This Supe wasn't to Tiki's taste

This Supe wasn't to Tiki's taste
February 3
Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist John Gonzalez

"On the list of aggravating former players turned TV talking heads, Tiki Barber ranks just behind Deion Sanders and Emmitt Smith. Still, Barber's blunt assessment of Super Bowl XLIII made me laugh. "If they played this game in the regular season," the NBC analyst said, "it would be a [regional] game, and no one would watch."

The Pittsburgh and Phoenix Chambers of Commerce will no doubt use that sound bite in tourism ads. And his network bosses were probably delighted.

That's pretty much the kind of Super Bowl Sunday it turned out to be - weird and unpolished, yet oddly entertaining.

Superlative fight After Ben Roethlisberger drove the Steelers down for the game-winning touchdown, Al Michaels and John Madden stepped all over each other yelling "unbelievable," "incredible," "amazing," and "over the moon." I thought they might wrestle each other for the microphone.

Who says no one's perfect? When Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald connected for a touchdown that put the Cardinals ahead by 23-20, Madden got a touch excited. "Warner threw it to the perfect spot," he said. "He threw it to the perfect guy in the perfect situation."

Deep breaths When Steelers linebacker James Harrison returned an interception 100 yards for a touchdown, he looked exhausted. Michaels, who called the play, sounded the same way. After Harrison crossed the goal line, there was dead air for almost 20 seconds. Finally, Michaels said, "Unbelievable." Even announcers need time to get their wind back.

Boss of halftime shows While Bruce Springsteen was crooning on NBC, ABC ran a special Super Bowl edition of its obstacle course show, Wipeout. Nothing beats watching people crash into things. It's simple math: Uncoordinated couch potatoes nasty spills = highly amusing.

Wonder what he thinks about Amy Winehouse Perhaps you've heard about Jessica Simpson's alleged weight gain. It seemed as though everyone from sports radio hosts to fellow celebrities expressed opinions about it last week. Unfortunately, you can now add President Obama to the list. During a live interview on the pregame show, Matt Lauer showed the president the cover of People magazine, which featured Obama's wife and children but not the commander-in-chief."
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