Selection of Brady Draws Little Reaction

The reaction from both teams to the news that Tom Brady would be the New England Patriot starting quarterback Sunday against the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXVI was the expected reaction Thursday.

No reaction.

Brady was not surprised, he said, because he feels his sprained ankle has healed.

“I was out to practice and it felt good,” he said, adding that it was never as bad as it looked. “I could have gone out there and ran around that second half Sunday.”

That’s news to all those who watched him hobble through the celebrations of the Patriots’ AFC championship game victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

As for ‘losing’ quarterback Drew Bledsoe, well, what do you think?

“Obviously, it’s a disappointing situation ... obviously, I would love to be playing in this game,” he said. But, “I’m going to do whatever I can to try to help Tom and help our team get ready to win the game.”

The Rams, meanwhile, reacted with a shrug.

“We assumed Brady would be the guy,” defensive coordinator Lovie Smith said. “He’s been the starter.”

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Brady said that despite all the pesky questions this week, there has been one advantage to his sprained ankle.

“Because I’ve been in the training room getting treatment I haven’t been able to run around Bourbon Street and get in trouble, so it’s probably better for me than most of my teammates,” he said. “I’d probably like to have some of those guys in the training room with me.”

If the ankle begins throbbing on the artificial turf, a strong probability even though it will be encased in a brace, can Brady endure it?

Probably, considering he once played for Michigan three weeks after undergoing surgery to remove his appendix.

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On a well-manicured team of conservative appearances and attitudes, Grant Wistrom stands out like a hangnail with his uncombed blond frizzy hair and unshaven face.

The Ram defensive end said there was method to this hirsute madness.

“It’s probably not the most attractive thing in the world, but neither am I, so it works,” he said.

Bill Plaschke

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New England linebacker Bryan Cox grew up in St. Louis, a five-minute drive from the domed stadium where the Rams play. Believe it or not, he feels a little conflicted.

“Whenever the St. Louis Rams are playing and I’m not playing, I’m their biggest fan,” he said.

“There’s nothing more I want than if I can’t win the Super Bowl is for them to win it. And that’s what we have here. I want to win the Super Bowl more than anything in this world. But if I can’t, I can still hold my head high and have a sense of pride because my hometown team has.”

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Mike Barnes, who goes by the nickname “Big Mike,” normally works as a supervisor at a New Orleans mail-sorting company, but this week he is a driver and security guard for the NFL. About 15 years ago, he was an outside linebacker at Arkansas Pine Bluff, and played against Jerry Rice at Mississippi Valley State.

But Barnes’ biggest thrill in football came as a fan. When former Saint kicker Tom Dempsey was lining up for his 63-yard field-goal attempt in 1970, Barnes was watching from the end-zone bleachers at Tulane Stadium.

He hopped the wall when the ball was in the air, and one-hopped it after it sailed through the uprights, setting a record--later matched by Denver’s Jason Elam--for the longest field goal in NFL history.

“I saw that ball clear as day,” said Barnes, 41. “I caught it and a security guard snatched it away from me.”

He will never get that ball back, of course, but this week he has been searching for NFL Films footage of the kick, in hopes of catching a glimpse of himself.

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Habitat for Humanity, which builds homes for needy families, got some help Thursday from two NFL players who stopped by to hammer a few nails and sign T-shirts for workers.

San Diego defensive end Marcellus Wiley and San Francisco quarterback Jeff Garcia made an appearance at a site where a three-bedroom house was being built for the Brooks family, which includes five children.

“I didn’t come to test my construction skills,” said Wiley, who wasn’t quite as practiced with the hammer as Garcia. “I didn’t grow up in a house. We lived in a little apartment in the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles that was probably the size of the bedroom they’ve got. It felt like a mansion to us.”

Garcia grew up in Gilroy, where his home was surrounded by garlic fields. His father was a football coach who also owned a gravel business.

“Part of it is just growing up in the country and a small town,” he said. “It makes me appreciate everything I’ve been a part of.

“I grew up around people who struggled to make a living. And to be able to come out here and help, even if it’s not in my own back yard, it’s worth it.”

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The NFL appointed a Super Bowl officiating crew Thursday with 70 years of experience.

The referee will be Bernie Kukar, who worked the 1999 Super Bowl in Miami and three conference title games. Joining him will be umpire Jeff Rice, head linesman Mark Hittner, line judge Ron Phares, field judge Pete Morelli, side judge Laird Hayes and back judge Scott Green.

Only Phares previously worked in a Super Bowl, in 1995.

Sam Farmer