Super Bowl Media Day: Manning and Merchandise

The Super Bowl Media Day, as I heard from a bald-headed announcer with the laid-back disposition of an aged rock DJ, is not about talking game plans or strategy. For him, it is about the "love for the game of football" — whatever that means.

In my opinion though, Super Bowl Media Day is a parade. The players roam out, some, probably rookies or third-stringers, hold blinking cameras outstretched above their head surveying the 7,000 fans parked in stadium benches who then point their cameras back at them. They wear their uniforms without pads and seem small for a fraction of a second until Justin Tuck, defensive tackle for the New York Giants, steps up to his small media "cubicle." He hunches his enormous shoulders over his elbows to mumble into the microphone about being happy to be here. The more important, recognizable players — guys like Tuck and Eli brother-of-greatest-player-ever Manning — are seated in small booths that line the field parallel to the sideline like a career fair for men with arms the size of pine trees.

This is a celebration and like all celebrations, fans in attendance receive goody bags. Inside we receive a) two packs of NFL football player cards (guaranteed rookie card inside!) b) a complete NFL sticker book with four stickers c) special Indianapolis Colts chapstick d) shampoo e) more shampoo and f) a Super Bowl Indianapolis mouse pad. All of these gifts are awesome.

While junior Matt Davis and I watch this from stands, we cannot help but feel compelled to yell everything we see. "There's Adam Schefter!" "Oh my god that's Ciara!" "Dude, that guy's on ‘Around the Horn!'"

We are also given small radios to clip to our ears. From these we can hear the players through their microphones. I switch first to Giants Hakeem Nicks, a wide receiver, then Manning, then Ahmad Bradshaw, a running back, and then back to Nicks. A tiny reporter tells running back Brandon Jacobs to feel his forearm to gain the "power of the dragon." Matt nudges and tells me to go to channel three. When Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz begins to speak in Spanish, we almost lose it.

We leave three hours later, high-fiving the whole time, goody bags strapped tight around our backs. We grab some food and trade NFL (rookie guaranteed) trading cards. This is so much better than class.

— Fanelli is a junior from Indianapolis majoring in English writing with a minor in political science. He is the sports editor of The DePauw.