About this “look” of Mike Shanahan’s, this...

About this “look” of Mike Shanahan’s, this so-called steely gaze. . . .

Minnesota Viking Coach Dennis Green, who sparred with club management throughout the season, reportedly has threatened to resign unless he gets a contract extension.

The New York Times reported Friday that Green has asked for an answer on a contract extension by Tuesday and is prepared to sit out the 1998 season if necessary.

*

Reputations, they do follow you around.

Denver: high.

Green Bay: cold.

Ed McCaffrey: slow.

“I think there may be an index card out there that gets passed around that says I’m not fast,” says McCaffrey, the Bronco wide receiver.

“If I was as slow as everyone makes me out to be, I probably wouldn’t have been in the NFL for seven years playing wide receiver.”

*

Barry Manilow. Marvin Gaye. (Rarely mentioned in the same sentence.) Diana Ross. Garth Brooks. (You probably have all their albums.) Cheryl Ladd. Anita Bryant. (Well, maybe not.)

Each has performed the national anthem at a Super Bowl.

Sunday, Jewel will do the honors.

A complete rundown:

Super Bowl I--Al Hirt. II--Grambling University band. III--Anita Bryant. IV--Al Hirt and Doc Severinsen. V--Marvin Gaye. VI--Air Force Academy choir. VII--Chicago Holy Angels choir. VIII--Charlie Pride. IX--Grambling band. X--Tom Sullivan. XI--Vicki Carr (“America the Beautiful”).

XII--Phyllis Kelly. XIII--Colgate University band. XIV--Cheryl Ladd. XV--Helen O’Connell. XVI--Diana Ross. XVII--Leslie Easterbrook. XVIII--Barry Manilow. XIX--San Francisco Bay Area children’s choir. XX--Wynton Marsalis. XXI--Neil Diamond. XXII--Herb Alpert.

XXIII--Billy Joel. XXIV--Aaron Neville. XXV--Whitney Houston. XXVI--Harry Connick Jr. XXVII--Garth Brooks. XXVIII--Natalie Cole. XXIX--Kathie Lee Gifford. XXX--Vanessa Williams. XXXI--Luther Vandross. XXXII--Jewel.

*

“Dad,” said Gregory Favre’s son, calling home from college in 1991, “at long last, people will know how to pronounce our name.”

A distant cousin, one Brett Favre, had just been chosen in the NFL draft.

“What our son didn’t know was that Brett comes from that part of the family that puts the R before the V. Favre as in carve,” Gregory Favre told the writers, instead of Favre as in suave.

“And now, almost no one gets it right,” continued Gregory Favre, executive editor of the Sacramento Bee.

Well, Greg, stuff happens.

Few people know this, but the correct pronunciation of Denver is actually Devner.