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Expect Billick to Feel Like the Commander in Chief

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I can’t wait for the traditional visit to the White House, the Super Bowl champions meeting with the president in the Rose Garden and Baltimore Coach Brian Billick telling the leader of the free world how he should do his job.

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AS OF MIDNIGHT, no word yet if Angie Harmon has dumped Jason Sehorn.

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I KNOW THIS won’t come as a surprise, but Sehorn’s a USC guy, and he had an ugly stare for Shaun Williams, a UCLA guy, immediately after Baltimore’s Brandon Stokley streaked past him for a 38-yard touchdown.

Reporters asked Sehorn if he expected help from Williams, the safety on the play. Anyone who has watched UCLA knows you can’t expect defensive help from a Bruin.

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AFTER THE GAME the Giants talked about execution, but I wouldn’t go that far in disciplining Kerry Collins for his poor play.

“There was never a threat of them scoring on offense--never,” Baltimore tight end Shannon Sharpe said. “If there isn’t a lapse in covering a kickoff, this is the first shutout in [Super Bowl] history.”

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IF YOU’RE A special teams coach like New York’s Larry Mac Duff, working in the Super Bowl, I would imagine the feeling of watching your player return a kick for a touchdown and then the Ravens coming right back to go all the way would be akin to winning the lottery and then being told your wife just washed the pair of pants that had the winning ticket inside.

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INSTEAD OF BEING the gracious winner, Billick continued on the theme of “us against them,” telling reporters, “you guys set the perimeter [for what’s the greatest defense in NFL history]. You keep throwing barriers up and we keep reaching them. There’s the fewest points allowed in the history of the game, and now a Super Bowl win. You tell me--is there a better criteria?”

He was arguing with himself--which I’m sure wasn’t the first time.

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TAMPA BAY HAS never won a Super Bowl, but Dilfer became the third former Buccaneer quarterback to win one for another team--joining Doug Williams (Washington) and Steve Young (San Francisco).

“The organization gave up on him and the city of Tampa gave up on him,” Sharpe said, “so it’s only fitting for him to stand at the 50-yard line and hold up the ultimate symbol of success [Lombardi Trophy] in team sports.”

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Rather than ask Dilfer to pass it on, however, and risk it hitting the ground, I noticed it was taken from his hands when he became distracted by a teammate wishing him well.

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THE HALFTIME SHOW featured ‘N Sync, Aerosmith, Nelly, Mary J. Blige and Britney Spears and 4,000 teeny boppers circling the stage and screaming.

I couldn’t quite distinguish what the kids were saying, but in the interest of future Super Bowl halftime shows, I’d like to think they were yelling at ‘N Sync, Aerosmith, Nelly, Mary J. Blige and Britney Spears to shut up.

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THOSE WERE NOT the sounds of gunshots as Ray Lewis and the Ravens took the field for pregame introductions--just fireworks.

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YOU CAN EASILY identify the players with the biggest egos--they are the ones who run onto the field for pregame introductions without their helmets on.

Baltimore defensive lineman Tony Siragusa was the first--as if anyone looking at that body from a mile away wouldn’t know who it was.

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WHEN LEWIS TOOK the field, he reached down and picked up a piece of turf--emulating the team’s season-long hero--Gladiator Russell Crowe.

“It means this is our turf,” Lewis said, and I don’t know if it’s a good idea right now to bring up the image of Crowe, the gladiator, standing there with a sword in his hand.

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FIFTEEN MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES, along with fan votes--which counted 20% in the final balloting, decided Lewis should be named the game’s MVP.

I would point out, however, that no one west of Denver and Denver Post sports writer Adam Schefter was included in the media vote, so you would be wrong to jump to the conclusion that a bunch of Raider beat writers were responsible for Lewis’ selection.

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BALTIMORE GUARD Jonathan Ogden, a UCLA guy and the highest paid player in the game, said Lewis is “the heart and soul” of the Ravens.

So why are they paying Ogden more than Lewis?

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I MISTOOK IT as just a football game, but Billick used the Super Bowl win as both vindication and validation for his cocky players.

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“You need schooling yourself on the issue of character, quality, not rushing to judgment, not throwing articles and facts out there that are not substantiated,” Billick told reporters. “I’ve learned a lot from these guys, and you all could learn a lot from these guys too.”

I wonder if Billick and the guys would mind working with J.R. Rider for the next few weeks?

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TODAY’S LAST WORD comes in an e-mail from Rodney:

“You would not have the guts to say the things that you write if you had to say them in private to the people you write about in your daily reports.”

Say that to my face.

T.J. Simers can be reached at his e-mail address: t.j.simers@latimes.com.

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