It's called Radio Row. It was created by the NFL in the 90s when sports talk radio mushroomed in every major league city around the country and all those shows needed space at the Super Bowl venue. So their tables and equipment and banners were placed in a row in some long, narrow area of the media center at each Super Bowl venue.
In Phoenix for SBXLII, Radio Row has become Radio Square, and right in the middle of it all is NFL Network, not a radio concern but the league's own TV outfit. And the scene got a little louder and wilder Friday as all the shows were wrapping up their week of broadcasting before Sunday's Giants-Patriots game and players of all stripes were coming and going from the quadrangle.
It was into this maelstrom that I thought I had lost three Jets offensive players who came in for the big day. First I saw Jerricho Cotchery making his way down the long escalators of the Phoenix Convention Center to the media center. Already inside near the WFAN setup was Leon Washington. And D'Brickashaw Ferguson was on his way.
Cotchery and Washington were elusive as always in quickly entering the scrum and being lost to my sight. And I was having trouble seeing if Brick was around and had started making his rounds. But I found Ferguson over by The Sporting News table, just off the top right corner of the NFL Network fencing, and in short order Leon and J-Co came back into view. Here's a report on all three Jets two days before this year's Big Dance.
Washington: 'Kind of a Sick Feeling'
Leon, the Jets' team MVP, was beaming after finishing up an interview with a station from his home state of Florida. He also went to Miami and SB XLI last year. Despite the happy demeanor, his first words expressed some mental distress at what's missing from this game.
"When you get down here, it's kind of a sick feeling because you'd rather actually be in the game," the running back/kick returner said. "I told Jerricho earlier that it would be really nice if we could actually be in this game. That's my intention as a professional with the New York Jets, to work hard toward that goal to get to the Super Bowl.
"It's not an option. As an NFL player, you dream of watching guys like Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, Edgar Bennett and LeRoy Butler with the Green Bay Packers, and before I got to the league, for me, watching the Patriots for a little bit. That's your goal. You don't want to be the guy that's coming in and enjoying the festivities. You want to be the guy playing in it."
If you wonder about Bennett and Butler in Leon's dreams, that's because those two, along with a slew of other NFL names, come from Washington's home town of Jacksonville. And he knows his history.
"Bob Hayes, he was from my side of town, the east side of Jacksonville. He's the first guy to win a gold medal in the Olympics and a Super Bowl," he said. "Shawn Jefferson, LeRoy Butler, Edgar Bennett, Brian Dawkins, Lito Sheppard, Laveranues Coles, myself—and there are so many guys I'm not even mentioning."
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11 months ago
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