Full Court Press: Jerry Green’s Super Bowls
Burning Questions | by Mike O'Hara | 01.26.2009/6:35PM
Contact Mike O’Hara at
What better person for the first installment of Full Court Press than legendary Detroit News sports writer Jerry Green?
Jerry is one of five writers who have covered all 42 Super Bowls, and he is in Tampa for Super Bowl XLIII.
I covered 31 Super Bowls with Jerry, and I always knew he’d outlast me. What a kid.
Here are his answers to five questions to kick off Full Court Press, which will be a regular feature on this website:
1. What do you remember most about the first Super Bowl game – the NFL’s Green Bay Packers beating the AFLs Kansas City Chiefs?
“Two things. First the night before, Pete Rozelle tossed a media party at the L.A. Hilton—the writers from the NFL towns stood on one side of the room, the guys from AFL cities stood on the other. And we all eyed each other suspiciously.
But more vivid with Vince Lombardi with the NFL football after the game, tossing the football and I asked the question, “That an NFL football?“ I could read “The Duke” on it, so it was NFL.
Finally, he said, “It’s an NFL football and it kicks a little better, it throws a little better and it catches a little better.“ He proceeded to downgrade K.C. and said, “There, you made me say it.“
2. Name your most memorable game.
“I always say Super Bowl III stands out because of Joe Namath winning (the AFL’s Jets beat the NFL’s Colts) and defining in that one game what the Super Bowl would become.
“Namath refused to show up for the media session. Rozelle fined him. Next day at the Galt Ocean Mile in Lauderdale, Namath again refused to attend the media session. But he walked through the lobby, plopped down at the pool.
“One writer approached him and Namath rebuffed him. A few minutes later, Sy Burick came to me and said Namath told him he’d talk to a few writers – ‘Did I want to go?’
“I jumped a mile high and Namath enchanted us. The Sports Illustrated picture of the small band of us around him was been reprinted over and over. My best Super Bowl moment ever, because The News had an exclusive.
“And the guy whom Namath had rebuffed earlier was somebody you knew—Joe Falls.”
3. Can you imagine the Lions playing in a Super Bowl – ever?
“I have a vivid imagination, wild and crazy. But I can picture the Lions in a Super Bowl only if the Falcons and Cardinals make it some day. Oh, well, a few years after the Saints make it. Sad isn’t it?
4. What’s the hardest part of covering Super Bowl week?
“The hardest part of covering the Super Bowl for years has been putting up with Mike O’Hara. Other than that, it has been the pushing and shoving trying to get close to hear a Tom Brady or a Joe Montana without getting jabbed with a TV camera and/or whacked by one of those boom microphones.
“In other words, access—there are no exclusives at the Super Bowl.”
5. I’m glad you remember me, but look to the future, O great seer. What will your lede be on Super Bowl C (that’s 100, by the way)?
“My lede:
“GROSSE POINTE SHORES—Ninety-seven years after Joe Willie Namath guaranteed that anything could happen at a Super Bowl, it did. Jon Kitna came out of retirement to pitch the Detroit Lions to a victory over the Buffalo Bills and an aged Jim Kelly in Super Bowl C, played before a cheering throng on Lakeshore Drive.
“In the TV booth, veteran announcer Matt Millen uttered to his audience throughout the universe, ‘I never believed in miracles until now.‘“
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