Saturation Point

Today was Media Day in Detroit, which is supposed to be the pinnacle of Super Bowl week coverage. But the problem is that with every passing year, there are fewer and fewer reasons to warrant the existence of a Media Day. Athletes are more media-coached than ever, which means that they know better than to say anything that could be used as "bulletin-board material." That leaves us with canned answers, bland statements about respecting the opponent, and players generally masking what little personality they possess. This wouldn't be a problem, except for the fact that the Super Bowl now issues more press credentials than ever, as the NFL wants as much interest in the event as possible and the host cities are desperate for the added publicity. Now we have reporters, columnists, bloggers, radio hosts and TV talking heads flooding the streets of Detroit to provide us with "full coverage." But to what end? These media members constantly complain about how bad the host city is, how few stories there are, and how boring Media Day is. So why do these networks, newspapers and websites keep paying their employees to provide us with these non-stories? We aren't asking for sunny profiles on Polamalu's hair, Hasselbeck's lack of hair or about the hype about Bettis's homecoming (one of The Sports Guy's readers hits the nail on the head). There's a reason that you never hear fans say "man, I wish I could find out some more info about what's going on with the Super Bowl this year..."