NBC continues to play musical chairs on Football Night in America, the network's Sunday night blanket coverage of the NFL including a prime time game. (I'm surprised NBC hasn't added Jay Leno to the broadcast!) The latest change is an interesting one: Super Bowl winning coach Tony Dungy is joining the panel and former running back Jerome Bettis is out. What's interesting is that they are two completely different types. Bettis, whose nickname is "The Bus," is well-known as the smiling winner from the 2006 Pittsburgh Steelers' Super Bowl team. He's loud, boisterous and a larger-than-life personality. Dungy, on the other hand, was the architect and head man for the 2007 Indianapolis Colts' Super Bowl championship. He is cerebral and thoughtful and the author of a bestselling memoir, Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, and Priorities of a Winning Life. You could say that the two men are the anti-thesis of each other, which is likely why NBC has made the switch.
At the rate they're going, the 2008 presidential candidates will have made appearances on every kind of TV program before voting day arrives. No show is too insignificant, it seems. (Seriously, if only we could have seen Obama and McCain do the cha-cha on Dancing with the Stars!)
During the Super Bowl earlier this month, ABC micced up Jerome
Bettis and occasionally played clips of his motivational speeches to teammates during the game. Apparently NBC
considered that an audition, because he's been hired as one of the commentators for Sunday NFL games. He'll join Bob
Costas and 
Underneath all that beard, Grizzly Adams is a good looking
fellow. Last night, Dave Letterman did what I wanted to do during the entire Super Bowl game on Sunday: shave Ben
Roethlisberger's beard. The 23-year-old Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback is the youngest in NFL history to win a Super
Bowl. He doesn't usually wear a beard, but he says it became his good luck charm after the Steelers lost to Cincinnati
back in October. He told Dave, "I kind of went into a depression and didn't shave and we ended up winning the next
game." It turns out, young Roethlisberger is a little bit superstitious so he kept the beard all the way through
the Super Bowl.
This is the first year in my life when I actually
am interested in who wins the Super Bowl. You see, I grew up in a baseball home. My first taste of football was in
college (Go Griz!) and I've never had a national team to root for. Well, I still don't have a national team to root
for. I live in Portland, OR, a city that lives vicariously through the professional sports teams that Seattle has.
Therefore, I'm rooting for the Seahawks on Sunday.
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