Super Bowl Xli

A committee was formed on the closing day of the NFL meetings yesterday to look into restoring the Pottsville Maroons as league cochampions with the Chicago Cardinals for the 1925 season. Gov. Rendell and Pottsville Mayor John D.W. Reiley yesterday spoke to the league's 32 owners about lifting the stiff penalty the Maroons suffered that year that caused them to forfeit their games, including a 21-7 victory over the Cardinals and a 9-7 triumph over more powerful Notre Dame. It was because of the game against the Fighting Irish, who had the legendary Four Horsemen at the time, that the Maroons were stripped of the title.

Fact: The Chicago Bears are representing the NFC in Super Bowl XLI. Assumption: The Chicago Bears have no chance of winning Super Bowl XLI. Perhaps that's an exaggeration, but only a slight one. The NFC, once the dominant conference, is now considered the inferior one, and it's a well-earned reputation. It doesn't much matter that the Bears arrived at this Super Bowl with a 15-3 record and a better defense than their AFC opponent. The Indianapolis Colts are listed as seven-point favorites, and few would be surprised if Peyton Manning's team won by a lot more Sunday night at Dolphin Stadium.

Back in the summer, as the August heat beat down on the Giants at their training camp in Albany, N.Y., Eli Manning acknowledged that he had ring envy. Brother Peyton had the rock, this monstrous diamond-and-sapphire Super Bowl ring commemorating the Indianapolis Colts' win over the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI. Eli didn't want to stare, and certainly didn't want his big brother to see him stare. But he wanted one. Badly. Last night, with Peyton watching from a luxury box at University of Phoenix Stadium, Eli joined his brother as a Super Bowl champion, beating Peyton's biggest nemeses, the New England Patriots.

Because this nation is a colorful mosaic as opposed to the mythical melting pot many pretend it to be, check-down lists of the accomplishments of those who look like you, speak like you, experience America the way you do, will always matter. First Irish American president? Check. And Roman Catholic? Check. First female speaker of the House? First black to coach a Super Bowl team? Check. Check. Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts and Lovie Smith of the Chicago Bears will jointly become the first in that category when their teams meet in Super Bowl XLI in Miami Feb. 4. And guaranteed, when one of those two men victoriously climbs the Mount Olympus of professional football, many, many black Americans will not only make mental notes of the championship "first.

Trouble can find even the most disciplined in Miami. Every vice, for a price, is available. Sex. Drugs. Late-night parties. In the past, Miami has claimed more than one NFL player during Super Bowl week. Eugene Robinson and Stanley Wilson set the standard for egregious, costly behavior on the eve of a Super Bowl, and no one - neither the league nor the teams nor the players involved in Super Bowl XLI - wants a new incident on the police blotter this week. It's Super Bowl week.

The focus at Super Bowl XLI has been on the Indianapolis Colts' offense and the Chicago Bears' defense, both of which ranked among the best in the NFL during the regular season. In fact, there was a telling scene this week during one of the Bears' media gatherings at their team headquarters near Miami International Airport. When the interview sessions opened, the men and women loaded with cameras, microphones and notepads huddled around a table occupied by defensive coordinator Ron Rivera.

Tony Dungy began creating his message in early 2000, when his Tampa Bay Buccaneers were on the cusp of the Super Bowl. One name after another popped into Dungy's consciousness. John Thompson. Bill Russell. Eddie Robinson. Sherman Lewis. Dennis Green. Doug Williams. Warren Moon. John Chaney. Seven years would pass before Dungy got the opportunity on sports' biggest stage to honor those African Americans, more than he could possibly name, who came before him. But now that he is here, now that he and Lovie Smith are about to make history on Sunday in Super Bowl XLI, Dungy has not used his platform for mere folly.

The Chicago Bears' lineage of superstar middle linebackers is so far from being matched by any other team in the NFL that perhaps it's more than just a coincidence. "I think maybe it has to do with the character of the city," Bears defensive coordinator Ron Rivera said. "It's a blue-collar town that appreciates hard-nosed football. It has a lot to do with the style of the head coaches that have been here, too. They've always been guys that want to attack, run the football, and believe in playing stout defense.

Steve Smith, Mel Hinton, Andy Hinson and Reggie Lawrence - black men all - will not be together during tomorrow's Super Bowl XLI in Miami. But the four local football coaches will have something in common. They will be celebrating the fact that Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts and Lovie Smith of the Chicago Bears will be the first black men to coach in the NFL's biggest game. "I long for the day that it is not an issue," Hinton said. "But, at this time, it is an important issue.

For the Eagles and seven other Super Bowl wannabes, the NFL playoffs start this weekend, and that means the theories and statistics soon will be flowing like Bud Light at a Mummers reunion. Some of the analytical avalanche will be valid: Teams that get an early lead in postseason games will have a huge advantage. Some will be less so: The Super Bowl champion isn't always the team playing best at season's end. The 2007 Giants, for example, lost two of their last three games, the 2006 Colts three of their final five.

TO BE HONEST, this isn't a debate I contemplated having. On one hand, I've always believed that the accomplishments of New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning have been shortchanged because they have been judged in comparison to those of his older brother, Peyton, of the Indianapolis Colts. I never agreed with those Eagles fans who had so much contempt for the Giants that they refused to ever give Eli his full due, even on those occasions when he clearly outplayed whoever was quarterbacking the Eagles.

For the Eagles and seven other Super Bowl wannabes, the NFL playoffs start this weekend, and that means the theories and statistics soon will be flowing like Bud Light at a Mummers reunion. Some of the analytical avalanche will be valid: Teams that get an early lead in postseason games will have a huge advantage. Some will be less so: The Super Bowl champion isn't always the team playing best at season's end. The 2007 Giants, for example, lost two of their last three games, the 2006 Colts three of their final five.

Back in the summer, as the August heat beat down on the Giants at their training camp in Albany, N.Y., Eli Manning acknowledged that he had ring envy. Brother Peyton had the rock, this monstrous diamond-and-sapphire Super Bowl ring commemorating the Indianapolis Colts' win over the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI. Eli didn't want to stare, and certainly didn't want his big brother to see him stare. But he wanted one. Badly. Last night, with Peyton watching from a luxury box at University of Phoenix Stadium, Eli joined his brother as a Super Bowl champion, beating Peyton's biggest nemeses, the New England Patriots.

INDIANAPOLIS - If Super Bowl XLII is as good as Super Bowl XLI 1/2, the NFL and Fox TV will be very happy. Tom Brady added to his cleft-chinned legend as he led his 9-0 Patriots from a 10-point, fourth-quarter deficit to a 24-20 win yesterday over the wilted, 7-1 Colts in what was subjectively billed as the best regular-season game in league history; certainly, objectively, no two undefeated teams ever met this late in a season. In what could be a preview to the AFC Championship Game, Brady was Brady, engineering his 25th fourth-quarter, game-winning drive after cruising through the season's first 8 weeks.

He hears the comparisons, and always they make him cringe. Peyton Manning won a Super Bowl. Tom Brady won three. Ron Jaworski was savvy and scrappy and played in a Super Bowl. Randall Cunningham was an electrifying playmaker. What, Don, have you done? It is an inescapable part of the business of being a quarterback, and particularly a quarterback in the city of Philadelphia, one of the toughest jobs in the National Football League. McNabb has helped resurrect the Eagles franchise.

The Chicago Bears' lineage of superstar middle linebackers is so far from being matched by any other team in the NFL that perhaps it's more than just a coincidence. "I think maybe it has to do with the character of the city," Bears defensive coordinator Ron Rivera said. "It's a blue-collar town that appreciates hard-nosed football. It has a lot to do with the style of the head coaches that have been here, too. They've always been guys that want to attack, run the football, and believe in playing stout defense.

The focus at Super Bowl XLI has been on the Indianapolis Colts' offense and the Chicago Bears' defense, both of which ranked among the best in the NFL during the regular season. In fact, there was a telling scene this week during one of the Bears' media gatherings at their team headquarters near Miami International Airport. When the interview sessions opened, the men and women loaded with cameras, microphones and notepads huddled around a table occupied by defensive coordinator Ron Rivera.

Steve Smith, Mel Hinton, Andy Hinson and Reggie Lawrence - black men all - will not be together during tomorrow's Super Bowl XLI in Miami. But the four local football coaches will have something in common. They will be celebrating the fact that Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts and Lovie Smith of the Chicago Bears will be the first black men to coach in the NFL's biggest game. "I long for the day that it is not an issue," Hinton said. "But, at this time, it is an important issue.

Tony Dungy began creating his message in early 2000, when his Tampa Bay Buccaneers were on the cusp of the Super Bowl. One name after another popped into Dungy's consciousness. John Thompson. Bill Russell. Eddie Robinson. Sherman Lewis. Dennis Green. Doug Williams. Warren Moon. John Chaney. Seven years would pass before Dungy got the opportunity on sports' biggest stage to honor those African Americans, more than he could possibly name, who came before him. But now that he is here, now that he and Lovie Smith are about to make history on Sunday in Super Bowl XLI, Dungy has not used his platform for mere folly.

Fact: The Chicago Bears are representing the NFC in Super Bowl XLI. Assumption: The Chicago Bears have no chance of winning Super Bowl XLI. Perhaps that's an exaggeration, but only a slight one. The NFC, once the dominant conference, is now considered the inferior one, and it's a well-earned reputation. It doesn't much matter that the Bears arrived at this Super Bowl with a 15-3 record and a better defense than their AFC opponent. The Indianapolis Colts are listed as seven-point favorites, and few would be surprised if Peyton Manning's team won by a lot more Sunday night at Dolphin Stadium.