By Art Spander
The Sports Xchange
GLENDALE, Ariz. — He was weary and battered, a champion once again, an MVP once more.
Tom Brady, who wasn't necessarily the man who made the difference — although certainly he was a difference-maker — stood there as much in gratification as in glory.
Copyright © 2015 The Sports Xchange
By Art Spander
Special to the Examiner
PHOENIX — They weren't going to trap Marshawn Lynch. He would talk Tuesday on Super Bowl Media Day. He would sit there at his rostrum and declare, "I'm only here so I won't get fined."
Declare it 28 times before adding, "Time up."
By Art Spander
The Sports Xchange
PHOENIX — There was a guy wearing only a barrel. No, not the late, great Tim McKernan of Denver; this was someone representing a local C&W station, KNIX.
There was a young lady from a Hispanic sports station wearing something so tight it could barely be confused with a dress, much less a barrel.
Copyright © 2015 The Sports Xchange
By Art Spander
The Sports Xchange
PHOENIX — Think of the great NFL coaches over the last half century, the Lombardis, Shulas, Nolls, even the Belichicks, because no matter what we think of Bill, he is part of this category and a much rarer category -- a winner in back-to-back Super Bowls.
Now consider adding the name of Pete Carroll to that list. Silly, you suggest, because Carroll, a product of California's fantasy-land Marin County, a guy whose easy-going ways when he coached the Jets were derided as "the good ship Lollipop?"
Copyright © 2015 The Sports Xchange
By Art Spander
The Sports Xchange
PHOENIX — Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, in his rimless glasses and dark suit, looked more like a businessman than a football coach. However, the questions he was asked moments after the Seahawks arrived for next Sunday's Super Bowl had nothing to do with finance.
Seattle's jet arrived at Sky Harbor Airport in the early afternoon, and not long after that, after the Seahawks' buses crept through the crowd of cheering, banner-waving fans at the motor entrance to the Arizona Grand Hotel, he was dealing with, yes, "deflategate."
Copyright © 2015 The Sports Xchange