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| | Saturday, January 27
TGIF? Sometimes, Friday means trouble
By Joe Theismann
Special to ESPN.com
TAMPA, Fla. -- From a player's standpoint, Friday is the biggest day of
Super Bowl week. Now they start to get some time for themselves. But what do
the players do with their time -- go out to dinner, spend time with your
just-arriving families? Players have to deal with reservations for mom
and dad, or babysitters for the children.
|  | | Michael McCrary and his Ravens teammates must stay out of trouble this weekend. |
The players can feel like prisoners in their hotel. They can't go out to
dinner -- or anywhere -- without being bothered. And if they go out,
there is the potential for something bad to happen.
At the beginning of the week, I guaranteed that one of the players
would get
in trouble. But I really thought something would happen on Monday,
Tuesday
or Wednesday. I'm thrilled that I have been wrong -- so far. It tells
me how
much these players care about this football game and their teammates.
Eugene Robinson didn't care about his Atlanta Falcons teammates two
years
ago in Miami. His arrest on the charge of soliciting a prostitute was
one of
the disappointing stories in Super Bowl memory. This year, though, it
looks
like every player cares about his teammates and wants to do everything
they
can to not distract the organization. Now, I don't think a player
will
get in trouble.
A Giant gathering
I attended a dinner party Thursday night for Giants coach Jim Fassel
hosted
by Richard Cohen, president and chairman of Zegna, at Café California
in
Clearwater. More than 100 people attended, including some Giants
players -- Ron Stone, Tiki Barber, Jason Sehorn (with his fiancée, Angie Harmon) --
and
John and Janet Elway. Harmon was sort of the hit of the party.
Fassel also had his high school coach from Anaheim and his
junior-college
coach from Fullerton, Calif., at the party. I was honored to be there
and be
considered among his closest friends. Admittedly, though, I felt
awkward
walking into the party. It had been reported that I completed four of
six
passes at the Ravens practice on Wednesday and had later addressed the
team.
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I read you were 4-for-6 (passing). I might have to rethink the game plan if you can thrown against that defense. ” |
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— Jim Fassel, Giants head coach |
Jim said, "I read you were 4-for-6 (passing). I might have to rethink
the
game plan if you can thrown against that defense."
I said, "If you want, I'll come out and throw at your practice. Just
tell me
when." And he laughed. The rest of the time we didn't talk about
football.
It turned out to be a wonderful night to honor a terrific coach.
Still, I felt uneasy because Fassel and Ravens coach Brian Billick are
such
good friends of mine. Because I have picked the Ravens to win the Super
Bowl, it was almost like I had picked a friend. I wanted to say to
Fassel,
"Even though I didn't pick you to win, please be my friend. Gee, I hope
you
still like me."
Like Fassel, the Giants players made no mention about predictions. They
know
I picked them against Minnesota anyway, and they are tickled to be in
Tampa.
Staying active
The Super Bowl week has been a lot different than last year's in
Atlanta,
when it was 30 degrees and icy everyday. If you are going to be
somewhere at
the end of January, you should be someplace where there is a solid
guarantee
of outside activities. It might be unfair to a city like Minneapolis.
But
I'm not an indoor guy. You can only lift so many weights, play so much
racquetball, watch so much TV, and eat so much food. What else are you
going
to do in late January in Minnesota? Because I love golf, part of being
at a
Super Bowl is being able to get outside.
I played golf on Friday morning at Old Memorial and played lousy,
shooting
an 83 -- 38 on the front nine, 45 on the back. There was an hour-and-a-half frost delay, so my 8:30 a.m. tee time was delayed until 10. I played
with
Bob Bashem, one of the principal owners of Outback Steakhouses, and
some
friends from San Diego. The greens at Old Memorial are double cut and
rolled, which makes them a lot like Pinehurst No. 2 for the U.S. Open.
The
fairways and greens are like concrete, so you have to leave your shots
short
of the green.
On Friday night, I planned to finish the day with a cocktail party for
NCR.
I was going to meet with top executives from 50 of the Fortune 500
companies
around the world. I will talk about what will happen in Sunday's Super
Bowl
and about my experiences playing in two of them. I will bring some of
the
executives up and put them in formations, like one with two tight ends
and
also the bunch formation. I love audience participation. I want them to
have
a visual of what the game will look like.
I have been running on adrenaline all week, sleeping on only about six
hours
a night. If I want to play golf, I leave the hotel by 6:30 or 7 a.m. I
thrive on all the activity and never tire of it. I appreciate it when
people
think enough of me to ask for an autograph or talk to me about the
Super
Bowl.
As one of only 21 Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks, I'm lucky to have
accomplished something few people could ever dream of. So if there is a
week
to get busy, this is the one. This is bigger than Mardi Gras -- it's like
Mardi Gras every day.
Former NFL quarterback Joe Theismann works as a game analyst for ESPN's Sunday Night Football. He will give his thoughts each day from Tampa in the Super Bowl version of his "Cup o' Joe" feature.
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