FOOTBALL AND ALL THAT JAZZ
Alex Marvez, Nfl CorrespondentTHE ORLANDO SENTINEL
NEW ORLEANS - Zeke Hall shook his head when asked about Super Bowl XXXVI coming to town.
"I've been working here for 30 years, but I've never seen anything like this," said Hall, a New Orleans hotel industry veteran who now works as a doorman in the French Quarter. "The Super Bowl coming so close to Mardi Gras? And the car convention here, too? It's going to be the craziest Super Bowl here ever."
That's something Bill Belichick and Mike Martz don't want to hear.
With the Super Bowl getting pushed back a week because of the terrorist attacks in September, New Orleans is bursting like a po' boy sandwich for the first Super Bowl ever held in February. By this weekend, there will be an unprecedented combination of football fans, Mardi Gras revelers and members of the National Auto Dealers Association who stick around after their 25,000-person convention ends midweek.
That sounds like trouble in a city where it's easy to find it.
This will be the ninth Super Bowl in New Orleans, which is more than any other locale. But that doesn't entirely explain the wackiness every time the world's biggest sporting event hits with the same subtlety as a parade rolling down Canal Street.
The President calling a coach at 1:30 a.m. with a play suggestion on the eve of the game? A comedian addressing a team just hours before kickoff? Pregame and halftime festivities going awry? Players acting like they've had one too many Hurricanes -- whether they're drunk or not?
And don't forget the goldfish. Dead goldfish.
Nobody knows exactly how the St. Louis Rams and New England Patriots will add to the flavor of Sunday's contest. But as ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski can personally attest, the city usually has an affect on the Super Bowl teams.
"I think there are distractions in every city," said Jaworski, who was the quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XV in 1981. "But New Orleans has the most."
Jaworski would know.
Then-Eagles coach Dick Vermeil demanded his team lodge by the airport to eliminate distractions. The Oakland Raiders took the opposite approach, staying downtown as players -- led by defensive end John Matuszak -- roamed the French Quarter until the wee hours.
Final score: Oakland 27, Philadelphia 10.
Jaworski knew it wasn't the Eagles' day when team owner Leonard Tose invited comedian Don Rickles into the locker room on game day to help keep the team loose.
"That was probably the most disappointing thing, that a few hours before kickoff at the Super Bowl we had Don Rickles in our locker room telling jokes," Jaworski said. "Maybe Friday night it would have been great, but not Sunday morning a couple of hours before kickoff."
NIXON CALL DISRUPTS SHULA
Former Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula had to deal with a last-minute distraction on the eve of Super Bowl VI. Then-President Richard Nixon -- a die-hard Washington Redskins fan -- phoned Shula to suggest a pass play for use against the Dallas Cowboys.
It didn't work. Neither did the offense. Dallas 24, Dolphins 3.
"Obviously, we didn't get ready like we should have," said Dolphins running back Jim Kiick, whose Bourbon Street carousing with teammate Larry Csonka took on a life of its own in media reports. "Once we were there, we got caught up in the hoopla. It was the first time we had played in the Super Bowl, and by the time we realized why we were there, it was too late.
"Getting beat that soundly is probably the lowest feeling I've ever had in football."
If it's any consolation, the 1971 Dolphins got off easy. Every Super Bowl held in New Orleans has been decided by at least 14 points, with San Francisco's 55-10 whipping of Denver in Super Bowl XXIV the most lopsided affair in the game's history.
SCANDALS A REGULAR OCCURRENCE
Scandal has engulfed Super Bowls in New Orleans since the first game the city hosted. Before Super Bowl IV, news leaked that Kansas City quarterback Len Dawson was being investigated by the federal government in a gambling probe. Dawson didn't let the distraction affect him, leading the Chiefs to a 23-7 victory over Minnesota.
Before Super Bowl XXIV, pregame rumors implicated the starting quarterbacks of both teams (John Elway and Joe Montana) in a drug scandal. Both players denied rumors that they had tested positive for cocaine use, but the NFL later changed its drug-testing policy because of the furor that arose from a TV report on the subject.
Before Super Bowl XX, a New Orleans TV reporter invented quotes from Chicago quarterback Jim McMahon ripping the city of New Orleans and its women. But there really was no need to fabricate stories about McMahon, as he created plenty of his own that week by mooning a helicopter flying over practice and feuding with then-NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle about handwritten messages on his white headband.
Like Dawson, McMahon rose above the hoopla as the Bears crushed New England 46-10.
Denver was bothered by two off-field problems before losing to Dallas in Super Bowl XII; there was a death threat made against fullback Jon Keyworth, and quarterback Craig Morton had to field questions about the IRS demanding he pay back taxes. Denver had some on-field problems, too, as Dallas rolled 27-10.
Players aren't the only source of controversy. When the Patriots last reached the Super Bowl, in January 1997, then-New England coach Bill Parcells already had one foot out the door to become coach of the New York Jets. A miserable week for Patriots players who spent as much time talking about their coach as their team ended with a 35-21 loss to Green Bay in Super Bowl XXXI.
Then-Bears coach Mike Ditka snubbed Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton by using defensive tackle William "The Refrigerator" Perry on a 1-yard touchdown plunge in Super Bowl XX. Payton never played in another Super Bowl. At least the Bears won 46-10 over the Patriots.
DAVIS CREATES A FLAP
Raiders owner Al Davis was involved in a lawsuit against the NFL during Super Bowl XV, which Oakland won over the Eagles. During the postgame ceremony, Rozelle kept both hands on the Lombardi Trophy to eliminate the risk of Davis snubbing his handshake on national TV.
Even peripheral characters get into the act. Before Super Bowl IV, a hot-air balloon launched from the field crashed into the crowd and hurt several young women serving as Super Bowl princesses. And during a War of 1812 recreation at halftime of Super Bowl VI, one of the actors shot off several of his fingers when firing a musket.
And then there were the goldfish.
At Super Bowl IX, Steelers running back Frenchy Fuqua waltzed through the French Quarter in a skintight lavender jumpsuit, pink cape and white musketeer hat -- and leather shoes whose heels served as quasi-goldfish bowls. Animal-rights groups protested because the fish frequently died, prompting Fuqua to eventually stop restocking his shoes.
This year, St. Louis Coach Mike Martz believes players will take it easy in the Big Easy.
"If you get caught up in any of the stuff that's going on, you get distracted," Martz said. "Let your family, relatives, friends enjoy it. You go down there as a business trip."
Somehow in New Orleans, it never works out that way.