EVERY DAY I GET IN THE QUEUE (TOO MUCH, MAGIC BUS)…TO GET ON THE BUSE THAT TAKES ME TO YOU (TOO MUCH, MAGIC BUS) ~ Well he tried, he really really tried to be non-controversial but when you combine hundreds of microphones with a tongue that rattles like like fender on a ’72 Vega and expect relative silence, its like holding a match to gasoline and not expecting a fire.  Yesterday, Joey went BOOM!

Porter didn’t take kindly to a comment from Seahawks’ TE Jerramy Stevens regarding the Disney-like story of Jerome Bettis returning to his hometown for the swan song in his distinguished career – Super Bowl XL.  "It's a heartwarming story and all that, but it will be a sad day when he leaves without that trophy," said Stevens.  Stevens didn’t stop there as he spoke a bit about Porter and what he can expect on Sunday: "[Porter] had a huge game in the AFC championship game coming off the edge on the blitz.  I don't think he is going to have such an easy day against Walt, though."

Porter burned within, trying to hold back yet he couldn’t.  "[Stevens is] too soft to say something like that.  He's going to have the opportunity to back up his words. I'm going to have the opportunity to back up my words. So it's something I'm looking forward to and I'm ready to get going."

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY, MONEY…….MON-NAY ~ Each year casual observers as well as football aficionados look forward to what they hope will be humorous Super Bowl ads.  This year, the going rate for a 30 second ad is $2.5 million.  Last year’s ad buzz centered upon the juicy Go Daddy commercial.  This year, Pizza Hut could be the steamy ad folks will be talking about.  The ad features Jessica Simpson seductively peddling Pizza Hut Bites to an aroused teenager as she sings a doctored up version of “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’.”  Ad industry analysts predict that the most talked about ad will be a new Burger King spot.  Burger King has been absent from the Super Bowl ads for 10 years.

YOU’RE DIGGING FOR GOLD, YOU’RE THROWING AWAY…A FORTUNE IN FEELINGS BUT SOMEDAY YOU’LL PAY ~ Today in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the world famous "Punxy Phil" will tell us if we are to weather another 6 weeks of winter.  Don’t be surprised if Phil is wearing a Steelers jersey.  Punxsutawney is just 80 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.  Hopefully Phil’s shadowy visions will trigger a long and fruitless winter for the Black & Yellow but even that probably won’t put a damper on Ben Roethlisberger’s off season fun.

FLEW INTO MIAMI BEACH B.O.A.C. ~ According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, “Don't be surprised if Arizona Cardinals coach Dennis Green, who drafted Daunte Culpepper when he coached the Vikings, and Minnesota soon begin trade talks. Culpepper, seeking to restructure his contract, was in town Tuesday to meet with team officials. Culpepper flew back to Florida in a chartered jet, and indications are he wasn't pleased.”  No truth to the rumor that some from the Love Boat crew were aboard the private jet to become members of the Mile High Club.

NOBODY DOES IT BETTER…MAKES ME FEEL SAD FOR THE REST ~ "He's not only the best lineman in the game, he's by far the best!”  So says Cleveland Browns quarterback Trent Dilfer about his former teammate Walter Jones.  To further drive home the point Dilfer went on to say, "It's not like the difference between Walter and the next-best lineman is like Peyton Manning to Carson Palmer; it's like Peyton Manning to Kyle Boller."

You had to go there now didn’t you Trent.  Not only does he throw Boller and indirectly Jonathan Ogden under the bus, he then backs up and runs over Boller again.  You know, I get the point and sometimes the truth hurts.  But players of the supposed class of Dilfer usually don’t make such banal statements, particularly when Dilfer and his 71.3 career QB rating could just as easily be placed in the same statement in Boller’s stead.  Just remember Trent, you didn’t win a Super Bowl.  You just didn’t lose one although you tried on that negated pick-6 to Jessie Armstead. 

YOU’RE SO GOOD, SO GOOD, SO GOOD, BABY YOU’RE SO GOOD ~ Matt Hasselbeck has developed into one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL and many believed that he, not Shaun Alexander, should have been MVP.  Hasselbeck whose birth certificate states that he is 30 years old (yet looks 21 with his hat on and 41 with it off), was chosen by the Packers in the sixth round of the 1998 NFL Draft and mentored under Brett Favre for two seasons before moving on to Seattle.  In his first season with the Seahawks, Hasselbeck started in 10 of 16 games and had a QB rating of 70.9.  Over the course of the following four seasons, Hasselbeck has an average rating of 89.5 including his best season in 2005 when he reached a mark of 98.2.

Hey Cleveland, maybe Ron Wolf knows something after all.  Select a QB in the later rounds where there’s no pressure to hurry the protégé on to the field, allow him to be an understudy to a solid veteran for a couple of seasons and then maybe you might have something.  Looks like the roadmap worked for Hasselbeck.

DON’T LET THE SUN GO DOWN ON ME ~ I suppose The Sun didn’t go down to Mobile, Alabama for the Senior Bowl.  The Ravens Sr. VP of Public and Community relations Kevin Byrne was a guest of Nestor Aparicio’s on Wednesday and pointed out that most major newspapers had representation at the Senior Bowl.  Well, that explains it I suppose…he did say major newspapers.  The Sun offered barely a whisper on the contest which by the way, was of great interest to Ravens' fans.  Hello, McFly?

SOME DAY YOU WILL FIND ME CAUGHT BENEATH THE LANDSLIDE…IN A CHAMPAGNE SUPERNOVA IN THE SKY ~ The future sites for the next four Super Bowls are Miami (2007), Glendale, AZ (2008), Tampa (2009) and Miami (2010).  The 2008 game will be played in the Arizona Cardinals’ new stadium which is currently under construction (prototype pictured below) and is set to open in the 2006 season.  See, there is a silver lining in this year’s Super Bowl.  Who needs Detroit in February anyway?  Miami or bust!  Well maybe Arizona?  How about a return to Raymond James?

JENNY I’VE GOT YOUR NUMBER…867-5309 ~ Detroit, Michigan, often referred to as “MoTown”, is home to approximately 1,000,000 people estimated to be 77% African-American.  The metro Detroit area which includes Pontiac, Ann Arbor and Windsor, Ontario is home to nearly 5,000,000.  Detroit and Windsor are separated by a bridge and many who reside in the area see the two as part of the same city.  Here are a few other interesting tidbits on the host city of Super Bowl XL:

• installed the country’s first traffic light in 1915 in downtown Detroit

• is the potato chip capital of the world, based on consumption

• is home to the world’s only floating post office, the J.W. Westcott II, can be found on the Detroit River

• is north of Canada

• is second in the nation in fishing rod sales

• shares the world’s first auto traffic tunnel between two nations – the Detroit/Windsor Tunnel

• is home to the second tallest hotel in North America – the Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center, at 73 stories

• has the most registered bowlers in the United States

• was the first city in the nation to assign individual telephone numbers in 1879

• has more theater seats than any other city, east of the Mississippi River, outside New York City

* On September 6, 1964, The Beatles played two shows to 30,000 fans.  One week later they would play 2 shows before 28,000 fans at the Baltimore Civic Center