Sports

SUPER BOWL XL

Pregame shows

By SHARON GINN
Published February 5, 2006

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PREGAME SHOWS

ABC

Includes a "Celebration of the Decades" theme to mark the 40th anniversary. Each half hour until 5 p.m., a decade of past Super Bowls is featured: the 1960s at 2:30, the '70s at 3, the '80s at 3:30, the '90s at 4 and 2000-2005 at 4:30.

2:30-3: The network opens from its set on the concourse level at Ford Field. Chris Berman serves as pregame, halftime and postgame host and is joined by analysts Michael Irvin, Tom Jackson and Steve Young. Mike Tirico hosts the field level set and is joined by three-time Super Bowl champion coach Bill Belichick of New England.

3:01: Sam Ryan profiles Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and his football family. Hasselbeck's father, Don, played for the Raiders in Super Bowl XVIII, and Matt's brother, Tim, is a backup quarterback with the New York Giants.

3:18: Andrea Kremer profiles former Oakland Raiders defensive back Jack Tatum. Known for his punishing hits as a player, Tatum had his left leg amputated and five surgeries in 2003 due to complications from diabetes. He works with an Oakland-area foundation that helps children with juvenile diabetes.

3:42: Lisa Salters details the maturation of Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in his second NFL season. The 11th pick of the 2004 draft will be the second-youngest quarterback to start a Super Bowl; at 23, he is seven months older than Dan Marino was in the 1985 game.

3:50: ABC marks the 25th anniversary of the Iranian hostage crisis by interviewing former Army medic Don Hohman, one of the hostages. On the day of his return to the United States, Hohman got to watch his favorite team, the Oakland Raiders, win the Super Bowl from his hotel room. He was so excited he called the locker room after the game and got to talk to MVP Jim Plunkett.

4:13: Late-night talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel tells jokes about the Super Bowl.

4:20: Chris Connelly visits the Pop Warner Challenger Football Division, a league in upstate New York for the mentally and physically disabled.

4:29: Al Michaels interviews Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher, who also coached the Steelers in Super Bowl XXX.

4:43: Bill Belichick reviews four of the most dominating defenses in Super Bowl history: Pittsburgh's "Steel Curtain" of the 1970s; the Chicago Bears' 46 defense from Super Bowl XX; the New York Giants' defense - led by Belichick as defensive coordinator - from Super Bowl XXV; and Belichick's Patriots defense from Super Bowl XXXVI.

4:50: Sam Ryan interviews Kathy Holmgren, wife of Seahawks coach Mike, who is spending three weeks in Africa on a medical mission. Kathy and daughter Calla, a doctor, had a long-standing commitment to make the trip and are not in Detroit for the game.

5:08: Seattle running back and NFL MVP Shaun Alexander is profiled.

5:16: Robin Roberts interviews Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger, who performs with the band at halftime.

5:22: Tom Jackson visits with Jerome Bettis in his hometown of Detroit. Bettis reflects on his 13,000-yard rushing career and on playing perhaps his final game in front of hometown fans.

5:40: The pregame show ends with a 10-minute live performance on Ford Field by 19-time Grammy winner Stevie Wonder. The network will transition into the Super Bowl broadcast with a new Hank Williams Jr. music video.

11 a.m.: Sunday NFL Countdown kicks off pregame coverage from its set at the field level at Ford Field with host Stuart Scott and analysts Mike Ditka, Ron Jaworski and Sean Salisbury. Joe Theismann appears as a guest analyst. NFL Live's Trey Wingo teams with analysts Mark Schlereth and Darren Woodson at a set in downtown Detroit.

11:39: Greg Garber looks at how Steelers coach Bill Cowher, who in his 14th season is the longest-tenured coach in the NFL, has outlasted so many other coaches.

12:26 p.m.: When Patriots owner Robert Kraft met with Russian President Vladimir Putin last summer, Kraft showed Putin his Super Bowl ring - and Putin kept it. ESPN's Kenny Mayne tries to help Kraft get his ring back.

12:34: Andrea Kremer profiles Lofa Tatupu, the Seahawks rookie linebacker and son of former Patriots fullback Mosi Tatupu. Lofa, a second-round pick from USC, has been a starter all season and makes all the defensive calls on the field.

1:01: Before the season started, the Seahawks brought in world-famous mountain climber Ed Viesturs as a guest speaker to talk to the players about teamwork. Kremer reviews what Viesturs said and how it inspired the Seahawks.

1:16: On the 20th anniversary of Super Bowl XX, NFL Films takes a look at the characters who were the 1985 Chicago Bears, from Jim McMahon and Walter Payton to defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan and coach Mike Ditka.

1:25: Garber profiles Steelers safety Troy Polamalu, whom defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau calls "a coordinator's dream."

1:40: Former Seahawks starting safety Ken Hamlin talks with Kremer about the night in October when he was severly beaten outside a nightclub. He suffered a fractured skull, a blood clot near his brain and bruised brain tissue. He has recovered and hopes to return to football next season.

1:53: Several members of the Steelers defense, led by linebacker Joey Porter, talk about trash talking and why they are good at it.

2:01: Three former star quarterbacks - Joe Montana, Steve Young and Brett Favre - and the Seahawks' Matt Hasselbeck talk about learning from and playing for Seattle coach Mike Holmgren.

2:14: Garber examines the relationship between the Steelers' Jerome Bettis and Ben Roethlisberger.

2:22: NFL Films provides an inside look at the best moments in Super Bowl history.

2:30-5: ESPN transitions into more hardcore coverage and analysis in an effort to complement the feature-driven pregame show on ABC. The network offers live team reports every 20 minutes and a number of live guest interviews inside the stadium. Also, Mayne heads to the kitchen with Martha Stewart to whip up some ultimate party nachos.

[Last modified February 5, 2006, 01:22:20]

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