Posted by Travis Rodgers on Feb 2, 2010

NFL Media Day Circus #NFL

The smartest guys in the room.

The NFL is genius. Seriously. Not because they have packaged and sold the most popular sport in this country. Not because they deliver a superior sports experience every single Sunday, and not because they have some of the best athletes in the world. All true, but not the source of their greatest inspiration.

The NFL has somehow convinced the entire sports media world that they need to be on site for the entire week leading up to the Super Bowl. Nothing could be further from the truth. You don’t need an army of media members on hand to cover the unlikely event that there is another Eugene Robinson incident.

I have been on site for the last 14 Super Bowls and I can count on one hand the interesting things that have been discussed and covered in those 14 weeks. Zero. Unless, of course, you think that knowing which brand of salsa that Jim Kelly prefers is important. I really am not all that interested in knowing which brand of wireless carrier is preferred by Gil Brandt.

The reporters who cover the teams are actually working. Everyone else is enjoying an adult version of high school home coming. It is a chance for everyone in the business to get together, to catch up with friends and lie about staying in touch for the next 51 weeks of the year.

It is an endless parade of Hall of Famers and celebrities, who are there to promote a product, and spout off as many cliches about football as possible. Perhaps the only thing worse than the media center are the ‘parties’. No, it’s not fun. Massive crowds, drunk fools, and people trying desperately to look important. If being seen is important, you might like it; if your goal is to have a good time, stay home.

Not as fun as it looks.

There are crowds of undesirables in team jerseys, walking the streets hoping to bump into Peyton Manning or Drew Brees. The players are sequestered in their hotels, staying as far away from the general population as possible. The only time you will even see anyone you can recognize is at media day when they trot out the players like animals in a zoo.

The disdain for the process from the players is palpable. The only place less appealing than standing behind one of those podiums answering questions from a goofball reporter from Brazil, is on the streets mixing with the ‘fans’.

Keep all of this in mind when you see the live shots from South Beach. It may look fun, interesting and lively, but it is none of those things.