Year S Super

In preparation for a possible increase in drunken driving on Super Bowl Sunday, Howard County police said yesterday that they will increase road patrols that day. Police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn said the presence of the Baltimore Ravens in this year's Super Bowl has heightened concerns about people driving while intoxicated. "We're taking extra precautions specifically because we have a local team in the Super Bowl," Llewellyn said. "We expect there will be a lot of celebrating." The department is referring to Sunday's beefed-up force as a "saturation patrol."

Friends, Ravens fans, Steelers bashers, lend me your ears; I come to tell you that the quality of this year's Super Bowl matchup doesn't matter, not to praise it. I know it's hard to get excited about a showdown between the bitter rival that deposed the Ravens and a 9-7 version of one of the worst franchises in recent American sports (one that jilted Baltimore in the 1980s, in case you forgot). I'm not going to try to fool you with words about Larry Fitzgerald's magnificent scoring grabs or Troy Polamalu's reckless but inspired disregard for his body.

MINNEAPOLIS -- For Chip Lohmiller, the trip to the Super Bowl is just like going home -- primarily because he is home."I just went to my house and sat on the couch and watched TV," the Washington Redskins place-kicker said yesterday.Lohmiller, who grew up in Minneapolis and kicked at the Metrodome for the University of Minnesota, had a few players, including Russ Grimm and Jeff Bostic, to his house to play pool Tuesday night.Lohmiller isn't going downtown to any of the nightspots during Super Bowl week.

According to a Reuters report I saw, the Nevada Gaming Control Board said it was only the second time since 1992 when such records have been kept that the sports books went in the red over the Super Bowl. The other occasion was in 1995 (San Francisco-San Diego). The killer bet for the sports books was the money line wagers on the Giants in which bettors were getting hefty odds for underdog New York to win outright. The dream bet, though, was for anyone who took the Giants on what is known as a "futures" bet to win the Super Bowl.

Who better to espouse the Kansas City Chiefs' chip-on-the-shoulder mentality than much-traveled receiver Andre Rison?"We've been making statements all year; how many more do we have to make?" Rison asked reporters following the Chiefs' 44-9 rout of the San Francisco 49ers. "The only statement we have to make is to get to the Super Bowl."Suddenly, the idea of Kansas City in the Super Bowl doesn't seem as far-fetched as it once did.The Chiefs have taken a lot of abuse since blowing home-field advantage in the playoffs two years ago. Their 1995 team went 13-3, won the AFC West, and then lost a first-round matchup with Ted Marchibroda's Indianapolis Colts, 10-7.

SAN DIEGO -- It wasn't the biggest upset -- the New York Jets and Kansas City overcame greater point spreads in 1969 and '70.It wasn't the closest outcome -- the New York Giants beat Buffalo by one point in '91.It wasn't even the most dramatic finish -- San Francisco marched 92 yards for the winning score in '89, finishing off Cincinnati with 34 seconds left.Still, Denver's 31-24 victory over Green Bay was a pivotal chapter in Super Bowl history. For historical significance, it might rank second only to the Jets' victory over the Colts.

In the Super Bowl, the quarterback matchup is usually the marquee attraction.Yet the team that wins the rushing battle is usually the one that wins the game.Of the first 32 Super Bowls, 29 have been won by the team that won the battle on the ground.The ground war in Super Bowl XXXIII next Sunday will be particularly intriguing because it will match the league's top two rushers, Terrell Davis of Denver and Jamal Anderson of Atlanta.That has never happened before in the Super Bowl and hasn't happened in a championship game since 1948, when Philadelphia's Steve Van Buren dueled Charlie Trippi of the Chicago Cardinals in a snowstorm.

In addition to quarterback Chris Chandler, these are five players who need big games for the Falcons to win:RB Jamal AndersonThe powerful Anderson doesn't have to gain 100 yards to keep the Falcons in the game, but he must convert short-yardage, third-down plays to balance the attack. The Broncos are allowing just 1.1 rushing yards per carry in the postseason, and Anderson will have to do much better than that to keep the defense honest.RT Ephraim SalaamThe rookie right tackle will be going against either five-year veteran Harald Hasselbach or 11-year vet Neil Smith.

A sampling of reports and columns about the Ravens and the Super Bowl from around the country: Jack McCallum, CNNSI.com: There's one reason I'm emotionally invested in this Super Bowl: Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi. The best thing about sports - the best thing about most things, I guess - is not the games or the strategy or even the pre-game meal. It's the people. There are good ones and bad ones, and, putting my normal cynicism aside, I believe the good ones outnumber the bad. Accorsi is one of the good ones.

Harry Swayne, a 14-year veteran who appeared out of a job a month ago, will reinvent himself this summer as a swing man in the Ravens' revamped offensive line. Showing the ability to adapt to changing circumstances, Swayne yesterday agreed to a pay cut and a backup role with the Super Bowl champions. His renegotiated contract calls for $1.2 million over two years, with up to $1 million in playing-time incentives each season. He was scheduled to make $2 million in 2001 as the team's starting right tackle.

As the Super Bowl approaches, our e-mail inbox is receiving a steady stream of messages on the wagering aspects of the game. It seems as though some people actually bet on the Super Bowl! In fact, some folks inside the gaming industry estimate the financial number for all Super Bowl wagering - meaning Las Vegas, the Internet, street bookies, office pools - is as high as $10 billion. That's with a "B." Recently, we received an e-mail from Bodog, the fairly well-known online gambling site, listing some of its 500 "prop bets" for the Super Bowl.

In January 1982, there was no village of corporate tents, no round-the-clock NFL Network, no weeklong extravaganza of fun events. There was just the Pontiac Silverdome, the Super Bowl and brutally cold weather. Bad combination, it turned out. Jim Steeg remembers it the way you might remember tumbling down a flight of stairs, painfully reliving each bounce. "Stuff happened almost like a perfect storm," said Steeg, who spent 26 years as the NFL's point man directing Super Bowls and special events.

WOW. IS MY face red? In a column in yesterday's newspaper, I reminisced about covering Super Bowl XVI in the bitter cold of a Detroit January. I told readers to expect to hear some belly-aching out of Jacksonville, Fla., this week as soon as the sporting press realized that they were closer to Georgia than they were to the Florida Keys. But whatever the weather this Super Bowl week, I wrote that it would not be as tough as it was in Detroit in 1982. That year, a city decimated by unemployment in a declining auto industry tried to put a frozen smile on the faces of football fans by creating a Bourbon Street North in abandoned store fronts in the once-bustling town of Pontiac.

Pick a number, any number. And make it a meaningful one, something you really care about. Your birthday? Good one. Anniversary? Understandable. But now really put some thought into it: What digit will mean more to your life in the next two weeks than any other (don't worry, we won't tell your spouse)? Which number will help spark each of your next dozen conversations? OK, now we're talking. It's the Super Bowl line. And it's New England by 7. Somewhere in the shadow of the Las Vegas glimmer, less than two miles from the famous hotels and casinos, five men sat around a table Sunday night with the task of providing that magic.

Harry Swayne, a 14-year veteran who appeared out of a job a month ago, will reinvent himself this summer as a swing man in the Ravens' revamped offensive line. Showing the ability to adapt to changing circumstances, Swayne yesterday agreed to a pay cut and a backup role with the Super Bowl champions. His renegotiated contract calls for $1.2 million over two years, with up to $1 million in playing-time incentives each season. He was scheduled to make $2 million in 2001 as the team's starting right tackle.

A sampling of reports and columns about the Ravens and the Super Bowl from around the country: Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times: In your face, America. You don't like the best player on your best football team grabbing a piece of the field and rubbing it all over his writhing body and shouting, "This is our turf!" before the opening kickoff? Dance on this. You don't like a man who last year admittedly lied to police in an investigation for a still-unsolved double murder being honored as the outstanding player in the most important sporting event in the country?

As the Super Bowl approaches, our e-mail inbox is receiving a steady stream of messages on the wagering aspects of the game. It seems as though some people actually bet on the Super Bowl! In fact, some folks inside the gaming industry estimate the financial number for all Super Bowl wagering - meaning Las Vegas, the Internet, street bookies, office pools - is as high as $10 billion. That's with a "B." Recently, we received an e-mail from Bodog, the fairly well-known online gambling site, listing some of its 500 "prop bets" for the Super Bowl.

According to a Reuters report I saw, the Nevada Gaming Control Board said it was only the second time since 1992 when such records have been kept that the sports books went in the red over the Super Bowl. The other occasion was in 1995 (San Francisco-San Diego). The killer bet for the sports books was the money line wagers on the Giants in which bettors were getting hefty odds for underdog New York to win outright. The dream bet, though, was for anyone who took the Giants on what is known as a "futures" bet to win the Super Bowl.

In preparation for a possible increase in drunken driving on Super Bowl Sunday, Howard County police said yesterday that they will increase road patrols that day. Police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn said the presence of the Baltimore Ravens in this year's Super Bowl has heightened concerns about people driving while intoxicated. "We're taking extra precautions specifically because we have a local team in the Super Bowl," Llewellyn said. "We expect there will be a lot of celebrating." The department is referring to Sunday's beefed-up force as a "saturation patrol."

A sampling of reports and columns about the Ravens and the Super Bowl from around the country: Jack McCallum, CNNSI.com: There's one reason I'm emotionally invested in this Super Bowl: Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi. The best thing about sports - the best thing about most things, I guess - is not the games or the strategy or even the pre-game meal. It's the people. There are good ones and bad ones, and, putting my normal cynicism aside, I believe the good ones outnumber the bad. Accorsi is one of the good ones.