Watchdog

Here is my Friday newspaper column.

It's about the famed Radio Row at the Super Bowl, which this year has a heavy local flavor, for obvious reasons.

I briefly quoted Michael Kay of ESPN 1050 talking about his chat with Mike Francesa of WFAN before Francesa went on the air Wednesday.

Click below for more on that from Kay.

Continue reading "Radio Row has a strong New York flavor this year" »

Yeah, I know it's Thursday, but I'm naming the Friday Comment Contest winner now anyway, because I won't have time Friday and because I'm still trying to stagger to the January page views finish line.

The repeat winner (and a strong contender week in and week out) is Chris, for his response to my item making fun of Glauber for asking whether Jalen Rose's father, Jimmy Walker, is Jimmy Walker the actor . . . as opposed to Jimmy Walker the former Providence star.

Here it is: "Jimmy 'JJ' Walker being the father of Jalen Rose would be like Huggy Bear being the father of an NFL running back. What? Really?? Never mind."

(WatchDog's explanation: Justin Fargas of the Raiders is, indeed, the son of Antonio Fargas, aka Huggy Bear from "Starsky and Hutch," a show that was on when I was young.)

I am mortified that I forgot in my item below about the Giants' Kevin Boothe that there has, in fact, been a Cornell alum who won a Super Bowl ring.

(Thanks to my friends/readers for setting me straight on this.)

What makes it ridiculous is that the man in question is Derrick Harmon, who was a member of the 49ers when they beat the Dolphins in Super Bowl XIX.

Not only did I actually go to school with the guy, but I watched that game with Cornell friends, and in the San Francisco area, not far from where the game was played at Stanford Stadium.

Sigh. It's been a long week.

Yo, Giants p.r. people: Please tell Boothe about this. I don't want him getting all excited on the victory podium for no reason, thinking he has made Cornell history.

I currently am looking at the back of Tom Petty's head as he does a live interview on the NFL Network set in the middle of Radio Row.

That's good, as I resorted to watching his official news conference on TV because I was too lazy to go up the five levels to where he appeared.

The dude looks kind of old, but at least at 57 he's a spring chicken compared to other recent halftime acts such as The Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney.

"It'd mind-blowing,'' Petty said of the Super Bowl gig. "It's something you never even dream of."

Petty said he has no favorite NFL team but roots for the Florida Gators.

The news conference was moronic, as halftime show news conferences always are. One local TV newswoman informed Petty he is "still smoking hot." She was, too, and offered to show Tom around town, but then announced she is married.

What is Petty's plan for the 12-minute show? "We're just trying to entertain the people and be sweet boys,'' he said.

Now Peyton Manning is sitting WITH Petty on the set. Holy cow. It's a good thing I'm writing a column on Radio Row for the Friday newspaper.

Which I now will do. Good night.

What Rich Seubert didn't know when I approached him at the Giants' hotel (see post below) was that I really was looking for the guy sitting next to him.

Guard Kevin Boothe was interested to learn that the Giants are the first Super Bowl team with three Ivy Leaguers on the roster, including Cornell's favorite backup guard.

"That's awesome,'' he said.

Then I explained my theory that it was his insertion on special teams beginning with the Dec. 29 game against the Patriots that has keyed the Giants' late run.

"I love it, why not?" he said. "I think that's evident. It's proven."

Boothe and I were unaware of any Cornell alum who has won a Super Bowl ring. (Correct us if we're wrong.) "Hopefully I can make a little bit of history," he said.

As I expected, guard Rich Seubert reacted with extreme displeasure when he saw me at the Giants' hotel this morning.

He is convinced I am bad luck, due to the team's 0-3 record with me in attendance this season. (Not difficult to do since I've only been to home games.)

"C'mon Neil," he said, "first thing I see Thursday morning is you?!" (That's what my wife usually says.)

Well, I have some good news for Mr. Seubert and Giants fans everywhere. (Please pass this along for me, Giants p.r. staff.)

I just learned I will be watching the game in a Fox trailer, OUTSIDE the stadium, and thus will be no threat to the Giants winning their third Super Bowl.

You can thank me at the victory parade, Rich.

Here is an item on Plaxico Burress I sent earlier today that we posted on the Web site.

I have been told, by Glauber and others, that I am the only sports media writer in the nation in attedance here. Pressure!

(UPDATE: This is incorrect. Len Shapiro of The Washington Post, who is from Syosset, is here.)

In a few hours I will be missing the Newsday Employee Recognition Dinner, where I was supposed to pick up my co-Blogger of the Year Award.

My co-recipient, Mark La Monica, has threatened to post my acceptance video. That would be amusing and sad at the same time.

Several members of the Daily News' cast of thousands here had dinner Wednesday night at Amano Pizza Bistro.

Sources say it was a fine dinner, but the interesting part was that it is owned by the mother of Lisa Olson, who resigned as a columnist for the paper last week after learning she would not be sent to Arizona with the rest of the Super Bowl contingent.

The dinner was scheduled before Lisa left.

Tiki Barber's agent assured me last week he would be doing no newspaper interviews this week.

Apparently he changed his mind.

Here is an interesting piece on him by Ian O'Connor of The Record of Hackensack, N.J.

I spoke to Ian about this at the Giants' hotel this morning, after expressing my displeasure at him having written this story and not me.

Tiki is due in town today and is expected to appear on the "Today" show Friday and/or Sunday.

Here is my Thursday newspaper column. It's about Fox's unconventional pre-game plans for Sunday, including a number by Paula Abdul that the show's producer insists will surprise you - in a good way.

I have to bolt now for the Giants' final team-wide media session.

If you have any urgent questions you want me to ask a player, just e-mail because they gave me a Blackberry last week.

I will try not to let Rich Seubert see me. He is convinced that I am toxic, as the team is 0-3 this season when I attend games.

I should add the name Adam Schein to the list of guys I mentioned yesterday as likely to have a role in whatever new show(s) SNY is planning. (The others are Chris Carlin, Scott Ferrall and Joe Benigno.)

I'm not quite clear exactly what SNY is going to do with these people and at what time they are going to do it, but one of the half hours could be carved out of "Daily News Live," which always has been an hour long.

I don't know. I do know that the Daily News edition being handed out here features a map of where various New York baseball stars live, to help Johan Santana decide where to go househunting.

One problem: Joe Reyes correctly is listed as living in Manhasset, but the arrow pointing to his home is a lot closer to Riverhead than to Manhasset.

This is why Long Islanders stick by Newsday.

After leaving the Westwood One studio (see post below) I stopped down the hall at the "G2 Lounge" a hangout way too cool-looking for a Super Bowl Media Center.

All they serve is G2 - "All you can drink!" - a new Gatorade product that has fewer calories and a bunch of other properties the friendly p.r. man explained to me, and which is launching in a big way with a Super Bowl ad that I think features Derek Jeter.

I have tried the red and purple versions. They taste pretty much like Gatorade.

There is a bowling alley in the lounge in which athletes are invited to play and raise money for the United Way for each game. The media is invited to bowl at certain hours, including 10 to 11 a.m. and 2 to 3 p.m. today.

The p.r. man told me to come back later.

I just met Craig Carton! Pinch me!

He was in the Westwood One studio a couple of floors away from Radio Row that Carton and Boomer are using during their stay here.

(I tentatively plan to write about Radio Row and the New York radio invasion here in the Friday newspaper, so please mark your calendars.)

I wished Craig a happy 39th birthday and inquired about his recent tushy problems.

Anthony Munoz, who was their guest this morning, introduced himself to me, but I blew him off to talk to Carton.

This is the life I have chosen.

Tom Rock just left the room to investigate the news that Tom Brady is not on the Patriots' injury report at all, which is hilarious given the fact Brady ALWAYS is on the Patriots' injury report.

(UPDATE: Rock now says the ANKLE is not on the injury report. We're not sure about the shoulder. Check the Giants blog for updates during the night. Thanks.)

So I'm going to wrap this up at a record-tying 30 posts and get out of his way so he can have some privacy. Some records are not made to be broken.

On his way out he warned me not to call Antigua or anything. Which reminded me that I haven't posted any exotic bets from Antigua-based Bodog lately.

Who will have the largest market share in TV Ratings?
New York -130
Boston Even

(Note from WatchDog: Bet the house, and your neighbor's house, on Boston.)

Will the entire Fox pre-game team pick the Pats to win the Super Bowl?
Yes -175
No +125

What Song will Tom Petty sing to end his halftime show?

Free Falling 5/6
Don’t Do Me Like That 5/1
Learning to Fly 12/1
Great Wide Open 9/1
Last Dance with Mary Jane 4/1
Runnin’ Down A Dream 9/4

Will one of these cities win double championships in their respective sports in 2008?
Pats/Celtics 2/1
Pats/Red Sox 3/1
Giants/Yankees 10/1
None 1/2

(Note from WatchDog: Now that Johan Santana is on his way, how about Giants/Mets?)

Here's an update on the SBXLII secondary ticket market:

StubHub now says it is the best-selling event in the company's history based on dollar volume, surpassing the BCS title game earlier this month.

The average ticket price currently is hovering at $4,152. That number traditionally drops off closer to game day. We'll see.

About 150 tickets can be had in the relatively cheap seats for under $3,000. (They're practically giving them away!)

Arizona and New York are the leading states for sales with 12 percent each, followed by California at 11.

Look, I'm not complaining. I'm out of the basement and at the Super Bowl - actually, in Tom Rock's hotel room - but I did want to give you a general idea of the type of invitations I get every day and bravely turn down to keep blogging for you, dear reader.

Here's one from the secondary ticket site RazorGator that I blew off last night:

WHAT: “RAZORGATOR FAN JUNKET PRESENTED BY HOOTERS” BRINGS SPORTS FANS AND FAMOUS ATHLETES TOGETHER AT SUPER BOWL XLII

Yardbarker.com Athlete Bloggers Donovan McNabb, Dontrelle Willis, Marshawn Lynch and others meet and greet with fellow blogger fans.

WHEN: Tuesday, January 29, 2008, 1pm – 6 pm

WHERE: HOOTERS – Downtown Tempe, AZ

Sigh.

Dick Vitale will be back on ESPN Feb. 6 for the Duke-North Carolina game.

He's been out since mid-December following surgery on a vocal cord.

I will try to join the conference call Monday in which he will discuss his return.

Depends how long the Kevin Boothe Super Bowl MVP press conference runs.

I have completely lost track of the promises I've made to friendly p.r. people to mention all of the valuable Super Bowl programming their entities provide.

I do know ESPN's Super Bowl release was 2,502 words long.

One of my favorites every year is the Sirius Satellite Radio list of stations it will have offering the game. This year there will be 12 live broadcasts in eight languages.

Patriots team broadcast - channel 126
Giants team broadcast - channel 123
Westwood One Radio broadcast - channel 124
BBC Radio broadcast – channel 125
Westwood One Spanish broadcast (Spanish-Latin America) - channel 181
CANAL+ Spain broadcast (Spanish-Spain) - channel 110
France 2 broadcast (French) - channel 143
NHK Japan broadcast (Japanese) - channel 140
ARD broadcast (German) – channel 130
Telenet broadcast (Flemish) – channel 119
NTV Plus broadcast (Russian) - channel 122
SMG broadcast (Mandarin Chinese) – channel 121

Cute exchange on HBO's "Inside the NFL'' set here between Michael Strahan and Brian Billick:

Between segments, Strahan hugged Billick and said of Super Bowl XXXV, “You should have let us win.”

Said the recently fired Billick: "If I had done that I would be in the same situation I am now, only sooner."

I feel like I should periodically update you on the scalping, er, secondary market as Super Bowl week continues to unfold.

But if you haven't made the decision to come by now, are you realistically going to?

Anyway, the latest numbers this Wednesday afternoon from TicketsNow show an average price of $4,525, with the following markets leading in number of tickets purchased: Boston (26 percent), New York (16), Phoenix (10), Chicago (6).

The cheapest seat available was just above $2,000.

The last numbers I got from StubHub were Monday, when the average price was $4,218.

The highest face value for tickets this year is $900 for club seats. The top price is sure to hit $1,000 next year. But it still will be well below market value.

Greetings from Tom Rock's hotel room across the street from the Media Center. We finally gave up on the wireless Internet system there, which has crashed and burned and caused reporters to curse loudly and wish they were back in the 20th century.

I do not recall such angst about the wireless Internet system the last time I covered a Super Bowl here, in 1996.

One of the most famous media filing meltdowns came at The Spectrum in 1992 after the Duke-Kentucky NCAA Tournament epic, when there were severe telephone malfunctions and shortages and many reporters teetered on the brink of nervous breakdowns.

I was watching in Lexington, Kentucky, at the time at a media party for another regional. I believe the Fab Five of Michigan beat Ohio State the next day at Rupp Arena.

Anyway, here's an item about Joe Buck:

Buck has been a regular at Giants games this season, including all three playoff victories. The Patriots? Nada.

“One good thing is of all the teams that could have come out of the AFC, we all know the Patriots,’’ he said. “It’s an easy story to catch up on, but yes, I have to do more [preparation] on that side than where I’ve been sitting for the last three weeks.’’

Nothing Fox information man Jay Glazer has done in his career has generated quite as much attention as his coup in acquiring a copy of the Patriots' "Spygate" tape from Week 1.

But Glazer said he was more proud of reporting before the Redskins-Bills game that Washington would start the game with only 10 defenders in honor of Sean Taylor.

Even coach Joe Gibbs didn't know about it. "I was pumped about that," he said.

What about that tape, though? Where did he get it? Glazer never has said - usually he jokingly says he got it from Ronde Barber - even to his bosses at Fox Sports, chairman David Hill and president Ed Goren.

Glazer said he enjoyed the attention from the story but not the fallout, which he said included a "witch hunt'' by the NFL to try to uncover the source.

"They started going after the wrong people, people were pointing fingers at everybody," he said. "They had no clue."

Glazer told Hill and Goren he would lie to them if they forced him to give up a name. So far they haven't, and he hasn't.

Here is a story we just posted on Newsday.com about Joe Buck and his plans (or lack thereof) for documenting a possibly historic sports moment Sunday night.

I was going to include a picture of Mark McGwire and his wife in skimpy bathing suits, but I had to give up because the wireless system here at the Media Center has all but ground to a halt, presumably from sensory overload.

I have to write a newspaper column now. I will be back later to break my Sept. 10 record of 30 posts in one day.

Enjoy, um, I have no idea. Whatever is on TV or radio back home.

If you were to assume that the people at SNY are juiced about Johan Santana joining the Mets, you would be correct.

What's good for the Mets is good for their TV station.

In the interim, SNY is excited about a more modest bit of news: the inaugural SNY Invitational, a high school basketball event that debuts Friday and Saturday at NYU and features four city basketball teams: Lincoln, Cardozo, Kennedy and Frederick Douglass.

Gary Cohen will handle the play by play alongside analyst John Celestand and with sideline reporter Kevin Burkhardt. The production team is headed by producer Gregg Picker and director Bill Webb, who work the station's Mets telecasts.

The event plans to add a Long Island team in '09.

I asked Fox's Frank Caliendo for his Super Bowl pick, but he said he is not allowed to share it until he is on the air Sunday.

He did offer me this prediction in the voice of George W. Bush:

"The Patriots, just because of their name, and it's my favorite Act.''

And this, in the voice of John Madden:

"Brett Favre by 40. He's not even in the game? That doesn't matter. Brett is all I care about."

I'm hearing SNY is planning some sort of new show (and/or shows) that likely will feature Joe Benigno, Scott Ferrall and Chris Carlin, who have become regular personalities on the station.

"I'm hearing'' is a cool-sounding way of passing along (well-informed) whispers and making it sound insider-ish.

I will sort all this stuff out more professionally upon the conclusion of the football season and my return to the cozy confines of the basement.

But changes are afoot.

Thank you, Deadspin and others for keeping an eye on the rest of the world while I blog in Phoenix.

Here is the latest on Stephen A. Smith's ongoing Philly Inquirer saga.

If I run into him I'll ask him about it. But for me to run into him he'd have to visit the bowels of the Media Center and find me behind a bunch of red curtains.

The Giants are the first Super Bowl team with three Ivy Leaguers on the roster, if you count the injured Jim Finn. But the key to the Giants’ late run to the big game is obvious: guard Kevin Boothe of Cornell.

(Zak DeOssie went to Brown.)

Boothe has appeared in four games this year on special teams – the pivotal, narrow loss to the Patriots Dec. 29 and all three playoff victories.

If Tom Coughlin had checked with me on this earlier in the season, the Giants might have had a better record and an easier path to Glendale. Better late than never.

WhatIfSports.com, which calls itself “the Web’s leading sports simulation site," played Super Bowl XLII 10,001 times, the result of which was an average projected 30-16 victory for the Patriots.

The site, which correctly predicted the past four Super Bowls and last weekend’s conference title games, projects 234 passing yards for Tom Brady, five catches for 99 yards by Randy Moss and two interceptions thrown by Eli Manning.

The Pats won 77.2 percent of the 10,001 projected games.

Inspired by all this, I am going to run a projected result of the 10,002 e-mails I have received this week.

Check www.WhatIfIStartToIgnoreThem.com to see whether I can keep up or whether I throw my laptop into the Grand Canyon to make it stop.

The only other Super Bowl in Arizona was Super Bowl XXX 12 years ago.

That was the last Super Bowl for the Troy Aikman Era Cowboys.

"My kids are 6 and 5 and they've never seen me play,'' he said. "That's hard to get accustomed to when you start saying you're that far removed from the game and 12 years from our last Super Bowl. I have very fond memories of my time here in Phoenix.''

Any particular memory?

"I was on the radio with Michael Irvin and I had to remind him, he didn’t remember it, but what probably sticks out during that week was that Michael took a white stretch limousine to and from every practice that week. I thought that was a little excessive.'' (He laughed.)

This is a cool picture of Pat Hanlon, the Giants' VP of communications, observing Media Day Tuesday.

Note the message on the T-shirt.

The Giants have stuck to that mantra this season . . . um, mostly.

Merrick's own Artie Kempner, Fox's game director for Super Bowl XLII, says even in his somewhat mellowed out phase, Tom Coughlin remains TV gold for reaction shots.

"He's still a great picture,'' Kempner said. "He still reacts and emotes to almost any situation. For a TV guy he is the immediate reaction you go to after a big play."

Kempner grew up a Jets fan, primarily because his family couldn't get Giants tickets. But his father was and is a Giants fan. He lives in Florida and watched the Giants-Bucs playoff game from the Fox booth, but opted for watching on TV this weekend.

"He said it's better on television, because his son is doing it,'' Kempner said.

I just ran into Archie Manning while taking a walk to get a bran muffin.

He was in between radio and TV interviews for Canon, but I managed to say hello and ask him for a celebrity pick for our special section.

He politely declined. (Archie does everything politely.)

"I'm pulling hard for the Giants, though,'' he said.

Seth Palansky, who as the public relations man at the front lines of the NFL Network vs. Big Cable wars has been one of the sharpest (and most quotable) in the business, is leaving the league as of next week.

He is joining Harrah’s in Vegas as director of communications for the sports and entertainment division.

No, he’s not going to be involved in the sports book operation, something the NFL could not have prevented him from doing but which it might have found a tad awkward for a recent employee.

Anyway, if you’re a public relations person with deep knowledge of the cable industry, a high tolerance for banging your head against a wall and a willingness to live in L.A., the NFL has an opening.

Get your resume in today!

As I promised on the blog the other day, I grudgingly asked poor Troy Aikman one last time about the alleged anti-Giants bias many diehards detect in his analysis.

“People hear whatever they want to hear,’’ said Aikman, who loathes this topic. He said he has heard the same thing from fans of every team in the NFC East, including the Cowboys.

Earlier this season, he had the audacity to suggest Clinton Portis – a non-Cowboy! – might be his favorite player in the league. That didn’t go over well in Big D.

Aikman said the Patriots' ability to sustain their dynasty, something the Cowboys of the early to mid 1990s did not do, is what impresses him most about them.

“They have what we failed to keep,’’ he said.

I hate to acknowledge the existence of rival papers’ blogs - or of rival papers in general - but how can I ignore the shot Filip Bondy of the Daily News took Tuesday?

Bondy listed the sizes of the contingents from the New York-area newspapers here, noting how vastly the hordes from the Times, Post and Daily News outnumber the crew from “enfeebled’’ Newsday. (Roughly by a 2-to-1 ratio.)

Dude, check out the Web site and the paper.

We’re more than holding our own.

Lean and mean!

Here is an item I wrote about Trent Dilfer, the quarterback who beat the Giants in Super Bowl XXXV, that the editors put on the Giants blog. (Team player!)

Dilfer said he still is sore from the pounding the Giants gave him in October when he was quarterbacking the 49ers.

Yes, the Giants offense was overmatched in Super Bowl XXXV. But I still would love to have Superman spin the Earth in reverse and go back seven years to Jessie Armstead’s interception return for a touchdown that night that would have tied the game at 7.

I’d like to check out an alternate reality in which tackle Keith Hamilton is not called for a highly questionable holding call that erased Armstead’s return.

I think there’s a reasonable chance Dilfer would have crumbled after that. We’ll never know. (I didn't ask him whether he would have.)

I am not rooting for one team or the other Sunday, but I certainly am rooting for a far better game than SBXXXV turned out to be.

Here is my Tuesday newspaper column about Tom Coughlin’s bravura performance at Media Day.

Look, the guy is no idiot, and it would have been a shock if he had been surly and impatient on the biggest media stage of his career.

But he went above and beyond the call of duty by actually smiling and kibitzing with the (relatively small) group of reporters who huddled around his podium.

He’s almost home free. He’ll have to talk for 15 minutes or so Wednesday and Thursday, then one last time Friday morning before being excused until his acceptance or concession speech Sunday night.

The grass at University of Phoenix Stadium was spectacularly lush on Media Day, but even at mid-day it was mostly in shade. Not to worry.

The field is designed to roll in and out of the building, and it was to be dragged out into the sun after the media vacated the premises, and was to be rolled back in sometime Wednesday.

There is rain in the forecast for Sunday, but the roof is retractable, so there will be no repeat of last year’s soggy big game.

Media Day had its usual share of wacky interviewers, but this time it appeared a disproportionate number were members of the Spanish-language media. I have no idea why.

(Not that there was any shortage of English-language goofballs, too.)

As usual, the Spanish-language journalist who made the boldest impression was Ines Sainz of TV Azteca, who last month famously appeared in the Cowboys locker room before their playoff game against the Giants.

T.O. was laying low at the time but called her over to a media-restricted area and whispered something into her ear . . . presumably about his ankle injury.

That's her in the picture at last year's Media Day. I believe she was wearing less clothing this time, and it was quite chilly at University of Phoenix Stadium.

She stood next to me at Tom Brady's podium for a few minutes, and her arms were covered with goosebumps. It was the weather, not seeing Brady, that did it. I assume.

(UPDATE: It appears there is some video of Ms. Sainz with my Tuesday newspaper column in which she is seen doing interviews at this year's Media Day, in case you are so inclined.)

I briefly attended the Tuesday night media party, which was held at Corona Ranch in Laveen and sponsored graciously by the local organizing committee.

(Speaking of which, the people here have been relentlessly friendly, which always is annoying and disquieting for a New Yorker.)

I believe based on the smell that Corona Ranch is a real ranch, with animals and stuff.

Chris Russo of WFAN and I finally had a full, frank and friendly discussion of my unkind review of his book in June of 2006. That was after I had a duel with Tom Rock in which we shot blanks at one another through a Plexiglas pane.

It was best of three. I won the first two draws, but they had us try a third time, and T-Rock salvaged some dignity by winning that one.

Then I smoked a victory cigar, ate a brownie and left.

Kellie Pickler blew me off Tuesday.

I was groping for celebrity picks for our special section and ran into the former “American Idol’’ contestant and current “Tonight Show" correspondent at the Fox Sports news conference.

No dice. Pickler and her producer politely but firmly informed me she does not do picks. Something about not wanting to take sides or, oh, heck, I don’t know.

Pickler sounded a lot like Dolly Parton, and certain other aspects of her presentation reminded me of Ms. Parton.

Anyway, I eavesdropped on her conversation with Fox’s Pam Oliver. She told Pam she doesn’t know much about football.

Pam helpfully handed her a straight line: “Do you know what a tight end is?’’ she said.

Said Kellie: “I ain’t got one of those.’’

Good morning, people of cyberspace. Sorry about the lack of posts Tuesday, but Media Day duties called.

It now appears that despite WatchDog’s near record pace in January, the Giants blog is going to nip us at the page views finish line before midnight Thursday.

Super Bowls can do that sort of thing.

No problem. It’s all good. The Yankees blog will blow past me from February through December, but I’ll be back to try again next January.

I’m not going down without a struggle, though. I was up at 3 this morning to visit Chris Carlin and Kim Jones in their WFAN “studio’’ at the Airport Marriott, and now I’m geared up for a busy day.

Thanks for reading.

There will be no Lingerie Bowl this year.

Sorry.

I continue to be amazed by the HDTV in my hotel room, and sports media people continue to be amazed I don't have HDTV at home.

Monday afternoon I informed Sal Paolantonio that I was alarmed at the ability to count the blades of stubble on his chin. He said he'd wear more makeup.

I saw him Tuesday morning and told him the stubble was gone when I saw him the previous night. He said he shaved.

I'm out. No blogging for many hours.

It's media day! Good luck, Coach Coughlin. Remember, it's only an hour.

Only an hour. Only an hour . . .

Here is the Boston Globe story on the death of Bob Ryan's son, Keith.

The enormous Globe contingent covering the Super Bowl has been shaken by the news.

Condolences to Bob and his family.

My favorite moment from Day One in Arizona: I went out to dinner late Monday night with Glauber and a couple of friends, one from a rival publication, one from the NFL.

The discussion eventually came around to Jalen Rose (the much beloved former Knick) and the promise he has shown as a fledgling TV analyst.

Someone noted he is the son of Jimmy Walker.

Glauber: Jimmy Walker the actor?

OK, so he's an idiot. But he wrote a nice story in the paper today.

Here is the newspaper version of all the Web stuff I sent in yesterday, about record media credentials and other matters.

By the way, the NFL spokesman quoted in the piece, Michael Signora, who is from Syosset, delivered Newsday as a kid, as did a shockingly high percentage of movers and shakers in the sports media and business world.

Someday I'm going to compile a list.

Not today.