ABC held a news conference in Atlanta Tuesday to
"promote its Super Bowl coverage," according to Paul
Daugherty of the CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, who notes that the
network will use "40-some cameras" to track action on the
field and provide viewers replay action from "three
different angles." ABC's "MNF" announcing team of Al
Michaels and Boomer Esiason will call the game. Daugherty
notes that ABC "drafted Boomer to be Boomer, but [Esiason]
became what he thought a TV guy should be." Daugherty:
"The hardest thing to be on TV is yourself. ... Esiason is
trying. On Sunday night, he'll get a reprieve. Everyone
will watch him; no one will hear. I hope his tie is good"
(CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 1/26). Michaels, when asked by USA
TODAY's Rudy Martzke if another analyst should be added to
ABC's two-man booth: "I don't want to go into another
change. I'm very happy right now. ... Boomer's been in this
two-man booth for one year. That's not enough time to
decide what we (ABC) should do. Don't make a rash decision
based on three or four months." Martzke writes that
Michaels "scoffs" at a recent CNNSI.com poll of 12,500
respondents that showed that 20% "regarded Michaels and
Esiason as the second most-overrated team behind Fox's Pat
Summerall and John Madden." Michaels: "Are you going to
tell me that Summerall and Madden are a bad team? It's a
bogus poll" (USA TODAY, 1/26).
ON THE MARK? ABC Sports VP/Media Relations Mark Mandel
said, "Our researchers expect an increase in the Super Bowl
rating from last year." Last year's Super Bowl on Fox
earned a 40.2 rating, the "sixth lowest" rating of the 33
Super Bowls (USA TODAY, 1/26).
A GOOD INVESTMENT? The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Kelly
Greene profiles JWGenesis Financial's 5% stake in MVP.com in
the paper's Southeast edition and reports MVP.com "is timing
its launch to this Sunday's Super Bowl and is hoping to go
public within a year." Greene writes that MVP.com "has its
share of skeptics." Forrester Research analyst Dan O'Brien:
"They will have an instant public, but that doesn't
translate into instant success on the Web." Greene notes
MVP.com investors John Elway, Michael Jordan and Wayne
Gretzky "are expected to be spreading the word" on MVP.com
this week "at several shindigs, including the Host
Committee's big lunch Thursday ... and a premiere party
Friday night" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 1/26).
THE NAME GAME CONTINUES: USA TODAY's Chris Jenkins
profiles "cybersquatter" Aran Smith, a 27-year-old
psychology major at S.F. State Univ. who owns the rights to
the domain stevemcnair.com. Smith has also bought
"approximately 300 athletes' dot-com names, including
several players who should figure prominently in Sunday's
Super Bowl." Smith: "I'm not promoting myself. I'm
promoting the players" (USA TODAY, 1/26).
