She’s a Woman of Many Talents

George Burns, a guest on “Bob Hope’s Super Bowl Party” on NBC tonight, is asked by Hope: “Who’s your favorite athlete?”

Burns: “Joan Collins.”

Hope: “She’s no athlete.”

Burns: “You’ve never taken her home.”

You can bet on just about anything connected with the Super Bowl, so oddsmaker Danny Sheridan has handicapped “The Diet Pepsi Talent Challenge,” part of the pregame show.

Sheridan’s morning-line favorites: singer-pianist Mike Martin, Cincinnati wide receiver on injured reserve, 6-5; singer-pianist E. J. Junior, Phoenix linebacker, 9-5, and singer Michael Young, Ram wide receiver, 2-1.

Trivia Time: Who holds the Super Bowl record for most receptions in a game? (Answer to follow.)

The first Super Bowl for the announcing team of Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen was at New Orleans in 1981.

Said Olsen: “It was the day the hostages were released, and everything was hanging in the balance. It was a time of great uncertainty for us, because we didn’t know if we’d go on as scheduled, or at a later time.”

Said Enberg: “I felt the nervousness and anxiety beforehand. Merlin’s wife, Susan, sat with some NBC executives and their wives during the game, and when it was over, we both asked, ‘How did they think we did?’ And Susan said, ‘They liked it.’ So we said, ‘What did they like?’ She said, ‘They really liked that you got off the air when you were supposed to, just before prime time.’ ”

Add Prime Time: Cincinnati’s Ickey Woods may determine whether Sunday’s game ends on time.

Says NBC’s Bob Costas: “If Ickey scores 5 or 6 touchdowns, the delay caused by the Ickey Shuffle would probably push the game into prime time.”

Frozen Out: John Filippelli, producer of NBC’s Super Bowl pregame show, says people are always making pitches to get on TV.

“In 1986, when we were doing the pregame show for the Bears-Patriots Super Bowl, a guy wanted us to do a feature on refrigerators custom-made to look like Refrigerator Perry,” he said.

For What It’s Worth: With the exception of the Bears’ win over the Patriots 3 years ago, teams with non-human nicknames--Broncos, Bengals, Dolphins, Eagles and Rams--have generally not fared well in recent Super Bowls when matched against those with human nicknames--Redskins, Giants, 49ers, Raiders and Steelers. In 8 matchups since 1980, Homo sapiens has won 7.

Say Cheese: Cincinnati quarterback Boomer Esiason, showing up for a Super Bowl interview session with a camera, focused it on the room full of reporters and said: “Good morning. Will you all smile? Nobody’s going to believe me in 25 years that you were all listening to me.”

Mistaken Identity: A woman in Miami, spotting announcer Ahmad Rashad, a former wide receiver with the Minnesota Vikings, excitedly asked for an autograph, telling Rashad: “You’re my favorite football player.”

Rashad was quite flattered until he learned that she thought he was Randall Cunningham.

An Explosive Snack: Security officials in the Bengals’ hotel were suspicious when a package arrived for kicker Jim Breech.

The package ended up on the wrong floor, and a bomb squad was called to remove it.

The contents? Popcorn.

Trivia Answer: Cincinnati tight end Dan Ross, with 11 catches against San Francisco in 1982.

Quotebook

Bob Hope, when asked to pick a Super Bowl winner: “The bookies.”