Journalism Left Behind in Super Bowl Broadcast

Ted Johnson's life has been in a tailspin since 2004, when he suffered two concussions in one week. He blames the second on his former coach, Bill Belichick. (Michael Dwyer - AP)

After multiple concussions as a player, he said he now suffers from depression, spends hours locked in his apartment and takes heavy doses of un-prescribed amphetamines to try to cope with his various demons.

Wasn't that worth a story during the four-hour pre-game, perhaps twinned with the suicide last November of former Eagles defensive back Andre Watters, another apparent victim of constant concussions suffered during his playing career? How does the network of Edward R. Murrow not even offer a whiff of such timely and telling stories during its marquee day of football programming.

To compound the error, CBS ran a pre-game segment sponsored by McDonalds called "Playoff Pounders" which showed, in order, the top five body-numbing, brain-jarring wicked hits administered so far in the 2007 playoffs. In light of all those players now walking around on artificial knees and hips, some still suffering from post-concussive symptoms, how in good conscience could CBS air such a gratuitously violent feature, even if the quarter-pounder types surely were paying a pretty penny to be the title sponsor of such tripe?

Purists might argue that CBS Sports is in the entertainment business, and no one watching on Super Bowl Sunday wants to see such depressing news. But the network had no problem airing heart-tugging features on the premature deaths of former Bears running backs Brian Piccollo and Walter Payton, not to mention Walsh's fight against cancer, or the real-life horror of coping with life in Baghdad on Super Bowl Sunday.

But back to what the network did give us.

Their most semi-controversial story of the pre-game focused on Bears defensive tackle Tank Johnson, who had to be given a judicial reprieve from house arrest because of pending weapons charges in order to leave Illinois and play in the Super Bowl. Here's a guy who kept assault weapons and 500 rounds of ammunition in a house he shared with his girlfriend and their two toddler children, but football clearly took precedence over responsible jurisprudence.

It was a story that was covered ad nauseum for weeks, though Esiason and fellow pre-game analyst Shannon Sharpe at least spiced it up with a huge difference of opinion on whether Johnson should have been allowed to play at all.

"I think the Chicago Bears missed an opportunity here to send a message not only to their own team but to the rest of the players in the NFL, "Esiason said. "They should have deactivated him for the rest of the season, and that means the playoffs and the Super Bowl. I think they made a mistake¿ There are things more important than the game right here."

Said Sharpe, "There are a lot of people out there under house arrest that get an opportunity to go to their job and work every day. Tank Johnson's job just requires that he come down to Miami. I think he should have been here¿ Tank Johnson is not a threat to the community, and that's why he he's here."

Of course he's not a threat. After all, they wouldn't let him take the guns or the ammo on the team plane now would they?

And now, back to the Super Bowl.

The telecast was like any game handled by smooth operating Jim Nantz and perceptive analyst Phil Simms, my favorite among any NFL announcing team on television (for one game, any game, on radio or TV, I'll still take Marv Albert). At the start of the game, Simms said he didn't think the rainy weather was going to be much of a factor, but after three fumbles in the first quarter in a steady downpour, at least he had no difficulty admitting he'd been wrong.

To nitpick, it would have been nice for both announcers to explain at some point why the field hadn't gotten muddy despite the deluge (Dolphin Stadium has tons of sand and a special drainage system underneath to assure mostly sure footing) and CBS was a tad late in showing a replay illustrating why Colts receiver Reggie Wayne was so wide open for that long first quarter touchdown.

But one of the best pictures of the night was a replay of Bears return man Devin Hester watching himself on the stadium Jumbotron returning the opening kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown, even as he was sprinting toward the end zone. Another dead-on replay from a variety of angles clearly showed that Colts cornerback Kelvin Hayden's 56-yard interception touchdown to break open the game should not have been overturned, because both his feet stayed in bounds on the sidelines, despite a challenge from Chicago.

Also to their credit, CBS did not beat to death the Peyton Manning legacy story, or the historical implications of having two African-American head coaches in the Super Bowl for the first time. Both issues were obviously part of the commentary, but with proper restraint until the timing was absolutely right on both fronts.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the network's overall news judgment. Yes, it was Super Bowl Sunday, but a dose of the real world after professional football, long after the confetti has stopped flying and the cameras have turned off, should not have been ignored.

Leonard Shapiro can be reached at Badgerlen@hotmail.com or Badgerlen@aol.com.