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Super Bowl Diary: Thursday

All of a sudden, Chandler's a plus

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Posted: Thursday January 28, 1999 02:23 PM

Notes of the Day | 10 Things I Think I Think

MIAMI -- If the Super Bowl turns into a game of cool, the quarterbacks look like a draw to me. That's changed, of course, in this postseason. The one overriding impression I have of championship weekend, and the one I carry into this week, is Atlanta quarterback Chris Chandler marching the Falcons downfield at the Metrodome as if he were some Patton. He did more in one day to change the opinion around the league about him than any player I've ever seen. Then again, Elway's Elway, the epitome of cool.

This morning Chandler told me he thinks it's silly that some people think the Falcons have an edge at quarterback this week. (I do, if Elway plays like he did against the Jets.) "It's something I don't think anyone could say and back it up," Chandler said. "John Elway is Michael Jordan. He can turn it on and win a game for the team. The people who feel that we have an edge there don't know the game very well."

In the media pigpile around Chandler at the Miami Airport Hilton, I told him his demeanor in Atlanta's title-game win was pretty calm. "It's experience," he shrugged. "What is experience? I don't know. It's not being overwhelmed by things that as a young guy overwhelmed you. It's an intangible. Being in a loud place like Minnesota and not letting it get the best of you was really important. I responded. We responded. We had a goal: no more than two procedure penalties. We had none. You know you're going to play really hard, play the best you can on every play. If it's not good enough, it's not good enough. What's more frustrating than making a physical mistake is making a mistake because of nerves. You're edgy. You're bothered by the situation. Sometimes in my career, I've watched me in a big play on film after the game a play that went wrong, and think: 'That wasn't a big deal. Why'd I let the sit affect me.' The key -- and I think I've learned this now -- is when you make a bad play, you have to forget it And when you make a bad play, forget that, too. I know it's corny, and I've heard other quarterbacks sit here and say that, but you have to take every play one at a time and play it the best you can. That's all you can do."

I drove to the Broncos' hotel for their media session and asked Elway about playing cool. "The bottom line is you've got to fight getting overexcited for the game," he said. "Things can't be going too fast for you. In this game, you have to pull the reins back. You've got to slow things down. It's not easy, but you've got to do the best you can."

"Hopefully," Elway said, "I can save my best for Sunday." The best has been pretty good for these guys this month.

Notes of the Day

The Agony of Defeat Gnaws at Your Intrepid Reporter

I set up the First Annual Super Bowl Media Ping Pong Tournament. I got NFL PR men extraordinaire Dan Edwards , Gary Wright and Vince Casey to get a table in the media center at the Hyatt. I drew the brackets in the 16-man field. I wanted it bad.

I got blown out in the first round.

In the AP agate type, the result would read:

Steve Serby , N.Y. Post, def. Peter King , Sports Illustrated, 21-12, 21-11.

I'm a defensive specialist. Usually I wait out the other guy, and I figure after 15 hits across the table he'll get impatient and try to slam one, and then I'll have him. Serby is me, just a lot better. You can't get one past him, and he returns everything. I helped him too. Up 10-9 in Game 2 of the best-of-three, I started trying to force the action. Not my game. He routed me.

Serby thought my big mistake came early. While waiting for my first-round match, I took advantage of the free massage chairs next to the table. The massage was good. Maybe it turned me bad. Maybe I'm good at the excuses.

"I had an easy first-round draw," Serby said. "A massage?! BEFORE the game? Are you nuts? I mean, what would Bill Parcells have said if Lawrence Taylor got a pre-game massage?"

SHAMELESS PLUG OF THE DAY: Chris Chandler, on how he heard of the trade that sent him from Indianapolis to Tampa in 1990: "I was at a bar in Arizona. Saw it on CNN."

QUOTE OF THE DAY: From Atlanta tackle Bob Whitfield, on the absurdly beautiful weather in Miami this week: "I can't stay here year-round. I'd be at the dang beach all day, running around in flip-flops and all that. I can't be a beachcomber. I'm a house guy. I like to stay in the house and watch my big new TV, and you can't do that in Miami. It's like they force you to go outside. When you wake up in the morning, the sun is sitting right there at your window, saying: 'Hello. Wake up! Get your butt outside. Let's go outside.' It was great fun the first few days here, but yesterday I spent a beautiful, glorious day in Room 1010 of our hotel, sleeping and watching TV."

Now for Today's 10 Things I Think I Think:

1. I think before this morning I thought I had a pretty cool perch before the AFC Championship Game, sitting in the control booth between the Denver offensive and defensive team meeting rooms. Then Mike Shanahan told me Al Pacino was in the booth recently, preparing for the Oliver Stone movie On Any Given Sunday. Now I know I had a killer spot. Pacino plays the head coach in that movie. "He thought it was unbelievable," Shanahan said.

2. I think Shanahan has the best view of coaching burnout. "I've noticed the guys who have burnout have a lot of money in the bank. I've never seen assistant coaches who have burnout, do you?"

3. I think, continuing on the Shanahan bandwagon, that he's a pretty smart guy. Denver's team hotel is a 40-minute drive from South Beach when traffic is light, and so, in a subtle attempt to discourage his players from making the trip three or four times this week, he's set up a world-class rec room in the hotel. Pool table. Ping Pong tables. Video games. Pop-a-shot games. And he's given his players two comped Spectravision movies to keep them in the hotel.

4. I think that, although Terrell Owens is the best choice for Miami because he's a team guy and three years younger, the Dolphins will go after Cincinnati free agent Carl Pickens.

5. I think the Rams, who will negotiate with Kansas City free-agent quarterback Rich Gannon, should go hard after St. Louis' own Trent Green, the potential Washington free-agent quarterback.

6. I think, by the looks of the NBA highlights last night, that Shawn Kemp ate the state of Ohio during the lockout. (As if I'm one to talk.)

7. I think there's nothing left to say, and it's only Thursday at 11:30 in the morning.

8. I think this city -- I mean downtown Miami -- scares me at night.

9. I think Elway gets the impact of Terrell Davis on his world. Asked how much smarter he is as a quarterback with Davis in the backfield, Elway said: "I'm a genius."

10. I think there should be a lot more Terrell Davises in this league -- the player and the person.

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