Telecast Nearly as Flawless as the Game

Television got what it has been waiting 25 years for--a one-point, turnover-free Super Bowl that went down to the final seconds.

And ABC, televising only its second Super Bowl, was nearly as flawless as the game.

Al Michaels was sharp and virtually mistake-free, as usual, and Frank Gifford kept mistakes and cliches to a minimum.

But it was Dan Dierdorf who was ABC’s star on Sunday. He had maybe his best telecast since ABC’s first Super Bowl three years ago, when Washington whipped Denver, 42-10, at San Diego.

The difference this time was a much better game.

Dierdorf looked particularly good when he said Jeff Hostetler had to start rolling to his left instead of his right.

Maybe the Giants had a TV monitor on the sidelines, because soon Hostetler was doing exactly that as his team moved steadily downfield.

“Dan, you ought to take up coaching,” Gifford said.

The best news of the day was no news. At least none important enough to interrupt game action, as had been feared.

ABC had about the right amount of updates on the Persian Gulf war, although some viewers might have preferred watching the halftime production.

Actually, viewers could have. The Disney Channel broke into a showing of “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” to show the Disney-oriented halftime show live, and ABC showed it on tape after the premier of its heavily promoted new sitcom, “Davis Rules.”

The pregame show was typical--well done but too long. Brent Musburger, in his biggest role since joining ABC, was fine as the pregame host, and prognosticators Bob Griese and Dick Vermeil came off looking good.

Griese picked the Giants to win, 17-13, Vermeil had them winning, 14-7.

Coca-Cola and Pepsi did the right thing by canceling their call-in contests in the interest of not jamming up the nation’s communications systems. Coca-Cola also donated $1 million to the USO.

Budweiser did the wrong thing by not canceling Bud Bowl 3. It was simply too frivolous.

Also, the ending lacked imagination, with Bud Light winning, 23-21, by scoring on a multi-handoff kickoff return that went through the opposing team’s band and flattened a trombone player.

That has been done before.

Besides Bud Bowl 3, the worst commercials of the day were by American Express, the ones where the guy keeps saying, “That’s where I want to be.”

Bring back Karl Malden and “Don’t leave home without it.”

Most of the commercials, however, were creative and well produced.

Pepsi came up with an interesting cast of singers, including Jerry Lewis, Tiny Tim and Bo Jackson. What are the odds of those three singing in the same commercial?

The best line of the pregame show came from newsman Judd Rose in Saudi Arabia. “It’s hard to take Giants and Bills too seriously when your life depends on Patriots and Jets,” Rose said.

A low point of the pregame show was the obvious shilling for the World League of American Football, which will begin play in March. Were NBC or CBS carrying the WLAF instead of ABC, do you think it would have gotten any air time?

Did you notice during the player introductions that Buffalo’s Marv Levy ran out on the field, and New York’s Bill Parcells didn’t?

Good move by Parcells.

After the player introductions and the national anthem came a fly-over by fighter jets. That’s something that wasn’t needed. Even when they are ours, it’s still a scary sound these days.

Gifford’s first muff came in the first quarter, after injured Giant quarterback Phil Simms was shown on the sidelines.

“He was the MVP in the Giants’ win over Denver in their other Super Bowl win,” Gifford said.

At the time, the score was 0-0, and the Giants’ win over Denver was their only Super Bowl win. Maybe Gifford, a former Giant, knew something no one else did.

Dierdorf’s star started to shine in the first quarter after Giant receiver Mark Ingram argued for an interference penalty in the end zone on the Bills’ Clifford Hicks.

“You don’t get an interference penalty just because the ball was underthrown,” Dierdorf said.

Later, Dierdorf might have gotten a little carried away after a block by game MVP Ottis Anderson sprang Dave Meggett. He called Anderson “the heart and soul of the Giant offense.”

Dierdorf also praised the Giant offensive line. Since he is a former offensive lineman, one could say he is biased, but in this case the praise seemed warranted.

And Dierdorf was right on about Ingram’s 14-yard catch and run to the Buffalo 18 that kept the Giants’ impressive third-quarter drive alive. It was the play of the game.

He had to remind Michaels of that when Michaels talked about Stephen Baker’s first-half touchdown catch being a big play. It was big, but Ingram’s was bigger.

Maybe Michaels was being a little biased. Both he and Baker went to Los Angeles’ Hamilton High.

But then you’ve got to give Michaels some credit. He never said Baker went to Hamilton.

ABC got to all the right people after the game, and maybe it was Giant vice president Tim Mara who had the best comment. “This was a great victory, but our first thoughts are with our troops in the Middle East.”

That’s true, but for a few hours Sunday afternoon, football and television provided an entertaining diversion.