By Kevin York
Every year during the week leading up to the Super Bowl, one day is dedicated to media coverage of the game and the two teams participating in it. This day has come to be known as Media Day. On that day, media from around the world descend on the Super Bowl’s host city. Many of the reporters attending Media Day are from outlets that haven’t covered the NFL at all during the regular season or the preceding postseason games, which can lead to a circus of crazy antics and even crazier questions. That’s bound to happen when:
1. Reporters unknowledgeable on the two Super Bowl teams, heck, unknowledgeable on football in general, are assigned to cover the Super Bowl.
and,
2. Bench players and role players, unaccustomed to media attention, find themselves suddenly with a microphone and camera in front of their face.
Unsurprisingly, Media Day typically generates its own wave of story angles (Chris Culliver, remember that time in 2013 when you outed yourself as a bigot?). I mean, that’s what happens when uninformed reporters are given a platform for asking stupid questions and when bench players are given a platform to finally be noticed for something.
Ryan and I were talking about Media Day earlier this week, wondering how the hell some of these “reporters” get passes for Media Day. Here’s a sampling of some of the questions that have been asked at Media Day over the years. Remember, this is just a small sampling of the dumbest, weirdest and most bizarre questions asked by these professional members of the media given a press pass.
- At Super Bowl XLIII, Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald was asked, “Who has the better hair, you or Steelers safety Tony (sic) Polamalu?” Yes, that’s right. The Access Hollywood reporter called Troy Polamalu by the wrong first name.
- At Super Bowl XXIII, San Francisco 49ers quarterback was asked, “So why do they call you Boomer?” Montana’s 49ers were playing the Cincinnati Bengals, quarterbacked by Boomer Esiason. A reporter actually mixed the two up, since they look so much alike. Wait, they actually look nothing alike. If, you know, you’ve watched any of their games and have actually seen them before.
- At Super Bowl XXXIV, St. Louis Rams quarterback Kurt Warner was asked, “Do you believe in voodoo, and can I have a lock of your hair?”
- At Super Bowl XXVII, Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith was asked, “What are you going to wear in the game Sunday?”
- At Super Bowl XXXII, Denver Broncos fullback Detron Smith was asked, “What size panties do you think you’d wear?”
- At Super Bowl XXXIV, St. Louis Rams offensive tackle Orlando Pace was asked, “After the game, in the shower, what’s your favorite bar of soap?”
- At Super Bowl XXXIII, Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway was asked, “Are you going to listen to Stevie Wonder perform at halftime?”
Kind of astonishing, huh? Hard hitting journalism, right there. That’s what that is…
Given how much time and space these “reporters” waste on Media Day, Ryan asked, why can’t we go? Good question. Why couldn’t we? Our writing, our perspective, our football knowledge is better than at least half the people that receive passes to Media Day. It’s not just ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Fox and CBS there.
So we’ve made a goal. Next year The Couchletes will be at Media Day for Super Bowl XLVIII in New York/New Jersey. It’s going to happen.
All time dumbest Super Bowl questions sourced from Sports Illustrated.
By Kevin York
Follow Kevin on Twitter at @kevin_york
You can contact Kevin at kevin@thecouchletes.com