Today, Crazy gets its own day during Super Bowl Week. Media day has become a spectacle almost as big as the game itself. Here at the Good Men Project we don’t just look at the quotes or the personalities that highlight the event. We look at the evolution. Here are the Top 5 Moments from Media Day that have created the spectacle we have today.
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Joe Namath vs. The NFL
When the Super Bowl was just in its infancy and the AFL still viewed as the immature stepchild to the tradition-laced NFL, Joe Namath set the sports world afire with his prediction of a New York Jets victory over 18-point favorite Indianapolis Colts. Namath, allegedly intoxicated, appeared at the Miami Touchdown Club and said, “We’re gonna win the game. I guarantee it.”
The Jets did, and Namath along with his guarantee garnered legendary status.
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Hollywood Henderson vs. Terry Bradshaw
Ten years after Namath’s guarantee, Dallas and Pittsburgh met in Super Bowl XIII. The AFL was now the AFC and the conference was no longer a disrespected underling. Pittsburgh pitted its Steel Curtain against Dallas’ Doomsday Defense.
The leader for Dallas was Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson. He became the talk of Super Bowl week when he quipped Steeler signal caller Terry Bradshaw couldn’t spell cat if you spotted him the C and the A. That comment and other antics during Super Bowl week made Henderson a media magnet, and as Henderson said ushered in the era of self-promotion.
There would be no Prime Time, no Boz without Henderson. The Steelers would go on to beat the Cowboys and win their third Super Bowl, but both Henderson and Bradshaw would be linked in perpetuity.
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Ray Buchannan vs. Sterling Sharpe
Unlike Henderson v. Bradshaw, Ray Buchannan vs. Sterling Sharpe elicited quotes and put-downs from both players. Both Buchannan and Sharpe loved to talk and it gave way to a memorable barrage of he said-he said. Denver KO’d Atlanta on the field. The verbal battle scored a draw.
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Tom Brady vs. The Single Ladies
With Baby Mama drama still fresh in the minds of the American public, (I will not go to the sordid details, just click here for a refresher) TV Azteca reporter Ines Gomez Mont, dressed in a bridal gown asked Brady to get hitched. By this point, Super Bowl Media Day had reached Barnum and Bailey Circus status. Brady under the hot lights of multiple cameras and microphones responded with a surprisingly candid answer. Brady was off the market and it proved to be sign, the New England Quarterback would propose to Supermodel Gisele Bundchen less than a year later.
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Marshawn Lynch vs. The World
Like most things in our society, an event starts slow, if successful, starts to gain steam, before reaching its climax. You can only sustain a peak for so long and Marshawn Lynch is the poster boy for the growing animosity towards league-obligated media sessions. I’ll let Deion Sanders’ interview with Beast Mode speak for itself.
Photo Credit: Kathy Anderson/Flickr
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