Super Bowl News and Notes

FRIDAY SUPER BOWL NOTES

Steelers repeat themselves in Super Bowl practice

    TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - If it seemed the Pittsburgh Steelers were
repeating themselves during their final full practice for the Super
Bowl, they were.
    Coach Mike Tomlin’s staff put in the game plan for Arizona last
week. Tomlin didn’t want to stray from the normal practice week
routine, so this week’s practices were nearly the same on the
corresponding days as those during the off week in Pittsburgh.
    Tomlin says this week’s practice was essentially “a redo.“
    Wide receiver Hines Ward went through the full one-hour,
50-minute practice in unseasonably cool 55-degree weather. He had
suffered a sprained right knee ligament two weeks ago in the AFC
championship game but is listed as probable for the Steelers’
second Super Bowl in four seasons.
    Ward was the Super Bowl MVP three seasons ago and Tomlin says
his status for Sunday “never was in question.“
    Ward and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger both looked sharp during
a practice in which the Steelers piped in crowd noise to replicate
game conditions.

Smith participates fully in Cardinals practice

    TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Starting defensive end Antonio Smith
participated in all of the Arizona Cardinals’ last full practice
before Sunday’s Super Bowl and is listed as probable for the game.
    Smith had been limited in practice because of a sore knee.
    Running back-kick returner J.J. Arrington, defensive end Travis
LaBoy and punter Ben Graham were limited in the workout and are
questionable for the game. Arrington has a sore left knee, LaBoy an
injured biceps and Graham a sore groin.
    The sun came out for the final 45 minutes of practice at the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ facility. The Cardinals are to have a
walkthrough at the facility Saturday.
    Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt says his team had a “good week
of work.“

Cardinals coach pronounces team set for Super Bowl

    TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Arizona Cardinals coach and Augusta native Ken Whisenhunt says
his team is all set for the Super Bowl.
    Whisenhunt says the key is to avoid any late distractions before
Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
    Whisenhunt met with the media Friday morning. He says it’s
important to keep a “sense of normalcy” for his players in the
hours leading up to the Super Bowl.
    Much of the Cardinals’ game plan was put into place before the
Cardinals arrived in rainy Florida. Arizona has stayed healthy
during this week of practice.
    Arizona players will get some down time with their families on
Saturday. Whisenhunt cautioned that it was no time for them to lose
their focus.
    The Cardinals are a one-touchdown underdog.

Steelers coach says Roethlisberger fine for Bowl

    TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin says
quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is fine for the Super Bowl.
    Roethlisberger was drilled in the back during the AFC
championship game. He spent a lot of time stretching his torso
during a practice this week.
    Tomlin met with the media Friday and said the quarterback was
set to play Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.
    Tomlin said he didn’t have anything planned to tell the team
before the game. The coach says that when it comes to motivational
speeches, he prefers to “wing it.“

As Super Bowl nears, so do the counterfeit vendors

    TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - There’ll be plenty of vendors in Tampa, Fla.,
for the Super Bowl. But buyer beware—not all of it is legit.
    Counterfeit jerseys could be mixed in with the real ones, and
even the merchant might not know it.
    Federal agents have been picking through the merchandise,
seizing hundreds of counterfeit jerseys this week with an estimated
retail value of more than $1 million. They’re also advising
consumers to think twice before buying that nearly perfect replica
at a discount price.
    Counterfeit goods cost Americans jobs and companies billions of
dollars, and authorities also say the proceeds often end up
supporting arms and drug trafficking.

Super Bowl mayors wager ‘trees’ on game’s outcome

    PITTSBURGH (AP) - The mayors of the Super Bowl cities have made
their wager: a tree vs. a tree - of sorts.
    Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, who has taken to calling himself
Steelerstahl since the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Baltimore
Ravens to advance to Sunday’s Super Bowl, has accepted the bet
offered by Glendale, Ariz. Mayor Elaine Scruggs.
    If the Steelers win, Glendale officials must plant a tree native
to Pennsylvania outside University of Phoenix Stadium, home of the
Arizona Cardinals. If the Cardinals win, Ravenstahl must see that a
cactus is planted outside of Heinz Field, where the Steelers play.
    Pittsburgh’s mayor is explaining the bet this way: “Pittsburgh
is a city of trees, so we’re betting a tree for a tree, even though
theirs is a cactus.“

THURSDAY SUPER BOWL NOTES

Obama rooting for Steelers in Super Bowl

    WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama is being political
about his choice for the Super Bowl.
    He’s pulling for the Pittsburgh Steelers but admires the Arizona
Cardinals.
    Obama says other than his hometown Chicago Bears, the Steelers
are probably the team closest to his heart. He noted that owner Dan
Rooney, a longtime Republican, had endorsed him and campaigned for
him. So did Steelers legend Franco Harris.
    But Obama says he also wishes the Cardinals the best. He calls
them “long-suffering” and a “great Cinderella story” with
quarterback Kurt Warner’s resurgence at age 37.
    The president plans to watch the game at the White House with
friends and a bipartisan group of lawmakers.

Goodell says union profit claims are ‘fiction’

    TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is confident
of reaching a new labor agreement with the players before the 2010
season. But he took a shot at a union report that the league
remains highly profitable and there’s no need to change the current
system.
    “There’s a lot of fiction in that report,“ Goodell said at his
annual state of the NFL news conference Friday. “It’s not
accurate.“
    On Thursday, a union-commissioned study showed the average value
of franchises has grown from $288 million to $1.04 billion over the
past decade, and that teams averaged a $24.7 million profit in the
last year, even as the economy took a turn for the worse.
    Goodell disputed those figures and defended the owners’ decision
to opt out of the current agreement.

WEDNESDAY SUPER BOWL NOTES

Game Official Selected

      TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Terry McAulay has been chosen to referee his
second Super Bowl on Sunday when the Arizona Cardinals play the
Pittsburgh Steelers. He earned the assignment through the league’s
evaluation system in which the highest-rated officials at each
position with the required experience are chosen to work the game.

TUESDAY SUPER BOWL NOTES

Tuesday: Media Day

    TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - As always, the Super Bowl hype machine gets
cranked up another notch on the Tuesday before the big game. It was
Media Day in Tampa, where the Steelers and Cardinals got their
first mass exposure to the throng of media that descended on
Raymond James Stadium ahead of Sunday’s showdown for the NFL
championship.
    The players spent part of the day enduring the usual craziness
that accompanies Media Day. A male reporter from Telemundo Sports
Network was dressed in a red evening gown and heels as he presented
several players with boxes of chocolates. Entertainment Tonight
asked a few defensive tackles to participate in a “Dancing with
the Super Bowl Stars” contest, which was won by Arizona’s Alan
Branch.
    Many of the Pittsburgh players have been there, done that. The
Steelers are just three years removed from winning the fifth title
in franchise history. This is Arizona’s first appearance in a Super
Bowl. The Cardinals haven’t won a championship in 61 years. That’s
currently the second-longest drought in major pro sports behind the
Chicago Cubs’ 100 years of futility.

Steelers Ward says he’ll play

    TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Former Georgia standout Hines Ward is listed
as questionable for the Super Bowl, but he says he’s walking around
fine with a sprained knee and he will play Sunday night.
    He’s been so committed to his rehabilitation program since
getting hurt in the AFC championship game on Jan. 18, he worked out
before the Steelers took a Monday morning flight to Tampa.
    Ward hopes to take part Thursday in what will be the Steelers’
final, full-scale practice. Before then, he’ll have some additional
help with his rehab.
    Ward shipped a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to the team hotel -
yes, just like the device Michael Jackson once used. Ward believes
it stimulates the production of red blood cells. He thinks it will
hasten his recuperation from the same type of injury that sidelined
running back Willie Parker for a month this season.

BOTH TEAMS HAVE SUPER BOWL EXPERIENCE

    Tampa, FL— Arizona is playing for the NFL title for the
first time since 1948. Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner will be
making his third appearance in the big game and says the whole
Super Bowl thing hasn’t hit him yet.
    Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt commented on the muggy weather in
Tampa but is glad his team will have a week to get used to it.
    The Steelers are making their seventh Super Bowl appearance.
This is Arizona’s first, although Whisenhunt was here as offensive
coordinator of Pittsburgh’s Super Bowl team three seasons ago.

MONDAY SUPER BOWL NOTES

Cardinals, Steelers Arrive    

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Thanks to a strong tail wind, Kurt Warner and
the Arizona Cardinals flew into town ahead of schedule to get ready
for an unexpected Super Bowl appearance.
    Warner, who won a Super Bowl title with St. Louis in 2000, leads
a team of Cardinals who are mostly newcomers to the NFL’s biggest
stage. After all, the franchise hasn’t played in a title game since
1947.
    Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt has been here before, as offensive
coordinator of Pittsburgh’s Super Bowl champions of three seasons
ago.
    Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Steelers are back at the Super
Bowl, arriving just before noon on Monday, and even those players here for the first time are acting
like they’ve been here before.
    The Steelers will be playing in their seventh Super Bowl, only
one fewer than the Cowboys’ record eight.
    It was tough to tell the rookies from the veterans as the team
arrived in town for Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals.
They weren’t overwhelmed with the media throng, and knew how to
handle the large crowds of Steelers fans who drove by their Tampa
hotel cheering “Here we go, Steelers.“
    Half of the Steelers’ starters remain from three years ago,
including quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, when Pittsburgh beat
Seattle in the Super Bowl in Detroit.

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