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The Mighty Magnetism of the Big Screen
Jon Felts's 92-inch, high-definition, surround-sound TV system is his Super Bowl party's main draw.
(By John Mcdonnell -- The Washington Post)
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Consultant Rooney, who on a recent day sported a ponytail, Burberry tie and bright striped socks, holds many of Washington's audiovisual secrets. His firm, All Around Technology, has set up systems for some of Washington's most powerful people. He declined to identify them, lamenting how he could if his client base were in New York or Los Angeles. In Washington, "no one wants to admit they have a nice setup," Rooney said.
A barrage of calls to local heavyweights about screen size yielded a muted response. A White House spokesman declined to discuss the president's TV, citing policy against talking about the residence part of the building. A State Department spokeswoman wouldn't forward a query to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a well-known football fan. "We answer foreign policy questions here," she said. And a representative for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) didn't respond to questions posed by telephone and e-mail about Clinton's TV.
The Pentagon opened up. "We do have televisions down here," said Lt. Col. George Wright, deep inside the U.S. Army Operations Center. Specifically, five screens of up to roughly 60 inches, at least two of which are high-def capable.
About 30 staffers are expected to work today. Would they flip on the game? "It is not unusual on Sundays for at least one of the televisions to have professional football on," Wright said.
How big is the venue?
"Stand by, we're going to count some tiles," he said. Coming back a short time later, he reported: "About 34 by 42 feet."
Former House member Lee H. Hamilton, co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group, and his wife plan to go to the early part of a neighbor's Super Bowl party, then duck home to catch the game. A former Indiana high school and college basketball star, Hamilton is a strong Colts fan. His set is not over the top -- they have a 32-incher -- but it's high-def LCD, and Hamilton says the clarity of the picture, coupled with new overhead stadium cameras, puts you "right there in the huddle."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) plans to watch the game on a 32-inch plasma. The Baltimore native will not root for the Indianapolis Colts, a spokesman said, because she has never forgotten the way Colts owner Robert Irsay moved the team from Baltimore in the dead of the night 23 years ago.
If there are spiritual leaders of TV sports viewing in Washington, they are Steve Czaban and Andy Pollin, heard weekdays on SportsTalk 980 AM. Czaban plans to watch the game on his 65-inch high-def television, away from Super Bowl parties that attract once-a-year football fans. "To me, it's unacceptable," he says. "It's too precious to be mingling with amateurs."
Czaban and Pollin keep their salivating fans abreast of technology updates.
"Last year at the consumer electronics show in Las Vegas," Pollin said on the air last month, "Samsung unveiled a 102-inch plasma television screen. This year Sharp said, 'Not big enough!' . . . One! Oh! Eight!"
"Woo-hoo!" Czaban squalled.
