Wednesday, January 22, 1997

Without Deion, Media Day is a big bore

By PAUL NEWBERRY / AP Sports Writer (Jan. 22, 1997)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - They could have used Deion Sanders at the Superdome Tuesday.

The annual cattle call known as Super Bowl Media Day was a downright bore as the horde of reporters scrambled for position to hear Green Bay and New England players talk about, well, not much of anything.

Even Jim McMahon, the rebel without a starting position, was rather tame - a far cry from his 1986 Super Bowl shenanigans when he mooned a television helicopter while it filmed a Chicago Bears practice.

Asked about New Orleans nightlife, McMahon, now a backup quarterback for the Packers, said: "I'm not going to get into that. Write about the game."

Oh, Deion, where are you when we need you?

The Neon One loved crowds - even crowds of reporters - and could always be counted on to come through with the clutch Media Day quote ("I don't need the exposure. I'm household already."). On Tuesday, there wasn't even a Leon Lett near-fainting episode to spice things up as the two teams assembled en masse on the rock-hard Superdome turf.

Two-time MVP Brett Favre showed promise when he strutted out wearing designer sunglasses even though this event was, obviously, indoors.

"McMahon said to wear the shades," Favre explained. "He said the cameras and all that stuff would bother my eyes. I've got to do what McMahon says."

From there, it was all downhill.

One reporter asked the quarterback to discuss his remarkable year, which started out with a 46-day stay in a drug treatment center and ended up in the Super Bowl.

"I could sit here and talk to you about that all day," Favre said. He actually talked for less than a minute. "That's about it."

Clearly, he is no fan of media day.

"I would much rather be in the hotel room watching TV," Favre said.

"It scares me," said his New England counterpart Drew Bledsoe. "It's a necessary evil in the game. It's not a part of the game I love, but it's a part I've learned to enjoy."

One person who acted as though he fully enjoyed the whole experience was Patriots coach Bill Parcells. He leaned casually on the podium, his head cocked confidently, his remarks accompanied by toothy grins.

A day earlier, cornered during a news conference about reports he will leave the Patriots after Sunday's game, Parcells was not so charming. He testily replied that there was nothing new to report in his negotiations with New England owner Robert Kraft.

On this day, however, Parcells was the biggest Patriots star on the field. As the hour-long session wound to a close, many of the players stationed at podiums nearby no longer had any reporters milling around them. Most had wandered over to the spot where the coach was holding court.

"Wow," offensive guard William Roberts said, surveying the scene. "He's a knowledgeable guy and people want to know what's in his head. That's just how it is."

The most entertaining players turned out to be nondescript reserves and members of the practice squad. Without a big demand for interviews, they wandered around the field, minicams in hand, exploring possible angles for recording the first-in-a-lifetime experience.

"This is Andre Rison's camera," said Terry Mickens, a backup receiver who caught only 18 passes this season. "He told me to film him, but I'm getting tired of filming him. So I'm going to film what I want."

ESPN2, which televised the non-event live, tried to whoop things up by sending a worker around the field with a "Positive Voodoo Doll" that could be used in various camera shots.

Network officials said the doll - actually a Patriots uniform stuffed with Spanish moss - was blessed by Princess Miriam, a local voodoo priestess.

But, in what certainly can't be a good omen for a team that already is a two-touchdown underdog, the doll's head fell off.

"No voodoo for me," Bledsoe cracked, one of the better lines on a forgettable day.