Media Totally Dropping the Ball (Super Bowl)

[Gangster Octopus]

Apparently Jerome Bettis, a great running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers, at the very tail end of his career, is from Detroit. And Detroit is where this year's Super Bowl is being played. So you'd think there would be an awesome opportunity to play up the "Jerome Bettis Coming Home for the Super Bowl" angle. But the media has totally ignored it. Is ther some sort of meida conspiracy here?

[sturmhauke]

Maybe no one cares? When I think of cheezy, overplayed appeals to emotion, I think of the Olympics. I'd rather they left the cheeze out of the Olympics anyway.

[Jimmy Chitwood]

Well, I'm looking at the cover of the January 30th Sports Illustrated, and it says "Rollin' On: The Bus Heads 'Home' to Detroit", and there's a picture of Jerome Bettis. Does Sports Illustrated count as media?

[An Arky]

I have never seen SB coverage biased towards one of the teams as much as this one. All you ever hear about the Seahawks is that you don't hear much about them because they are located in the upper left corner of the country.

I'm rooting for Seattle because I am utterly sick to death of all the Steelers hype.

[mswas]

Maybe no one cares? When I think of cheezy, overplayed appeals to emotion, I think of the Olympics. I'd rather they left the cheeze out of the Olympics anyway.


But isn't that the ENTIRE POINT of sports? So that we can have some cheezy overplayed appeals to our emotions that have close to zero real world consequences?

[Hal Briston]

Heck, I'd be happy to hear anything about the Steelers. All I'm hearing from the media (and this board as well) is Seahawks, Seahawks, Seahawks...nothing but the Seahawks all the time. It's like Pittsburgh isn't even involved in the game.

[hajario]

The OP has got to be a joke and a lame one at that.

[Lord Ashtar]

This is hardly Pit worthy material. Where's the flaming?

[little*bit]

Shoot.
I'm in Detroit & Jerome is getting the key to the city.
(Not that we lock the doors or anything)

[Airman Doors, USAF]

Let's play "How to whoosh just about everyboy who responds without them even knowing it!". I'll take the OP for $500, Alex.

Yeah, they are hyping that pretty hard, but remember: this is both his last game and his first Super Bowl. It's no different than the coverage Elway got leading up to his second Super Bowl. Add to that that he's a genuinely good guy and it's his hometown and that makes it even more of a touchy-feely human-interest story.

Would you prefer that they talk about how the Serahawks are going to get spanked up and down the field for 60 minutes? Maybe some old-school stories, like when Stanley Wilson didn't show up for the game because he was doing blow?

Nah, this is just fine. Positive news. It's rare enough that you should enjoy it while it lasts, because next week it's back to blood and guts.

[Gangster Octopus]

Let's play "How to whoosh just about everyboy who responds without them even knowing it!". I'll take the OP for $500, Alex.

Thank you Doors. You saved me from having to exile myself from SDMB.

[Guinastasia]

I do feel for the Seahawks-this is their first Superbowl and I can understand they might feel miffed at all the Steelers coverage.

But like my fellow Steelers fan Airman said, this is Jerome's last year, his first Superbowl, and it's in his home town. He's given a lot to our community here, and I can't blame peopel for being interested.

GO STEELERS! (But good luck to the Seahawks-you're gonna need it!)

:p

[Hung Mung]

Let's play "How to whoosh just about everyboy who responds without them even knowing it!". I'll take the OP for $500, Alex.
It's high time we got a Sarcasm Smiley around here.
In fact, one of my favorite things is when people around here get all mad about being whooshed and want to call it trolling, but really they're just angry because they can't discern sarcasm from an honest post.

Personally, I don't mind the hype over Jerome Bettis. He's a good guy and he's got class. What I am tired of is the hype about Troy Polamalu. The guy's only been around a couple of years. He ain't Rod Woodson yet.

[Marley23]

At least the Steelers can't play the "nobody respects us" line that every football team going into every big game likes to use. Blech.

[Snooooopy]

It's high time we got a Sarcasm Smiley around here.
In fact, one of my favorite things is when people around here get all mad about being whooshed and want to call it trolling, but really they're just angry because they can't discern sarcasm from an honest post.

Well, maybe we assumed that people would follow the rules of the Pit and post actual complaints. Terribly sorry about that.

[Airman Doors, USAF]

Personally, I don't mind the hype over Jerome Bettis. He's a good guy and he's got class. What I am tired of is the hype about Troy Polamalu. The guy's only been around a couple of years. He ain't Rod Woodson yet.

How quickly we forget. Rod Woodson wasn't Donnie Shell yet and he got hyped almost from day one. Polamalu is as good, if not better, than Woodson was at this point in his career.

It remains to be seen whether that promise is fulfilled for his entire career, but he's definitely worthy of the hype right now.

[Airman Doors, USAF]

Well, maybe we assumed that people would follow the rules of the Pit and post actual complaints. Terribly sorry about that.

It IS an actual complaint. The OP believes that the Steelers, and in particular Jerome Bettis, are getting too much hype at the expense of everything else. It's not an unreasonable complaint.

Don't be short just because you didn't get the jibe.

[Snooooopy]

It IS an actual complaint. The OP believes that the Steelers, and in particular Jerome Bettis, are getting too much hype at the expense of everything else. It's not an unreasonable complaint.

Don't be short just because you didn't get the jibe.

Oh, stop it. You know as well as I do that tone of voice is a substantial part of getting sarcasm.

[Hung Mung]

How quickly we forget. Rod Woodson wasn't Donnie Shell yet and he got hyped almost from day one. Polamalu is as good, if not better, than Woodson was at this point in his career.

It remains to be seen whether that promise is fulfilled for his entire career, but he's definitely worthy of the hype right now.
I'll buy that. The guy is very good, but there's an article on Sports Illustrated.com with a slug about how Polamalu's completely changed the safety position. I haven't had the chance to sit down and read it yet, but I will later tonight. I seriously doubt that Troy Polamalu has had a tremendous effect on how other safeties play the game.

[Smeghead]

Oh, is there another Super Bowl coming up again? Didn't they just have one?

[Rysto]

At least the Steelers can't play the "nobody respects us" line that every football team going into every big game likes to use. Blech.
Well, they're the sixth seed from the AFC against the first seed from the NFC, and they're still 3 point favourites. Hard to play the disrespect card, really.

[Eureka]

Time Magazine has a question and answer session with Bettis near the front.

[sturmhauke]

Let's play "How to whoosh just about everyboy who responds without them even knowing it!". I'll take the OP for $500, Alex.
Yeah, well I don't actually care about the Superbowl, nearly all of my TV shows are TiVoed so I can watch them later and skip the commercials, and I get my news off the Internet. You might imagine that I skip the sports news, and you would be correct.

Insular? Crabby? Yup, that's me.

[Hung Mung]

Insular? Crabby? Yup, that's me.
Hey, nothin' wrong with it. Like I say: People, can't live with 'em....



That's it.

[Cliffy]

Oh, stop it. You know as well as I do that tone of voice is a substantial part of getting sarcasm.

Keep digging! (And can you pick up some egg rolls for me?)

--Cliffy

[Snooooopy]

Keep digging! (And can you pick up some egg rolls for me?)

--Cliffy

Cute.

[Equipoise]

I'm not interested in football, but when I saw this thread title, I wondered if it was about how no one is supposed to use the term "Super Bowl" anymore. I now hear it referred to as "The Big Game," such as on signs at sports bars around town.

I mean, WTF? I understand intellectually about making money off someone else's trademarked name, but isn't it a bit ridiculous that the name itself is now forbidden?

Off-topic, sorry, but that just gets me.

[Freddy the Pig]

-- Sarcasm alert --

Warning -- Sarcasm is coming.
I'm not interested in football, but when I saw this thread title, I wondered if it was about how no one is supposed to use the term "Super Bowl" anymore. I now hear it referred to as "The Big Game," such as on signs at sports bars around town.

I mean, WTF? I understand intellectually about making money off someone else's trademarked name, but isn't it a bit ridiculous that the name itself is now forbidden?Somebody ought to start a GQ thread about that. I wonder why nobody ever asks about that in GQ.

End sarcasm alert.

[Airman Doors, USAF]

Wait... was that sarcasm? :eek:

[lieu]

Bettis is a good guy and the story was interesting... once. Now that it's been beat to death thoroughly though, let's move onto something else interesting. Personally, I'd like to hear more about how Steeler LB Foote, arguably the worst trash talker in the either conference, learned his craft from and is regularly encouraged by of all people his mother. (You go, Bitch!)

Yeah baby, that'd be some good readin'.

[Jackknifed Juggernaut]

...Polamalu is as good, if not better, than Woodson was at this point in his career.....but he's definitely worthy of the hype right now.

I agree. The guy is everywhere on the field. I'm a lifelong Steeler fan, but I've been watching football for over 2 decades, and I haven't seen too many better than Polamalu (Ronnie Lott comes to mind). The Woodson vs. Polamalu comparison might be an apples vs. oranges thing because Woodson was a cornerback for most of his career. Both were defensive backs, but a cornerback's primary responsibility is defending the pass (assisting on tackles is secondary), while a safety has the primary responsibility of finding the ball and tackling.

One more thing, I really think that the media should be placing a higher emphasis on the fact that this is Super XL. I mean, you have the letters XL right there in the title of the game. XL!. dammit!

[Hentor the Barbarian]

I'll buy that. The guy is very good, but there's an article on Sports Illustrated.com with a slug about how Polamalu's completely changed the safety position. I haven't had the chance to sit down and read it yet, but I will later tonight. I seriously doubt that Troy Polamalu has had a tremendous effect on how other safeties play the game.I'd suggest that it is likely because they can't do what he does. I talked about his failure to live up to his promise in his rookie year (but, in my defense, only because it seemed like the Steelers thought this one guy would be the salvation of our perennially shitty secondary).

This year, anyone who's seen him knows he is the real deal. He's widely acknowledged to cover more ground than any other defender in the league, closing from pass coverage to run stopping incredibly fast. He is able to move all over the place pre-snap, yet be right where he needs to be by the time the play develops. His ability to move around so much makes the Steelers defensive packages, which are already confusing, that much more difficult for quarterbacks to read. He hits ball carriers so hard that your balls hurt, yet can make plays like the one he made against the Broncos, where he came off a block sideways and off balance, yet still made a tackle that resulted in the Broncos having to punt. I haven't seen any other safety intentionally turning his back to the line of scrimmage and walking away at the snap of the ball.

So, no, you may not see a change in the way safeties around the league play the game. But it won't be for a lack of desire.

[Guinastasia]

He's also fucking HOT.

[Wolfian]

SPN (http://www.cracked.com/sports/superbowl/) top story: Detroit Native Jerome "From Detroit" Bettis to Play Super Bowl in Detroit (His Hometown).

[duffer]

Oh, stop it. You know as well as I do that tone of voice is a substantial part of getting sarcasm.


You can hear the "tone of voice" from something posted to a message board?!? :eek: :D

Are you at all aware of NFL news in the past week and a half? The fact that Bettis is from Detroit and is playing his final game there in the Super Bowl has started to become a national punchline since that's been the biggest story and hammered to death.

Unless you're whooshing us. If that's the case, nice job. If not, the OP is Pitting the overly sappy angle.

Whatever the case, go Steeler's!

[Snooooopy]

You can hear the "tone of voice" from something posted to a message board?!? :eek: :D

That's right. I can also telepathically strangle people. Beware my power, Captain Needa.

[duffer]

That's right. I can also telepathically strangle people. Beware my power, Captain Needa.


:p

Telepathicaly, of course. Hope you enjoyed it. ;)


:D

[Walter Windchill]

Speaking of unexplored storylines in sports media, what happened to Terrell Owens? Was he injured or something? I didn't hear his name at all this season.

[Mullinator]

Speaking of unexplored storylines in sports media, what happened to Terrell Owens? Was he injured or something? I didn't hear his name at all this season.

I have spent numerous hours plunging into the depths of the internet just trying to find any kind of a story on Brett Favre and his future but apparently I'm the only one that cares.

[RTFirefly]

Heck, I'd be happy to hear anything about the Steelers. All I'm hearing from the media (and this board as well) is Seahawks, Seahawks, Seahawks...nothing but the Seahawks all the time. It's like Pittsburgh isn't even involved in the game.Excellent followup to the OP, in the same vein. Looks like you were the first one to catch on!

[Guinastasia]

Quite frankly, it's refreshing to see someone like Bettis getting all the attention. Here's one athlete who's a stand up family man, rather than some spoiled brat spending all his money on hookers and blow.

[Neurotik]

Speaking of unexplored storylines in sports media, what happened to Terrell Owens? Was he injured or something? I didn't hear his name at all this season.
That Drew Rosenhaus...he really knows how to manage his athletes. I wish he was my agent.
Quite frankly, it's refreshing to see someone like Bettis getting all the attention. Here's one athlete who's a stand up family man, rather than some spoiled brat spending all his money on hookers and blow.
a) There's nothing wrong with hookers and blow.
b) Everyone thought that about Eugene Robinson, too. Let's just hope Bettis doesn't proposition a Mountie in Windsor.

[Equipoise]

-- Sarcasm alert --

Warning -- Sarcasm is coming.
Somebody ought to start a GQ thread about that. I wonder why nobody ever asks about that in GQ.

End sarcasm alert.

No need to get sarcastic. I don't read GQ on a regular basis, nor do I follow sports talk (especially football), I just noticed that all the sports bars had "Big Game" signs instead of Super Bowl signs. I had no idea it was a well-worn, sarcasm-able subject with football fans. I thought it was something that was taken for granted. I'd go search for some GQ threads, but I only had a mild interest anyway and shouldn't have even posted.

[Odesio]

I have never seen SB coverage biased towards one of the teams as much as this one. All you ever hear about the Seahawks is that you don't hear much about them because they are located in the upper left corner of the country.


When the Dallas Stars won the, whatever it is hockey players win at the end of the year, Sports Illustrated didn't put them on the cover of their magazine which pissed of a lot of fans. A lot of people felt they were biased against the Stars. Well, a lot of Dallas fans but I don't follow hockey so I didn't care.

Marc