Super Bowl Week Is Questionable Reporting at Best

Steve Hummer in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the craziness of Super Bowl week:

” . . . Just 10 minutes into an arrival press conference, Danish kicker Morten Andersen had given one interview in German and informed another questioner that he was not from Holland.

“ ‘By Thursday, I’ll be the Dalai Lama from Nepal,’ Andersen said.”

As for questions from the media, Hummer tried to warn the Falcons, who are playing in the event for the first time:

“No one prepared Washington’s Doug Williams for the classic query, ‘Have you always been a black quarterback?’ ”

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Trivia time: Which two players got the Super Bowl most-valuable-player award in consecutive years?

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Look for it: Greg Cote in the Miami Herald, anticipating the media hype of Super Bowl week:

“Somewhere in America, a newspaper is set to begin a six-part series, ‘The Matt Lepsis Diaries.’ Matt Lepsis is the Broncos’ third-string long snapper.”

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Real gold will do: Tony Kornheiser in the Washington Post: “Did you hear they’re adding another part to the Olympic motto of ‘Faster, higher, stronger?’ It’s ‘Leave it in my room.’ ”

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Standard-bearer: Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe has grudgingly accepted that the NBA season has been restored:

“They’re back, and I’m glad. Oh, hey, I was a paid-up member of the ‘Bleep All Those Guys’ club while the lockout was going on. I won’t deny that.

“But now it’s late January and I’m ready for some NBA basketball, even if it hasn’t all been up to my artistic standards the past few years.”

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Ode to the Worm: Blackie Sherrod in the Dallas Morning News:

Mr. Rodman announced his retirement

Expecting the populace to weep.

And then he repealed his decision

We yawned and went back to sleep.

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Thanks anyway: Bad NBA trade rumor of the week: Charlotte Hornet forward Glen Rice for Dallas Maverick center Shawn Bradley.

“As much as I love Shawn, I’d do that one,” Dallas Coach Don Nelson said. “Tell the guy that made that one up that it’s done on our end.”

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Inflation: The Mets have added five rows of premium seats behind home plate at Shea Stadium. Tickets in the first two rows will cost $150 a game. Said Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe: “Call it Piazza dough.”

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Thumbs down: Steve Rosenbloom in the Chicago Tribune: “The once-proud franchise formerly known as the Bears hired Jacksonville defensive coordinator Dick Jauron as its new mistake.”

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Bear bashing: : Before Jauron was hired, the Bears botched the hiring of Dave McGinnis. This from the Associated Press:

“New Coke. The Edsel, Dan Quayle spelling potato. Any recent Kevin Costner movie. And now, the Bears hiring Dave McGinnis.”

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Trivia answer: Quarterbacks Bart Starr, 1967 and ‘68, and Terry Bradshaw, 1979 and ’80.

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And finally: : Tom FitzGerald in the San Francisco Chronicle: “One of the events in the Great Outdoor Games, which will be held for the first time in July at Lake Placid, N.Y., is called ‘Big Air Dogs.’

“The dogs will run down a lakeside dock and leap into the water. They will be judged on distance and style.

“We hear that ESPN is talking to the Taco Bell Chihuahua about providing expert commentary.”