Though the way they stood by passively will always be a blight on their careers, the ESPN Sunday NFL Countdown crew of Chris Berman, Steve Young, Michael Irvin and Tom Jackson can be thankful the Donovan McNabb-Rush Limbaugh flap overshadowed what New York Post columnist Phil Mushnik correctly dubbed, "The worst NFL studio-show expert analysis of the season."
For those who forgot, after the Patriots lost 31-0 in Week 1 to Buffalo, ESPN's panel chipped in on the New England obituary. Jackson was the most vocal, looking into the camera and saying: "Let me be very clear about this. ... They hate their coach."
The others chimed in. Irvin said Patriots management, namely coach Bill Belichick, was discounting how much Lawyer Milloy meant to the team. Guys like him, Irvin said, "make the difference on your football team."
(As Salon.com columnist King Kaufman noted, Irvin included Hugh Douglas in that statement, and it should be noted Philadelphia made the NFC Championship Game despite letting him go in a Milloy-esque move).
Now here were are, New England riding a 14-game winning streak and favored to win the Super Bowl. And Jackson? The Providence Journal says he conceded last week that "Hate' may have been too strong a word."
Gee, ya think?
Those darn Patriots, always making "experts" look silly. They did it the last time they were in a Super Bowl as well, when John Madden advised New England to run the final minute-and-a-half out and play for overtime. The Patriots did the opposite and beat St. Louis on a last-second field goal.
CBS should consider itself warned.
Limbaugh, the nonexpert on ESPN's panel, was the only one who had the Milloy drama right, as he rightfully crowed to his listeners last week. He claimed the NFL was a business, that "Belichick always gets rid of guys a year too soon and therefore never faces massive rebuilding," and that the Patriots were professionals who would overcome this.
We might be applauding Limbaugh now had he been as smart a few weeks later when pegging McNabb, who was just 12 dropped passes in the NFL Championship Game away from the Super Bowl.
FANTASTIC FOUR: Phil Simms and Greg Gumbel will call today's action. It is Simms' fourth Super Bowl, including Super Bowl XXXV in Tampa.
PICKS AND PANS: CBS NFL Today studio host Jim Nantz is predicting the first Super Bowl overtime, saying it's in Carolina's "gene makeup." Deion Sanders says if Carolina gets behind early, Jake Delhomme will look like Peyton Manning in the AFC Championship Game.
And in his typical bland and safe style, Dan Marino says Carolina must be able to run the ball to keep New England's offense off the field.
AND IF YOU CARE: Fox isn't doing the game, but that didn't stop it from making predictions: Terry Bradshaw and Daryl Johnston like Carolina (and so do all the NASCAR guys), but Jimmy Johnson is taking New England.
WORKING OVERTIME: CBS analyst Boomer Esiason gets a workout today, doing his usual studio gig for television and calling the game with Marv Albert on CBS Radio/Westwood One.
Esiason and Albert did Monday Night Football for Westwood One this season, but obviously the former NFL quarterback will have a conflict today.
Esiason has taped the Westwood One opening with Albert. At 10 a.m. he meets with the rest of the NFL Today crew to go over the show's plan a final time. From 2-6 p.m. he works the pregame festivities. When that ends, he hustles to the radio booth for kickoff.
At the two-minute warning he heads back to the studio set for the halftime show, then back to the radio booth when that concludes. Then it gets tricky.
Depending on how the game turns out, Esiason and the producers will have to make a choice - does he stay to do postgame with Albert or get back to the set for TV. That probably will depend on how close a game it is.
"It will require a little bit of communication," Esiason said.
It promises to be at least an 11-hour day of nonstop work for Esiason, who says, "I wouldn't want it any other way."
GIFT-WRAPPED GAME: On ESPN Radio's GameNight last week, football analyst Beano Cook said the Super Bowl is "one of the biggest days of the year in this country. If they would exchange gifts, it would pass Christmas."
LOW-CARB CRAZY: Here's a sign that the low-carb craze has gotten out of hand:
Saturday, Fox analyst Troy Aikman and CBS correspondent Marcus Allen joined fellow Super Bowl MVPs Terrell Davis and Franco Harris in hosting the "Ultimate Low Carb Tailgate Party," showing men and women of the Armed Forces how to make zero carb cocktails with spirits like Smirnoff and Crown Royal, among others.
- Information from other news organizations was used in this report.
