SUPER BOWL XXIV : SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS 55 DENVER BRONCOS 10 : Madden Called It, but CBS Hated It

The one thing that CBS feared the most, a San Francisco 49er blowout, is exactly what it got in televising Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Right before Jerry Rice’s second touchdown made it 27-3 at halftime, John Madden had said that if the 49ers scored at that juncture, the game would turn into a blowout.

He was right about that.

When it became 41-3 in the third quarter, Madden said, “For the Broncos, this is worse than being vulnerable. They’re getting killed.”

A little later, Madden said, “This is the worst three quarters of football John Elway has ever had.”

Technically, CBS had a decent day. The main problem was that the Denver Broncos didn’t cooperate.

“You want a great game, but what do you do?” said director Sandy Grossman. “I write the script, but they never read it.

“I just hope viewers stuck around to watch a great team perform.”

Grossman, whose crew has followed the 49ers through the playoffs, said, “We’ve had practice doing blowouts.”

The only thing wrong with the two-hour pregame show was it was simply too long.

After one hour, you’re ready for the kickoff. But the two-hour Super Bowl pregame is here to stay as long as the networks can sell the commercial time.

Terry Bradshaw got things going on the pregame show when, explaining what his role would be, said, “I’ll tell you what I really think about John Elway.”

However, when he got his chance later in the show, he didn’t really say anything different than he had last week, that Elway is not a great quarterback.

“There was only one great quarterback this season,” Bradshaw said, not needing to elaborate.

Elway, in a taped interview, said he had no respect for Bradshaw.

Elway also said, “I feel good about our chances. We can beat these guys.”

Not quite.

Bradshaw stirred up a little controversy during halftime when he said the best Pittsburgh Steeler teams he played on could beat this 49er team.

Wonder if he changed his mind by the end of the game.

Best segment on the pregame show was the one by “48 Hours” correspondent Bernard Goldberg on a voodoo doctor named Rev. Ken. His full name is Rev. Irvine Kenneth.

Rev. Ken, among other things, spit Bacardi rum on a football to remove a hex on the 49ers and Joe Montana.

“I really like it when you spit the Bacardi,” Goldberg said.

“Yeah, that’s my favorite part too,” Rev. Ken said.

Goldberg’s best question: “Has anybody every called you goofy?”

Goldberg also did a funny piece on two Denver fans who came to New Orleans without a place to stay and without tickets.

They were able to find both, but probably didn’t enjoy the game much.

Worst piece during the pregame show was the one Curry Kirkpatrick did about replay officials. It was just too silly.

Best statistic of the pregame show was the one that Montana is 6-0 at the Superdome.

What would appear to be the worst assignment belonged to Pat O’Brien, who was sent to Monongahela, Pa., Montana’s home town.

It was snowing in Monongahela, but O’Brien seemed to enjoy himself anyway.

It was interesting to learn Montana has more than 100 cousins, but we really didn’t need to hear from his Pee Wee League coach.

CBS had producer Jim Gray put together a feature on major upsets.

The Broncos took a look at it the night before the game, but CBS never showed it.

Maybe CBS knew what was coming anyway.

The commercial with the least class was the one for Phillips’ Milk of Magnesia, featuring a roll of toilet paper.

Best commercial was the one for American Express showing Paul Newman taking on a top fuel dragster with a tiny motor scooter. The dragster explodes and Newman wins the race.

CBS made Nike redo its “announcers” commercial to take out Dick Enberg and Marv Albert of NBC and Al Michaels of ABC.

But Enberg made it in a GTE commercial. He is the national spokesman for GTE.

And a Pepsi commercial featured Fred Savage, who stars in “The Wonder Years,” an ABC show.

Dick Butkus got off a good line when, after Mike Ditka announced he was picking Denver, said: “I almost stumbled coming in here when I heard you were picking Denver.

“That wouldn’t have anything to do with the 49ers beating you twice in playoff game?” Butkus said.

Said Ditka: “Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn’t.”

Ditka later said: “I think I’ve lost my job as a prognosticator.”

Hank Stram, working with Jack Buck on CBS Radio, missed the fourth quarter after losing his voice. Randy Cross filled in.

Madden, talking about how much the 49ers’ Tom Rathman likes the Superdome, called it the Silverdome.

Pat Summerall once said Denver picked up a first down when it was actually the 49ers.

And Summerall had trouble with the Met Life blimp. First he started to call it the Goodyear blimp, than had trouble pronouncing Met Life.

But overall, Summerall and Madden were solid, as always.