SUPER BOWL XXII : WASHINGTON REDSKINS vs. DENVER BRONCOS : Dan Dierdorf: He’s the Big Man in ABC Booth for Super Bowl Telecast

Al Michaels, Frank Gifford and Dan Dierdorf--seem to genuinely like each other.

“They key thing is, we all have a sense of humor,” Gifford said. “Without that, we’d be in big trouble.”

Michaels said: “It’s been a lot of fun having Dan around this season.”

Fun may be the wrong word here, unless one enjoys being turned upside down by a 300-pound former offensive lineman.

That’s what happened to Michaels once during the season after he and CBS broadcaster Jack Buck had made a friendly $100 wager on the American League playoffs.

Dierdorf thought he should hold the bets, so when Michaels wouldn’t fork over his $100, Dierdorf simply picked him up, turned him upside down and shook.

No money fell out, but Michaels took the hint and handed over the money.

It really hasn’t been a season of ups and downs for ABC’s “Monday Night Football” crew, though. Mostly, it has been just ups.

“We all get along, and that’s mainly because of Al and Frank,” Dierdorf said. “They accepted me right away.

“We kind of had to feel each other out, start at ground zero. We asked each other things like how old your kids are.”

Dierdorf admitted he was a little concerned about Gifford, about how he would accept Dierdorf. The previous season, it had been just Michaels and Gifford.

Dierdorf said that he and Gifford talked, and that Gifford assured him his prime interest was in making the telecasts work.

“I had heard Dan was a good guy,” Gifford said. “And I had heard his work and liked it.

“My main concern is the show. I’ve been with ‘Monday Night Football’ since 1971, one year after it began. I’m very proud of it. It’s the second-longest running prime-time show on television, second to ’60 Minutes.’ Whatever will improve the show, I’m in favor of.”

And the addition of Dierdorf has definitely improved the show. Critics who came down pretty hard on the team of Gifford, O.J. Simpson and Joe Namath in 1985, and weren’t that thrilled when it was just Michaels and Gifford in 1986, are now generally pleased.

Dennis Swanson, president of ABC sports, has said he is very pleased--and he’s the one who really counts.

Michaels said: “Dan not only has a great sense of humor, but he is also very bright. He can talk on any subject. You can take him anywhere.

“I think it comes across on the air that the three of us get along, and I think that’s important. If there are problems, you can’t hide them. People can tell.”

Of course, it’s not quite over. What’s left for this announcing team is Sunday’s Super Bowl, which is expected to draw a viewing audience of about 120 million.

It’s a big assignment for Dierdorf, who, at 39, is only in his third year as a network announcer.

Speaking of big, everything about Dierdorf is big. He’s only 6 feet 3 inches tall, but he is very wide.

“You’ve got to put 300 pounds somewhere,” he says. “I spread it around.”

Conrad Dobler, a former teammate with the St. Louis Cardinals, once said: “When they dig up Dan 200 years from now, they’re going to wonder what he was.”

What Dierdorf is now is a dandy broadcaster--a Dandy Dan, if you will.

What he used to be was a pretty good football player.

He was an All-American offensive tackle at Michigan, then he played for the Cardinals from 1971 through ’83.

He was All-Pro six times, the National Football League’s top offensive lineman three times and was voted to the NFL’s team of the decade for the 1970s.

Eventually, he’ll end up in the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, which will be especially nice for Dierdorf. Canton just happens to be his hometown.

Dierdorf discovered in 1974 that inside his 300-pound frame was a sportscaster trying to get out.

At the time, two of Dierdorf’s former teammates, quarterback Jim Hart and kicker Jim Bakken, were doing a Saturday afternoon radio call-in show for KMOX in St. Louis.

When Bakken took a vacation, Dierdorf was asked to fill in. “I knew right away that this was for me,” Dierdorf said.

He soon was doing nightly sportscasts, color commentary on football and hockey, and a daily talk show. He still works for KMOX, doing as much as time permits.

A year ago, he began doing sports on the 10 p.m. news for KMOX-TV in St. Louis. He had to cut back to a couple of commentaries a week, though, once the football season started.

CBS hired Dierdorf in 1985 and made him a football play-by-play announcer. It’s what Dierdorf wanted because he thought there was more job security in calling the action than analyzing it.

The play-by-play assignment also indicated that CBS thought of Dierdorf as a broadcaster first, an ex-jock second.

CBS switched Dierdorf to commentator in 1986 and teamed him with Dick Stockton. Dierdorf finished the season as CBS’ No. 2 commentator, behind John Madden.

Dierdorf’s wit, insight and free-wheeling style didn’t go unnoticed at ABC.

About a year ago, ABC talked with Dierdorf about working college games. Dierdorf said thanks but no thanks, he was happy at CBS.

ABC later talked with Dierdorf about the college job, plus being host of the halftime show during “Monday Night Football.” That at least caught Dierdorf’s interest.

Finally came the offer to join Michaels and Gifford in the booth on Monday nights, which would pay Dierdorf $600,000 a year, or more than double what he was making at CBS.

Dierdorf was now more than just interested.

Meanwhile, rumors began to circulate that Dierdorf was headed for ABC. CBS said no way, that Dierdorf was under contract.

One minor technicality, though. Somebody at CBS had failed to get Dierdorf’s signature on the contract. A few details still hadn’t been worked out.

So Dierdorf was free to sign with ABC. Neal Pilson, CBS sports president, and Ted Shaker, the executive producer, flew to St. Louis to talk with Dierdorf but were unable to persuade him to stay with the network.

Now, Dierdorf is a few days away from working the Super Bowl.

Although his broadcasting career has had few hitches, Dierdorf has experienced personal tragedy.

In January, 1985, his 2-month-old daughter, Kelly, died, a victim of sudden infant death syndrome, or, as some call it, crib death.

Dierdorf was quoted in Sports Illustrated as saying: “My wife Debbie woke up at 4 and realized she hadn’t heard the baby cry for its feeding at 2:30 or 3. She knew right away. She came back to our room carrying her.

“How do you describe it? It’s beyond belief. You just go on autopilot.”

Kelly’s death has made him more sensitive to other people’s problems.

“When everything is going well, you’re not aware of other people’s problems,” Dierdorf said. “You don’t have the time. Then, when something happens to you, all of a sudden you find that virtually everyone you know has a problem, sometimes a worse one than yours, and you have been blind to it.”

He and Debbie have since had another child, Katherine, now 2.

Dan also has two children by a previous marriage, Dan, 18, who is in the Army and stationed in West Germany, and Kristen, 16, a junior in high school.

And there is also Dana, 6, born to Dan and Debbie.

Dierdorf, asked if the exposure he gets from “Monday Night Football” has changed him much, said: “Naw, I’ve always been an egomaniac.”

And then he laughed.