Kzin
01-25-2006, 12:59 PM
Super Bowl shouldn't be at neutral site
By Barry Wilner, AP Football Writer | January 25, 2006
If ever a Super Bowl was made to be played in a home stadium, Steelers-Seahawks is it.
Just think: The road warriors against the unvanquished hosts. A dominant sixth seed needing one more away victory, and needing it at the NFL's toughest venue for visitors.
How juicy that would be.
Sorry, folks, but the big game is so BIG it needs to be planned years in advance. And 2006 was reserved for Ford Field in Detroit, where thousands of Pittsburgh fans figure to drive in and paint the city black and gold.
Many, perhaps most of them, won't have tickets, though. So the Seahawks could get something of a fair shake in the stands on Feb. 5.
What the Seahawks (15-3 overall, including 10-0 at Qwest Field) won't have is the "12th man," the boisterous crowd that every player and coach credited with providing that extra impetus to get to the NFL title game. One player even claimed (mischievously and anonymously) that he expected the 12th man flag that sits atop the Seattle Space Needle to somehow fly above Ford Field on Super Sunday.
And what the Steelers (14-5) won't have is the opportunity to shatter yet another opponent's air of invincibility at home after winning at Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Denver in the playoffs.
Too bad.
Certainly Seahawks owner Paul Allen, who raised the 12th man flag at Qwest Field before the rout of Carolina for the NFC championship, wouldn't mind another home game.
"If you're a fan of NFL football, how great is it to be able to root on your team to win the Super Bowl?" he said. "It just doesn't get any better than that in football. It's incredible.
No more special than in the Steel City, which has seen its share of big NFL games. Bill Cowher has led the Steelers to six AFC championship matchups in his 14 seasons as coach. But they are a mere 1-4 at home in those games.
So another road trip wouldn't be such a big deal for a team that is 9-2 away from Heinz Field. In fact, although the Steelers technically are the home team for the Super Bowl -- it's the AFC's year to be the host -- they chose to don road whites.
"We're not playing at Heinz Field so, in my mind, it's an away game," Cowher said of his 4-point favorites.
"We've been playing well the last three weeks on the road, and this is a fourth game on the road -- I don't know if that's superstitious."
So if Cowher is so comfortable taking his team on the road, why not switch the site to Seattle and give everyone the delicious matchup the championship game deserves?
That's pure fantasy. The showdown will come in Detroit.
Still, it's been a long time since the two Super Bowl teams have had such diverse home-road characteristics. Of course, without their skills away from Pittsburgh, the wild-card Steelers would have had no shot at getting this far.
And had the Seahawks been any less dominant at home, they easily could have gone the way of the three AFC division winners who lost to Pittsburgh in the postseason.
But here they are. And there they will be, on a neutral field in Detroit. And, heck, the Seahawks were 5-3 away from Seattle, with the last loss in a meaningless game at Green Bay.
"This is just huge because this is the biggest game in the world," NFL Most Valuable Player Shaun Alexander said. "I think every little kid thinks about playing in the Super Bowl when they are little. I remember the Bengals going in '88, and all the talk about Joe Montana and how great it was, that comeback.
"I was a Bengals fan. I was crying.
"But I was thinking I would love to be in this game, and now we are."
His smile made it clear the site didn't really matter at all.
http://www.boston.com/sports/football/articles/2006/01/25/super_bowl_shouldnt_be_at_neutral_site/
By Barry Wilner, AP Football Writer | January 25, 2006
If ever a Super Bowl was made to be played in a home stadium, Steelers-Seahawks is it.
Just think: The road warriors against the unvanquished hosts. A dominant sixth seed needing one more away victory, and needing it at the NFL's toughest venue for visitors.
How juicy that would be.
Sorry, folks, but the big game is so BIG it needs to be planned years in advance. And 2006 was reserved for Ford Field in Detroit, where thousands of Pittsburgh fans figure to drive in and paint the city black and gold.
Many, perhaps most of them, won't have tickets, though. So the Seahawks could get something of a fair shake in the stands on Feb. 5.
What the Seahawks (15-3 overall, including 10-0 at Qwest Field) won't have is the "12th man," the boisterous crowd that every player and coach credited with providing that extra impetus to get to the NFL title game. One player even claimed (mischievously and anonymously) that he expected the 12th man flag that sits atop the Seattle Space Needle to somehow fly above Ford Field on Super Sunday.
And what the Steelers (14-5) won't have is the opportunity to shatter yet another opponent's air of invincibility at home after winning at Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Denver in the playoffs.
Too bad.
Certainly Seahawks owner Paul Allen, who raised the 12th man flag at Qwest Field before the rout of Carolina for the NFC championship, wouldn't mind another home game.
"If you're a fan of NFL football, how great is it to be able to root on your team to win the Super Bowl?" he said. "It just doesn't get any better than that in football. It's incredible.
No more special than in the Steel City, which has seen its share of big NFL games. Bill Cowher has led the Steelers to six AFC championship matchups in his 14 seasons as coach. But they are a mere 1-4 at home in those games.
So another road trip wouldn't be such a big deal for a team that is 9-2 away from Heinz Field. In fact, although the Steelers technically are the home team for the Super Bowl -- it's the AFC's year to be the host -- they chose to don road whites.
"We're not playing at Heinz Field so, in my mind, it's an away game," Cowher said of his 4-point favorites.
"We've been playing well the last three weeks on the road, and this is a fourth game on the road -- I don't know if that's superstitious."
So if Cowher is so comfortable taking his team on the road, why not switch the site to Seattle and give everyone the delicious matchup the championship game deserves?
That's pure fantasy. The showdown will come in Detroit.
Still, it's been a long time since the two Super Bowl teams have had such diverse home-road characteristics. Of course, without their skills away from Pittsburgh, the wild-card Steelers would have had no shot at getting this far.
And had the Seahawks been any less dominant at home, they easily could have gone the way of the three AFC division winners who lost to Pittsburgh in the postseason.
But here they are. And there they will be, on a neutral field in Detroit. And, heck, the Seahawks were 5-3 away from Seattle, with the last loss in a meaningless game at Green Bay.
"This is just huge because this is the biggest game in the world," NFL Most Valuable Player Shaun Alexander said. "I think every little kid thinks about playing in the Super Bowl when they are little. I remember the Bengals going in '88, and all the talk about Joe Montana and how great it was, that comeback.
"I was a Bengals fan. I was crying.
"But I was thinking I would love to be in this game, and now we are."
His smile made it clear the site didn't really matter at all.
http://www.boston.com/sports/football/articles/2006/01/25/super_bowl_shouldnt_be_at_neutral_site/