All business enterprise no excitement as Tremendous Bowl 7 days receives off to silent get started | Sporting activities
3 min readThe 1st indications that this is heading to be a pretty distinct Tremendous Bowl week arrived early on Monday when the usually glitzy Opening Night time festivities were being changed by a dry mid-early morning kick-off to U.S. sport’s greatest occasion.
Prior to COVID-19 forced a rewrite of the Tremendous Bowl program, the script called for airport photo oppportunities adopted by some Opening Evening zaniness to lighten the temper prior to groups finding down to the severe small business of getting ready for Sunday’s Countrywide Soccer League championship recreation.
But this yr, to restrict exposure to COVID-19, the reigning champion Kansas Town Chiefs will not even get there in Tampa till Saturday even though the Buccaneers, the first group to participate in in and host a Super Bowl, began the 7 days in virtual solitary confinement fielding questions on Zoom.
At earlier Opening Nights, fireworks and thumping tunes presented the soundtrack as thousands of gridiron enthusiasts compensated for the enjoyment of observing media from close to the world do their employment — inquiring issues.
A televised primary time problem-and-solution no cost-for-all for hundreds of media in a packed arena wherever incredibly very little was out of bounds, Opening Evening for some gamers and coaches was a grim obligation but most experienced grown to embrace the madness.
The complete function on Monday, nevertheless, had all the excitement of a shareholder meeting.
There ended up a lot of Tremendous Bowl-related questions but none of the unforgettable strange and whacky sound bites from concerns questioned by interlopers dressed as tremendous heroes and super products.
Outrageous Day
For Super Bowl veterans like Tampa quarterback Tom Brady, who will be actively playing in his 10th championship video game, there appeared to be disappointment as he stared blankly into a screen as an alternative of out on dozens of cameras and hundreds of media.
“How appear I will not get to see them at all, how arrive I just get to see me?,” quizzed Brady. “It can be a insane media working day. I’m sitting here in an empty room
“It really is quite unique than the other 9 encounters.”
The 43-year-old Brady did not have to field any proposals from an interviewer wearing a wedding ceremony dress or get thoughts from an impersonator sporting a Tom Brady mask inquiring what he thinks of Tom Brady.
This calendar year Media Working day was all company.
Rob Gronkowski, the Bucs gregarious restricted conclusion who usually basks in the glow of the highlight, also acknowledged that this year’s working experience was not fairly the exact same.
“I am just sitting below in a area by myself appropriate now,” he mentioned. “There’s no just one about, so like the juices usually are not flowing as much as if you’re in a room with media folks heading mad, asking inquiries, enthusiasts cheering, new music going.
“It nevertheless is Super Bowl Week but it is thoroughly different and, for a dude like myself, you respect all that, all that media, all that notice, like all that pleasure.
“But I suggest we are in a pandemic ideal now.”
