Media day frenzy

The rookie reporters who were complaining about the opening day interviews of Super Bowl week got their first taste of what this is really like Tuesday at media day at Ford Field.

With more than 3,000 credentialed media here this week, obviously not everyone here is covering this from a sports angle.

As we were herded through the media gate - with a security scan at the end - we headed into Ford Field en masse. The players were already set up down on the field, some in booths, other just milling about.

And then the games began. Television jerks from around this country and the world push and shove trying to get their cameras in front of the players in order to ask -seemingly - the dumbest questions they can come up with. These guys must sit around and think of this stuff all year, saving it for this day.

I wanted to talk with Steelers quarterbacks coach Mark Whipple about how he felt Ben Roethlisberger would handle game day - some quarterbacks have thrown up or had trouble breathing in the huddle - yet Chris Berman and Chris Mortensen from ESPN had him cornered for most of the event, even though they weren't recording anything. Nothing worse than that.

As I waited to talk to Max Starks, TV crews from Denmark and Great Britain forced their way in and asked him to flex his biceps. Yep, that's must-see TV there.

As I was leaving, I saw Chris Hoke walking out and he came over to say hello. I asked him what the dumbest question or thing he saw in there was and no sooner had he replied that he hadn't really seen or heard anything, when a TV station from Mexico came up.

I can only assume it was some kind of TV show for kids or something because the questioner was a hand puppet dressed to look like Troy Polamalu. Again, that's good TV.