Pitoniak: NFL strikes gold, again
By: Scott Pitoniak
Updated: January 31, 2012
You have to hand it to the NFL. They are marketing geniuses. If there is money to be made, they'll make it.
One of their Madison Avenue whizzes suggested selling tickets to media day. So, Tuesday that's what they did. For the first time in Super Bowl history the general public was allowed in Lucas Oil Stadium to take in the media spectacle. Nearly 7,000 fans shelled out $25 apiece to sit in the stands and watch the circus unfold as a couple thousand media members grilled the Giants and Patriots players and coaches. Each fan received a gift bag featuring a small, six-channel radio that enabled them to listen to the interviews with the star players at the podiums.
Look for this to become a regular part of Super Bowl week and look for the crowds and NFL coffers to continue to explode.
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Tom Brady was asked if he would consider throwing to wide out Chad Ochocinco Sunday - something the New England quarterback didn't do much of during the regular season. His succinct reply: "Tell him to get open and I'll throw to him."Ouch-ocinco!
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Eli Manning left no doubt who he would choose in the media-mad debate about who's the better quarterback in the family - he or his big brother. "Peyton has had an unbelievable career and in my opinion is the best I've ever seen play football,'' the Giants quarterback said. "My goal is to get to his level of play. That's something I've worked on."
Peyton is an 11-time Pro Bowler, a five-time All-Pro and a four-time AP NFL MVP. Eli is a two-time Pro Bowler and holds league records for most fourth-quarter TD passes in a season (15, this year) and road playoff victories (5).
And, yes, if he beats the Patriots, he'll have two Super Bowl rings - one more than big bro.
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Interesting interview in Bloomberg Businessweek with Archie Manning about the two sons who followed in his cleat steps to become NFL quarterbacks. The former New Orleans Saints signalcaller had an inkling Peyton might one day make it to the big-time, but he wasn't so sure about Eli.He thought Eli might become sick of sports because they were always dragging him to his older brother's games.
"I always told Olivia (his wife), 'This child is not going to want to play sports,' " Archie recalled. "But he just followed the same path as Peyton. The same sports, the same position. Then a lot of folks started coming around, recruiting Eli, too. I didn't really know how good they were until it was confirmed by the colleges."
Peyton wound up starring at Tennessee, while Eli wound up at Ole Miss.
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In case you were wondering, here's how each team got its name.
In 1925, owner Tim Mara decided to call New York's new football team the Giants after the baseball team with the same name. That was common practice among many early NFL teams. They merely adopted the nickname of their baseball brethren.
The Patriots, meanwhile, can thank a bunch of Boston sportswriters. They believed it would be cool if the new AFL team was named after Patriot's Day, which is held each April in Beantown to celebrate Paul Revere's famous ride to warn the colonists that the British were coming. The Patriots were the 8th and final charter member of the fledgling league that eventually merged with the NFL. And they played their games in Boston for several years before moving down Route 1 to Foxboro.
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The big news of the day was about something missing - the walking boot Rob Gronkowski had been wearing since suffering a high ankle sprain in the AFC championship game nine days ago. Gronk showed up without it. That's encouraging news, but the New England tight end still isn't expected to practice this week and he gave no indication of whether he'd be ready to play and if so how effective he might be. Stay tuned.
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