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© St. Petersburg Times, published February 1, 2002
Fox's Super Bowl media guide says Sunday's broadcast should be "the most stirring, patriotic and emotionally charged ever." While that's unlikely -- it's hard to imagine anything topping Whitney Houston's Gulf War rendition of the national anthem and the fabulous game that followed -- the network will go heavy on the flag-waving.
Throughout the three-hour pregame show, the network will cut live to U.S. troops in Afghanistan, interviewing soldiers and giving them the chance to predict the outcome. All sorts of musical tributes are scheduled, and before kickoff, diva Mariah Carey will belt out the national anthem (presumably, she'll wear something quite different from Houston's tasteful patriotic jumpsuit).
Once the game starts, though, the focus will be squarely on the field, and for that Fox analyst John Madden makes no apologies.
"I think that to do nothing (all year) and then to do something for the Super Bowl, the question would be, "Well, where have you been?' " he said. "I hope (the patriotism) is not a one-time thing. I hope the feelings that should be there on Sunday were there before. More importantly, I hope the feelings that should be there on Sunday go on for a hell of a lot longer."
In the booth, the feelings won't be limited to swells of patriotism. Madden will be calling his final game with Pat Summerall, who announced last week he would step down as Fox's No. 1 football announcer. Summerall may be economical with words, but his emotions tend to flow more freely.
"It's going to be difficult," he said. "I know that. But I'm going to do the best I can."
LOW-TECH TV: The new on-air gadgets so prevalent in important sports broadcasts in 2000 and 2001 are notably absent from this Super Bowl. Even the touted "Fox Wide-creen" digital-television broadcast designed to accommodate flat-screen televisions has a lower resolution (480 lines per inch) than the previous Super Bowl telecasts for those with high-definition televisions (720 or 1,080), according to Sports Business Journal.
Fox also is trimming -- executives call it "streamlining" -- its production, planning 22 manned cameras and 18 replay machines. That's far fewer than CBS' 34 cameras and 24 replay machines last year and Fox's 31 and 25 for the 1999 Super Bowl.
SUPER WOMEN: Lifetime's pre-Super Bowl special, Her Life and the NFL, features an interview with five members of Brooks' Bunch, recounting their trip to Africa with the Bucs' Derrick Brooks. The show, which airs at 7 tonight, also features quarterback Brad Johnson and wife Nikki.
FINE TUNING: Times readers evidently have good taste. ESPN's Chris Berman, named best national sportscaster in a readers' poll this summer, has won his sixth Sportscaster of the Year award. ... ESPN will air two specials on figure skater Michelle Kwan: Bud Greenspan Presents Michelle Kwan (6 p.m. Sunday, ESPN), and a SportsCentury installment (8 p.m. Wednesday, ESPN Classic). ... ESPN's broadcast Saturday night of the Australian Open women's final drew the second-largest tennis audience in network history. About 1.994-million households watched Jennifer Capriati beat Martina Hingis in three sets.
QUOTABLE: "They deserve everything that happens to them. (Fellow Fox NFL Sunday analyst) Cris Collinsworth is on the floor laughing, but it just ticks me off." -- Terry Bradshaw, speaking on a Fox Super Bowl conference call, on the Bucs' coaching debacle.