Nantz Doesn’t Miss a Beat or Much Else

As Jim Nantz stood on the sideline near the end of the Super Bowl, he couldn’t quite believe what was happening.

He had predicted during the pregame show that the game would go into overtime -- a first for a Super Bowl.

On the pregame show, Nantz also said that Ricky Proehl would catch a key touchdown pass for the Carolina Panthers, but Adam Vinatieri would kick the winning field goal for the Patriots.

“I had to look down and gather myself,” Nantz said in the CBS complex after the game. “I was about to break down.

“I was thinking this is incredible. All that had happened this week in my adopted hometown, and now this. It was as if all the stars were aligned.”

Nantz missed on his overtime prediction, but only by four seconds. He was right about everything else.

“When it was 22-21 [with Carolina leading], I figured we still had a shot at overtime,” Nantz said. “Because I thought if the Patriots scored, they would go for two. And that’s what they did to make it 29-22.

“Then Proehl scores the touchdown that ties it, and I just couldn’t believe it.”

*

It was almost as unbelievable as what happened to Janet Jackson at halftime -- or the streaker who ran on the field before the second-half kickoff. CBS wisely chose not to show the streaker. It had no choice in the Jackson incident.

During the halftime show, singer Justin Timberlake, at the conclusion of a racy duet with Jackson, tore her leather outfit, revealing her right breast. CBS instantly cut away from the incident, and it wasn’t mentioned again during the telecast.

Timberlake, in a statement, said the incident was unintentional: “I am sorry that anyone was offended by the wardrobe malfunction during the halftime performance of the Super Bowl. It was not intentional and is regrettable.”

CBS apologized for the incident as well. Spokeswoman LeslieAnne Wade told Associated Press that network officials attended rehearsals of the halftime show all week, “and there was no indication any such thing would happen. The moment did not conform to CBS’ broadcast standards, and we would like to apologize to anyone who was offended.”

The halftime show was produced by MTV, which like CBS is owned by Viacom. MTV, in a statement, said he incident was “unrehearsed, unplanned, completely unintentional and was inconsistent with assurances we had about the content of the performance.”

*

Boomer Esiason performed double duty Sunday. Besides working on the pregame and postgame shows for CBS, he was also the CBS/Westwood One radio game commentator with Marv Albert.

He planned all along to leave the radio booth early in order to get to the television set in time for the postgame show.

“I was going to leave with two minutes to play, but I left with four minutes to play,” Esiason said.

But he continued to do radio commentating.

“I was equipped with a wireless mike,” he said. “I missed two plays while I was on the elevator, but then I was back on the air.”

Before the game, Dan Marino chided Esiason about his plan to leave the radio booth with two minutes left.

“Those will be Marv’s favorite two minutes,” Marino said.

Associated Press contributed to this report.