"The upside? The Internet is great for fans. The downside? From a player's perspective, you better watch every move you make during those two weeks (before the game) because, with hand-held phones, everybody has a camera in his pocket. And if you've been recorded doing something, there's no denying it."
An easy win
A decade ago, in Super Bowl XXXV, Stover kicked two field goals as the Ravens trampled the New York Giants, 34-7. Looking back, players said, victory was a lock.
"Not to sound arrogant, but we all made jokes about it while playing ping-pong the week before," Dilfer said. "It wasn't a question of would we win, but by how much."
At halftime, the Ravens led, 10-0. That was all the points they'd need.
"In the locker room, a few of the defensive players said, 'Thanks, offense, but we'll take it from here,' " Stover said. "It made me giggle."
The Giants weren't laughing.
"We knew we were going to shut them down, because we'd done it to teams all year," said linebacker Peter Boulware, 36. "We asked ourselves, 'Will New York get a field goal, or somehow slip through and get a touchdown?'
"It was, like, our easiest game of the playoffs."
Midway through the fourth quarter, with the Ravens' victory in hand, a messenger approached the owners' box and told Art Modell that he was wanted on the field. Forget it, his wife said. Why take chances?
"You sit your [butt] down," Patricia Modell insisted. "You're not going anywhere until this thing is over."
That championship was the apex of Modell's career, launched 50 years ago when he bought the Cleveland Browns in 1961. Six years later, the Super Bowl was born.
"This game has undergone an evolution," Modell said. "Yes, it's a huge spectacle, and it has a tremendous hold on the audience. People want to know every nuance and every side story. But the game itself is still number one, and we (the NFL) are too smart to let it get away from us."
Players aren't so sure.
"The Super Bowl is a gigantic party now," said Miller, the old Colts lineman. "If I had the opportunity to go to the game, I believe that I'd refuse. I just wouldn't want to get involved in all of that hoopla."
Forty years ago, he said, the halftime show featured mainstream singer Anita Bryant.
"Who the hell is it this year, the Black Eyed Peas?" said Miller, a native Louisianan. "The only black-eyed peas I know grow in my garden."
