardinals, is talking with reporters.

"I am going to get me some later. ... Interviews," he said.

Telemundo's Joel Bengoa/News Channel 8 photo by SHANNON LISTON

10:05 a.m.: Super Bowl Media Day has officially started. The Arizona Cardinals are on the field and answering questions.

9:45 a.m.: ESPN sportscaster Chris Berman is covering his 27th Media Day. His first was in 1981. He said there is a big difference in the coverage of Media Day now compared to the early days.

"There was much more print reporting [back then]," Berman said. "Now there are a lot more foreign journalists."

Also, sports talk radio didn't exist then in the same way it does now, Berman said.

Asked what he thought of Media Day, Berman said, "It's fine. Some people try too hard."

9:15 a.m.: Once at Raymond James Stadium, the media receives pat-downs from security before entering a tented area where they must place their bags on a painted line.

While the members of the media continue through a metal detector, a security dog sniffs their bags to make sure they do not contain any explosives. The bags are tagged with a neon orange label bearing the NFL logo, which signals the bag has been checked by security.

Reporters wait in line. /Tribune photo by JOSH POLTILOVE

9:04 a.m.: Security is not letting us close to the field until 10 a.m. so that we will get the full "wow" experience. They provided a buffet of pastries to distract us. For some journalists, it seems to be working.

Where we must wait until 10 a.m./Tribune photo by BAIRD HELGESON

9 a.m.: After chugging through a bit of traffic on Interstate 275, media buses arrive at Raymond James Stadium. A police officer on a Segway points one bus driver to the proper parking area. The bus parks and the media offloads.

8:30 a.m.: Sports reporters from across the country are at the Tampa Convention Center, cramming into designated media buses and about to head to Raymond James Stadium for Super Bowl Media Day.

The buses are set to leave at 8:45 a.m., so the media can interview the NFC champion Arizona Cardinals at 10 a.m.

At an NFL information center inside the convention center, a staffer said this morning he wasn't sure how many buses would be heading to the stadium or how many media members would be coming to Media Day.

"A lot," he said.

Inside one bus parked outside the convention center, media members are chatting about football, sipping on coffee and leafing through newspapers. The bus is nearly full.