John Madden's first time behind the microphone for a Super Bowl was 27 years ago for Super Bowl XVI in Michigan.
He'll be in the booth for his 11th big game Sunday when he joins Al Michaels for NBC's telecast of Super Bowl XLIII.
Over the years, there have been major changes.
"When I first started, there was no NFL Network, no information all day," Madden said. "You had to seek out information.
"Now, you throw open your laptop and you have all the information you could ever use. We're overloaded with information. And we use about 5 percent of it on the telecast."
That doesn't mean Madden misses the old days.
"It's a lot better now," Madden said. "TV is so much better than it has ever been."
This is the 16th time NBC has carried the Super Bowl, but the first since 1998.
Michaels will be the play-by-play man for his seventh game, tying Curt Gowdy for most Super Bowls by a play-by-play man.
Michaels and Madden previously called Super Bowl XL in Detroit and Super Bowl XXVII in San Diego together.
Michaels also worked Super Bowl XXII in San Diego and Super Bowl XXIX in Miami. That game feature the 49ers vs. the Chargers.
"Televised football today is off the charts," Michaels said. "With HD, cable cam and all, you're right there as a viewer. The Super Bowl is the essence of live TV.
"If you're in the TV business, there is no better day.
"My first Super Bowl was 1988 -- Denver-Washington in San Diego. There have been a lot of technical advances that have taken place since then."
The Cardinals have been network TV's least favorite team.
ABC/ESPN has carried just three Cardinals games on "Monday Night Football," the last in 1999 against the 49ers in Steve Young's last game.
"Win or lose Sunday, I guarantee the Cardinals will be on Sunday and Monday night next year," Michaels said.
Before then, though, Michaels and Madden will have the privilege of calling the Cardinals' first Super Bowl appearance.
"There is no more pressure on us now, than any other game," Michaels said. "But John and I will both soak in the moment before we go on the air. I'll think about how I want to start. I'll enjoy the moment."
Said Madden: "We don't do anything special before a game. There are no secret handshakes, no prayer. We just get the signal and go."
Super Bowl notes
- NBC's "Today" show will broadcast live from Tampa. Starting at 6 a.m. Sunday, Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, Al Roker and Ann Curry will all be on hand.
- During NBC's Super Bowl pregame show, Lauer has a sitdown interview with President Barack Obama. The interview will also air Monday on "Today."
- The pregame show starts at 10 a.m. Bob Costas, Cris Collinsworth, Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick are the hosts. They'll be joined by Jerome Bettis, Tiki Barber, Peter King, Tony Dungy, Mike Holmgren, Matt Millen and Rodney Harrison. NBC officials said there will be fewer features than past Super Bowl pregame shows. The network will rely more on input from its announcers.
- The entertainment during the pregame show is Journey and John Legend. Faith Hill will also perform and will sing "America the Beautiful" before the national anthem.
- Jennifer Hudson will sing the national anthem. Bruce Springsteen is the halftime entertainment.
- "Road to the Super Bowl" precedes the pregame show at 9 a.m.
- As of late Wednesday, there were only two ads left to be sold. Cost for a 30-second ad is $3 million, so the telecast will generate about $186 million in revenue. Anheuser-Busch has purchased 4 1/2 minutes worth of ads. GoDaddy.com had two somewhat racy ads approved by NBC officials.
Super Bowl by the numbers
- NBC will use more than 450 people on its production, technical, administrative and support crews.
- There will be 93 microphones, including 12 on the field.
- 52 HD cameras will be used, including 22 hand held, five robotic, two Super Slo-Mos and three X-Mos.
- 45 vehicles will be employed, including control trucks, mobile units, offices and horse trailers.
- 50 miles of camera and microphone cable will be laid.
Super Bowl radio
XX Sports 1090 will carry Sunday's game on the radio.
Jack Cronin and Daryl Sykes come on the air at 2 p.m. with a local pregame show.
The game announcers are Marv Albert and Boomer Esiason in the booth with Mark Malone on the Cardinals' sideline and John Dockery on the Steelers' sideline.
John Kentera will host a postgame show from the end of the game to 9 p.m.
Rough Acres
ESPN's "Outside the Lines" has an intriguing look at the 1963 AFL champion Chargers.
That team, coached by the late, great Sid Gillman, trained at Rough Acres in the desert community of Boulevard.
Gillman hired Alvin Roy, who is believed to be the first strength coach for an American professional team. Roy introduced Dianabol, an anabolic steroid to the team.
ESPN's T.J. Quinn interviewed former players Pat Shea, Ron Mix, Walt Sweeney and Bob Petrich for the piece, along with a former Chargers trainer.
The show airs at 5 a.m. Sunday with a repeat on the 8 p.m. edition of "SportsCenter" that night.
Tee it up
CBS begins its 59th year of broadcasting golf with this weekend's PGA Tour FBR Open from Scottsdale.
CBS also has coverage of next weekend's Buick Invitational from the Torrey Pines Golf Course.
CBS will also carry the AT&T National Pro-Am (Feb. 14-15), the LPGA Kraft Nabisco Championship (April 5), The Masters (April 9-12) and the PGA Championship (Aug.13-16) among its 25 events.
Jim Nantz returns as the network's anchor, working the 18th tower with Nick Faldo.
The rest of the CBS crew includes Peter Oosterhuis, Gary McCord, David Feherty, Peter Kostis, Ian Baker-Finch, Bobby Clampett, Bill Macatee and Vern Lundquist.
Around the bases
- The MLB Network will carry 12 games from the Caribbean World Series, beginning with Venezuela-Dominican Republic at 2 p.m. Monday.
- ESPN announced the first half of its 2009 "Sunday Night Baseball" schedule. The Padres aren't part of the 12 games announced. The Cubs will on four times and the Mets twice. The season opener is Braves-Phillies on April 5. Jon Miller and Joe Morgan will be joined in the booth this season by ex-Mets general manager Steve Phillips.
- The MLB Network announced slugger Sean Casey will join its cast on "MLB Tonight." Matt Vasgersian hosts the nightly show, which also includes former major leaguers Barry Larkin, Al Leiter, Joe Magrane, Dan Plesac, Harold Reynolds and Mitch Williams.
- Cox will launch the MLB Network in HD on Feb. 23 on Channel 770.
- Larry King will have Dodgers manager Joe Torre at 6 tonight on CNN. Torre will discuss his controversial new book "The Yankee Years."
- Fox Sports Net will carry 125 Angels games during the regular season and five spring-training games. That's great news for fans in Southern Riverside County, but bad news in San Diego where Angels games on FSN are blacked out to protect the Padres.
Cycling around
Versus will have wall-to-wall coverage of the Amgen Tour of California, the professional cycle race that starts in Sacramento on Feb. 14 and ends in Escondido on Feb. 22.
Most of coverage will be in the early afternoon and will be live.
Andrew Messick, president of AEG Sports, said he expects the greatest collection of riders ever assembled on American soil.
The lists includes Lance Armstrong, Floyd Landis, current national champion Tyler Hamilton and four-time stage winner George Hincapie.
International riders include current Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre, Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso and Mark Cavendish, know as the fastest man in the world.
Hoops heaven
Both the San Diego State and University of San Diego men's basketball games are on national TV Saturday.
USD is at Gonzaga for a 3 p.m. game on ESPN2. San Diego State is at Colorado State for a 6 p.m. game on the mtn.
UCLA hosts Stanford at 12:30 p.m. on ABC.
OK. How many of you get the mtn.? How many get ESPN2? How many get ABC? Any wonder why San Diego State has a hard time getting national recognition?
Not forgotten
Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton, who was let go by XTRA Sports 1360 before the station's purge two weeks ago, was given the Irv Kaze Talk Show Award by the Southern California Broadcasters Association for his work on KLAC (570), a station that has also been restructured.
The award was the seventh time in his 22 years in Southern California that Hamilton has been recognized by the group.
Around the dial
- ESPN2 has a tape of the second men's semifinal from the Australian Open at noon today. The women's final airs live at 12:30 a.m. Saturday with a reair at 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. The men's final is live at 12:30 a.m. Sunday with a reair at noon.
- ESPN2 has live coverage of the Millrose Games, the most famous indoor track meet in the world, at 4 p.m. today. The meet is the first of USA Track & Field's 2009 Indoor Visa Championship Series. Larry Rawson, Dwight Stones and Lewis Johnson are the announcers. NBC has coverage at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
- NBC Universal Sports, which is available on Cox Channel 117, will have coverage of the 2009 Alpine World Championships from France, starting Monday and running through Feb. 15.
- Last week's NHL All-Star Game on Versus earned an 0.9 rating or 697,000 households. While that's a dismal number, it's up 13 percent from last year.
- ESPN2's daily "NASCAR Now" returns to the air Monday at 2 p.m.
- ESPN has added former New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs head coach Herm Edwards to its NFL studio cast. Edwards, the former San Diego State defensive back, starts in mid-February.
John Maffei's TV/Radio Column appears every Friday. He can be reached at (760) 740-3547 or jmaffei@nctimes.com.
