BOB TRUMPY: His Big Game Plan

Bob Trumpy played 10 years of professional football, all with the Cincinnati Bengals, but never made it to the Super Bowl. While he’s been there several times as an announcer, today he’ll serve as the telecast’s expert analyst for the first time.

Born and raised in Bloomington, Ill., Trumpy played college football for the University of Utah, before joining the Bengals in 1968. He was selected twice for both the American Football League’s All-Star Game and the Pro Bowl. When he retired from football in 1977, he was the Bengals’ second leading receiver.

Trumpy, with NBC since 1977, has served as an analyst for NFL and college football bowl games and as blow-by-blow announcer for professional and Olympic boxing coverage.

Trumpy discussed pro football and announcing with Times Staff Writer Steven Herbert.

Do you have any apprehensions or concerns about your debut as the Super Bowl’s television analyst? Or is this just another game?

It certainly is not just another game. You just can’t take that approach. But I think I have an advantage because I did the Super Bowl twice on radio and I’ve been through the hoopla in Super Bowls working with Merlin Olsen.

I also realize the responsibility is different because it’s in my hands. It’s a responsibility that I certainly still take seriously, but it’s not an overwhelming responsibility. If we have a good game, I should play a very small part in the proceedings. If we have a 46-3 game, like has happened in previous Super Bowls, I’m not sure I’ll be able to live up to to that, but I’m not sure anybody would either. You hope for a good game that’s decided in the last play.

How does your preparation for a Super Bowl compare to a regular season game?

My approach for every Super Bowl has been taken from football. When you question coaches about how they prepare for a Super Bowl, they try very hard to make things as similar as the first game of the season or the eighth. You want to keep things as consistent as possible. You want to maintain the routine, and that’s the approach I take.

I watch about four hours of tape for each team each week, and do my normal asking of questions and trying to figure out from coaches what their intentions are and go from there. The more routine I can make my preparation, the smarter I am.

What do you cite as the reason for the NFC’s dominance in the Super Bowl with eight consecutive victories?

I think it is just cyclical. The Packers dominated in the 1960s, the Dolphins and Steelers in the 1970s and the NFC in the 80s.

It has to be in some way related to the 1983 draft when all the quarterbacks (John Elway, Jim Kelly and Dan Marino) were drafted by AFC teams. For the next several years, a lot of attention was paid to building around those quarterbacks. At the same time in the NFC, more attention was paid to the running game and defense to give them fewer chances on the field. Defense and the running game won out. I think the cycle will change, and may change this year.

How would you compare the NFL of the 1970s, when you played, to the NFL of today? Is it a better or worse game?

I have not been a fan of the NFL’s parity for a long, long time. Parity has cost two great football coaches their jobs--Dan Reeves and Mike Ditka.

I find it so difficult to understand how ownership legislates that if you win, and win a lot, the price you pay is you draft in the last few picks in each round and play the division winner’s schedule, and then when you’re 5-11 you fire the coach because they’re not winning enough. That will never set well with me. I don’t’ think ownership can have it both ways. For Dan Reeves and Mike Ditka to lose their jobs is a very poor trend.

As for the the players, I’m different from a lot of guys from my generation. I think the game has advanced so much. These players are nuclear-powered now. The pain and hits they can deliver and withstand is remarkable. Three-hundred-forty-five-pound guys out there are like ballerinas. You lose track of how big these guys are. Weekend after weekend it is just phenomenal what these guys can do up and down the field.

They game is so much more sophisticated. I used to have only one guy to beat. It was more personal. Now you beat schemes.

Is there anything about the NFL you would change to make the NFL a better game and product?

If I could change one thing, I would change the equipment to make the game as safe as possible, even if it’s to the point of limiting the movement of the players. These guys are so big, fast and strong you are going to have devastating injuries. I would hate to see the NFL get to the point that (football) is such a dangerous game to play it kind of lose its appeal. Nobody wants to go out and see someone paralyzed from playing a game.

NBC begins its coverage of Super Bowl XXVII with a 2 1/2-hour pregame show at 12:30 p.m. Sunday. The game telecast begins at 3 p.m.