America is just getting familiar with Eddie George and the Titans.

For a coach, the one week is a blessing. There will be less chance of the Rams and Titans getting too comfortable and away from their normal routine. The teams should be focused and ready. After Media Day, they will have only three days of practice, just like a normal week.

When the teams arrive at the Super Bowl site, the most important thing to take care of is the tickets. The players need to get the family issues squared away immediately so they can concentrate on the game. They can't be bothered by those things as the game gets closer. They need to get settled into their rooms and start thinking about the task at hand.

Starting with Tuesday's blitz, the players have been hit with a media swarm. They will be asked some of the dumbest questions that they have ever been asked, and they will be repeated. You just have to enjoy the experience. If you fight it, it could put you in a bad frame of mind. If you roll with it, it's over before you know it.

Former Cowboys running back Duane Thomas wasn't that far off when he once said the Super Bowl is just another football game. It is just another game, but the magnitude and significance of it can change your life. Sean Jones, who won a championship with the Green Bay Packers, said that the Super Bowl was the validation of his career. That puts into perspective the significance of the game.

At the beginning of the year, no one expected these two teams to be in Atlanta, and I don't see either one resting on its laurels. The teams have different attitudes: The Rams are still euphoric over winning their NFC Championship at home. The Titans come in as underdogs with an us-vs.-the-world mentality.

Both teams should handle the spotlight well. One thing about this year's Super Bowl is that there are fewer known stars. The stars will be created this week -- and especially on Sunday. The Rams and the Titans don't have the same credentials as the teams in previous years, like Denver, San Francisco, Green Bay, Washington, Dallas, Miami and Pittsburgh. Those teams built their own little starships off the Super Bowl. This is where the stars are created and names become household names.

Thoughts about Media Day
To players who have played in the Super Bowl before, Media Day is a pain because you have to answer the same questions over and over. Players like Brett Favre, John Elway, Troy Aikman, Deion Sanders and Emmitt Smith were media darlings who handled the spotlight in a business-like manner.

Because this year's game lacks players with Super Bowl experience and established stars, the mass of media members gravitated toward familiar faces -- Lynn Swann, Jackie Slater, Jim Kelly, Ron Jaworski and me. Having played in two Super Bowls, I have spoken to the same reporters over the years. I have an opinion and have seen the Titans and the Rams more than they have, so people start conversations with you.

In the beginning of each team's Media Day session, the reporters went to the podiums as the players sat down. When the players had answered questions for 15 minutes, there were half as many people surrounding the podiums. The ones who remained were probably from the players' hometowns or local areas. Everybody else was sort of milling around, saying, "Who should we talk to?" The numbers began to diminish.

What Media Day is about is getting to the biggest name in the building. Quite often, that isn't even a player. It could be a former player who showed up as part of the media to cover the game. In my case, I did probably as many interviews as any player because I have been here and am a "recognizable" name. Many media members have no idea who the Titans and the Rams players are.

The reporters have an hour to get everything they need from each team. Sometimes, they get that in 10 minutes. Then, who will they talk to next? Someone not sitting at a podium. What I noticed about this year's Media Day is that media members ended up talking to each other because there are no stars on either team to attract a crowd. Kurt Warner had a large gathering. Marshall Faulk got some attention, as did Steve McNair, Eddie George, Isaac Bruce and Bruce Matthews. But who else?

In the first Super Bowl of the new millennium, we will have to get used to this unfamiliarity. You will no longer see dynasties and repeat champions because of free agency and the salary cap. That's what made this Media Day so different and so unique; sometimes the biggest stars aren't even at the podium.

Most questions I answered were about the big stars in football. Not many of them had to with the Rams and the Titans. There were a few about Warner and about McNair being the second black quarterback in Super Bowl history. Some asked whether or not Barry Sanders would play again, or about Dan Marino's future, or about the way Tennessee fans have embraced the nomadic Titans.

Then MTV will ask you to do promos. You get the Hotel Channel, Comedy Central, media from different countries. For Cartoon Network, I picked Elmer Fudd to be the next presidential candidate. You wind up with all these diverse questions. It's not just the local newspapers and TV affiliates. And they don't ask specific questions about individual matchups, like the Rams wide receivers against the Titans defensive backs.

The media haven't had a chance to prepare. The conference championship games ended Sunday, and everyone traveled to Atlanta on Monday. When has the media had an opportunity to break down the matchups? If Media Day were on Friday, it would be better for the media. They are just trying to get acclimated, looking through the rosters to figure out which players are sitting where. And this year's players don't lend themselves to the crazy, ridiculous questions this year.

It was a very uneventual Media Day, and the beginning of a new era of football. The media must get used to some of these new stars, all different personalities than we have seen before. What makes this Super Bowl unique is that so many players are still unknown, and nobody has a chance to know them. Media Day is supposed to be the day for the media to get to know them, but they still don't.

We will start to know the players as soon as the Super Bowl begins, but then the game will be gone -- and some new heroes will be established.