SUPER BOWL JOURNAL: Warner for Secretary of State?

Norman Chad: A Warner follower and then some

Norman Chad is a funny writer.

OK, let’s alter that: Norman Chad writes funny stuff.

Ah, either one is right. And he’s fun to listen to on World Series of Poker telecasts on ESPN.

In his syndicated column this week, Chad predicts an Arizona Cardinals win in the Super Bowl. He predicted the Cardinals would get here before the 2008 season began.

He probably wasn’t serious, but so what?

In this week’s column: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/football/397428_chad26.html, Chad tells us what he thinks about the Cardinals and their quarterback. Here’s an excerpt:

I first saw Kurt Warner in 1999 and correctly identified him as a dome-dwelling, touchdown-tossing alien UFO. This is how much I believe in Kurt Warner: You want to fix the economy? Make Warner secretary of the treasury. You want world peace? Make Warner secretary of state. You want to walk on water? Make Warner cross the Mississippi after hopping on his back.

As for Warner himself, he was among a handful of Arizona players interviewed at the Cardinals’ team hotel Monday. Here’s what he said about his fan base in Iowa, and how important it is to him:

“My whole family is still back in Iowa. I love the people in Iowa, they have supported me from day one and it’s been kind of fun from that standpoint. Even though I didn’t necessarily play in Iowa, especially professionally other than arena football, I have a lot of fans there. It’s fun to go back. It’s fun to have something for them to cheer for. They don’t have a professional football team so I hope that wherever I go, they adopt my team and so we pick up some fans along the way. It always means a lot when you can impact a community in any way, shape, or form. For me to be able to do that over the years and have that interaction with the people there has been tremendous.”

SUPER BOWL JOURNAL: Day 1, at Radio Row

Why do they call this man "Mad Dog?"

TAMPA, Fla. — So here we are.

It’s been seven years since I covered a Super Bowl, and nothing of significance has changed. They’re still advertising the Bud Bowl. Representatives from future Super Bowl sites are still trying to tell anyone who will listen why their corner of the nation is America’s finest place to be.

And a lot of noise is still being churned out on Radio Row.

At the media center, which in this case is 600,000-square foot Tampa Convention Center, dozens of radio stations set up shop for Super Bowl week at tables in a ballroom. The tables are close together, and guests of any renown usually work their way across the room, making appearances on this show and that show.

It’s a noisy place, full of hot gas.

There’s 1040AM ESPN, and 1080AM ESPN, and 1250AM ESPN, and 710AM ESPN.

There’s WFAN of New York and KFAN of the Twin Cities.

The host of what I presume was a San Antonio radio show was loudly asking how many times the Spurs have won 60 games in a season. It seemed like a question that could have been pondered from San Antonio.

The Sports Edge is here, and the Sports Animal, and probably even the Sports Fry Cook and the Sports Isoseles Triangle.

WDBQ-AM in Dubuque has a table here, though it was unused Monday afternoon. It seems like it might be some sort of scam. I’ll continue to investigate.

I overheard Chris “Mad Dog” Russo doing his Mad Dog Radio on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio. Russo was a New York screamer for many years until he bolted for Sirius. He is a hyper, hyper fellow.

Someone called his show and asked if Kurt Warner should be a Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee one day. Russo strongly said no.

“There were five seasons when Warner was a mess, not a factor,” Russo said.

It’s a minority opinion based on everything I’ve read and heard in the last week from learned football people, but I guess it isn’t good radio to go with the flow. Better to act the loud, uninformed fool.

Although, the Mad Dog was right that Warner didn’t do a whole lot between 2002 and 2006.

So, that was my first hour at the Super Bowl. Tonight will be a time to mosey around, get the lay of the land, and then plunge in Tuesday morning when Media Day is held at Raymond James Stadium.

Y’all come back now, ya hear?