I despise the celebritization of the NFL. I am ever so thankful for a commentary crew who are utterly old school and have no interest in anything but the football. I pay no attention to the red carpet nonsense, who went to what party or any of that. But still, you won’t hear me dissing Ryan Seacrest either:
Reporter: Ryan, I have two quick questions for you. What are you wearing? And what do you think other people are going to be wearing, because it’s kind of casual and kind of fancy?
Seacrest: I’m wearing a football uniform, and I was just fitted in my pads and a mesh shirt from my old scrimmages.
Reporter: Hot. That would certainly boost ratings.
Seacrest: I’m debating: Either jeans, jacket or mesh.
Reporter: Oh, my Gawd!!! (excitedly).
Seacrest (turning serious): I expect those that are attending the Super Bowl will be in typical weekend wear, casual clothes to watch a game in.
I’ve never seen Mr. Seacrest in any show he does, I don’t actually know what he’s supposed to do in the first place. Nor do I know how much truth there is to the way he played himself in the movie Knocked Up. But if there’s any glimmer of his true personality behind his rant about the idiocy of celebrity interviews in which he proposed asking Jessica Simpson about the Middle East peace process, and his sarcasm in the SI column above suggests there just might be, then he’s all right with me.
He still shouldn’t be anywhere near any Super Bowl telecast, of course, but that’s the NFL’s fault for letting the entertainment people take over. And yes, this would be your Super Bowl thread until kickoff.
Speaking of actual football talk, this is interesting. And less surprising than you might think:
[Ron] Wolf primarily blames Holmgren for the Packers’ loss to the Broncos in Super Bowl XXXII. Wolf said Holmgren was “pig-headed” in failing to adjust to the protection schemes to account for the Broncos’ blitzes. In Wolf’s view, Holmgren was aware of what needed to be done but didn’t do it because he arrogantly believed in his own approach.