Saints Sideline Blog

MEDIA MADNESS

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010      Email Print

DATELINE: Miami, FL (I have a question "When is it going to stop raining here?")
 
Super Bowl Media Day is one of my favorite events. Its almost like a Media Olympics where you are competing against several local and national entities to see who can get the most off the wall stories. This day doesn't break any news where Dwight Freeney's ankle is still doubtful, Marques Colston is still modest and Drew Brees is still good at not biting on any controversial questions. No, Media Day is fun and a chance to really get to know the personality of the Saints who have a collection of diverse individuals.
 
This year's Media Day actually made history. For the first time it had do be moved indoors because of the wacky weather here in South Florida. That made things a little more cramped than usual and it was harder to get close to the several stars on the podium. Another hitch was in years past we could use our microphones to directly ask the big name athletes on the team who are propped up on the podiums (Brees, Bush, Shockey, Sharper etc) but in this set up we had to plug our mics in a malt box which prevented us from getting closer to the Saints. Still many players who weren't on podiums had fun doing skits and answering questions we normally don't have the chance to ask. For example, we got a chance to take an informal poll and as a result dish out some Saints Superlatives!
 
Here are my results:
 
Best Interview: The most reliable in my opinion is Right Tackle Jon Stinchcomb who is both funny and smart. Not only does he give you good answers but always win or lose provides quality perspective on the pulse of the team. Roman Harper is also very good and isn't shy about offering a unique opinion. Today the surprise of Media Day was Sedrick Ellis who was very entertaining and seemed very comfortable participating in the craziness.There really aren't many bad interviews on this team which is unusual in the NFL.
 
Smartest Saint: Drew Brees wins this one by a landslide. I asked several teammates this question and they cited Brees command of the offense and his decision making...who could argue!
 
Class Clown: Anthony Hargrove also is a unanimous winner. The Saints defensive lineman was a popular interview at Media Day having overcome drug addiction a year ago to rebound a year later to play in the Super Bowl. Hargrove is always good at keeping the team loose as well and to his credit has become one of the more popular players after only one season in a Saints uniform.
 
Quietest Saint: Usama Young gets the nod in what was the toughest vote. Many Saints tell me they couldn't even answer the question as there aren't many "shy" players on this football team. My vote would be Devery Henderson who is a good interview but very modest.
 
Most Likely to Succeed (in the Super Bowl) This was the most wide open catagory where I got several answers from players on both sides of the football. The answers included Reggie Bush, Pierre Thomas, Will Smith and of course Drew Brees. Maybe the best answer could be " all of the above."
 
Yes Media Day affords us the opportunity to learn more than X's and O's, it gives us a chance to see the Saints in a different light. I would say the franchise's first Super Bowl Media Day was a rousing success where this team didn't act like rookies they handled the Media heat like grizzled veterans.
 
WHO DAT HITS
 
NOT REGGIE'S FIRST RODEO: You would have thought this was Reggie Bush's first Super Bowl Media Day but that wasn't the case. Reggie told me he was a student reporter back in 2003 when the Bucs met the Raiders in Reggie's hometown of San Diego.
 
COACH HEATH EVANS: You feel for Saints fullback Heath Evans who can't play in the Super Bowl which is being played close to his hometown of Jupiter Florida. Evans isn't moping around though, he has been helping coach up his fellow running backs like Reggie Bush who he has encouraged to run more physical between the tackles. Evans told me he would like to pursue a coaching career when he is done playing.
 
BUSHROD NOT BACKING DOWN: Jermon Bushrod is ready to meet the Colts with or without Dwight Freeney. He says criticism of his play motivates him and he enters the game feeling confident after a solid performance against Jared Allen and the Vikings in the NFC Championship.
 
TIKI OR RONDE?? I had a chance to catch up with Tiki Barber who was working with Yahoo Sports and asked him how many people have called him Ronde this week? He says he gets it quite a bit in the South but Ronde gets it when he makes it up North.
 
NOBODY ASKED ME BUT: A lot of media members get annoyed with the non-sports media who participate at Super Bowl Media Day but I like it. It makes things more interesting at this event and its funny to watch how these NFL players respond to their antics, I think its good to mix things up once in a while!
 
UNTIL NEXT BLOG,
Mike Nabors
CST

By: Mike Nabors

An Emmy award winning sports reporter who covers a wide variety of events for CST. Primarily, Mike serves as the network's reporter for Saints coverage.

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