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January 28, 2004
Dog and Pony Show
Panthers participate in Media Day at Reliant Stadium as NFL holds annual theater of the absurd
By Joe Menzer | JOURNAL REPORTER
HOUSTON
The Carolina Panthers survived Media Day at Reliant Stadium yesterday - and even talked a little about Super Bowl XXXVIII.
But only a very little.
Someone with a curious sense of humor named it Media Day long ago, but it isn't really so much about the media. It's really about people who have nothing to do with football showing up to ask outrageous questions about subjects that often have nothing to do with football. It's part of the ritual of Super Bowl week.
When the announcement boomed over the public-address system that the Panthers' one-hour session for Super Bowl Media Day was starting, the Panthers' players already were in place. The really big names - as if the Panthers had any really big names - got to sit on platforms high above the hustle and bustle of the Reliant Stadium field.
Coach John Fox, running back Stephen Davis, quarterback Jake Delhomme and defensive tackle Brentson Buckner were given their own little platforms.
Buckner actually started out talking about football, and might have gotten around to answering some questions about Sunday's Super Bowl if teammate Deon Grant hadn't played television reporter and busted in with a microphone to ask questions for the new ESPN show Cold Pizza.
A producer for the show encouraged Grant to rib Buckner about his attire, particularly the decision to wear a white skullcap with a Panthers baseball cap over it. Grant nodded, then proceeded to call an audible and ask Buckner instead about all the "ice" he was wearing.
In players' lingo, "ice" refers to diamonds and Buckner had one in each ear, a whole bunch on two dog tags and two giants B's that hung from the end of a large silver chain looped around his neck. Oh, and then there was all the ice on his Rolex watch. The watch alone probably was worth more than a 2,500-square-foot house in most North Carolina markets.
"I wear all this ice to signify that I'm cool, calm and collected about being in this big game," Buckner responded to the newest member of the media.
Not far away, someone was actually talking football. But he wasn't a member of the Carolina Panthers. It was Charlie Casserly, general manager of the Houston Texans, who make their home in Reliant Stadium.
Casserly was applauding the Panthers for their free-agent acquisition of quarterback Jake Delhomme last off-season.
"This is how you go and get a young quarterback today. This is how you find the next Steve Young or Brett Favre or Joe Montana. Or Mark Brunell. What did they give up for him (in Jacksonville), a third-(round draft pick) and a sixth?" Casserly said.
"(The Panthers) did the right thing by going out and getting a young guy who had some experience and had been a backup and had been overseas to play. Now it turns out they may have found a great one. He certainly helped get them here."
No one asked Casserly what he was doing here, on the Panthers' Super Bowl Media Day stage. What he was saying was interesting and made sense, so no one asked him to leave.
Behind Casserly, someone else was talking about Sunday's game. It was Dan Henning, the offensive coordinator of the Panthers.
An honest-to-goodness football writer was asking Henning about the Panthers using 40 running plays and only 14 passing plays in the 14-3 win at Philadelphia in the NFC championship game. Henning said that he didn't care if Super Bowl viewers might find that type of play-calling ratio boring on Sunday.
"I would love to see that 40-14 mix in this game. That would mean we'd be ahead in the game," Henning said. "The only reason we'd run the ball 40 times is if we'd be ahead in the game, so I would take that right now."
About a first down away, one of Henning's favorite people, backup quarterback Rodney Peete, was suddenly drawing a crowd. At first it seemed as if he might talk some football, too, but then a television crew barged in, looking for a fresh angle. With them were two winners of a hot-dog eating contest, whose prize was a trip to Media Day.
Peete mugged for the camera with the two hot-dog eating maniacs, slipping so easily into an actor's role that he would have been the envy of his wife, actress Holly Robinson-Peete.
"I learned from the best," he joked, smiling.
He was close to talking some football again when another television crew arrived with a fresh set of questions.
"Who do you like in the Lingerie Bowl?" Peete was asked.
To which a naive football reporter said, "There's a Lingerie Bowl?"
"Yeah," replied Peete, not missing a beat.
"The teams are Team Euphoria and Team Dream. Who do you like?" the television reporter asked again.
Peete instantly reverted to acting mode and pretended he was thinking really hard. Then he replied, "I think I'm going to have to go with Team Dream. Yeah, hands down. Team Dream."
Next came the final question to Peete: Have you ever played football in lingerie?
"No, I have not. I wouldn't want to, either," Peete said. "But I'll watch that. I'll watch it 24/7."
Just to Peete's left and maybe a short slant pattern away, Fox sat answering questions. Someone asked him what he thought of Media Day.
"It is what it is," Fox said.
Never has he uttered truer words.
• Joe Menzer can be reached at jmenzer@wsjournal.com