Super Bowl memories: Phil Simms, Janet Jackson and the streaker

Am I the only one who feels old when I hear that Phil Simms will be calling his seventh Super Bowl this Sunday? Wasn’t it just yesterday that Simms was pitching his perfect game masterpiece for the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXI?

Okay, well I guess that was 26 years ago. And now, perhaps, there are young fans who don’t even think of Simms as a former NFL quarterback, the same fans who didn’t realize that John Madden used to be a coach. After all, when Simms broadcasts Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans Sunday between the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens, only Madden (with eight) will have been the color man for more Super Bowls than Simms.

“I can’t believe I’ve done seven,” Simms said at a recent CBS Sports press event. “Of course I’m proud of it. And I’ve always said, ‘Sooner or later I wanna come out of one and be happy.’ … Broadcasting is a lot like playing in those terms. You go to bed and all you think about is the things you wish you’d have done.”

For the record, Simms called Super Bowls XXX and XXXII for NBC, then XXXV, XXXVIII, XLI and XLIV for CBS. Plenty of big moments from those games – John Elway’s first title, Tom Brady’s second, Peyton Manning, the Saints’ onside kick – but what’s the first thing Simms thinks about when he looks back at the big games he’s called?

“My most memorable moment probably is a bad one,” Simms said. “It’s the Janet Jackson thing.”

Ah, yes, Nipple-gate. Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime. Simms explained that he didn’t see it when it happened. But as he and Greg Gumbel made their way back to the booth before the start of the second half, he knew something was up.

“Before halftime was over, we had tons of executives running into our booth yelling, ‘Give us a replay!’ We had no idea.”

When Simms learned what the fuss was about, he shook his head in disbelief – not so much about what had happened as for the frenzy that followed. Simms had a job to do – call the second half of the Super Bowl. The Patriots held a 14-10 halftime lead over the Panthers, and a wild finish was about to ensue.

However, there was one more memorable Super Bowl moment that was unfolding. Players and coaches were pouring back onto the field for the second half when Simms noticed something odd.

“I just remember seeing the guy in the officials uniform. I saw him on the far sideline and wondered what he was doing there… because he looked funny.”

Indeed, it wasn’t an official. It was an imposter.

“He was the guy that got naked and ran onto the field,” Simms laughed.

Mark Roberts, a British streaker who has crashed several major events, probably would have received more notoriety for his Super Bowl stunt if not for the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction. Still, it was a big deal.

“So I spotted him first," Simms said. "I’m not proud of that, but I saw him.”

So Simms missed the nipple during halftime, but he got the Full Monty just a few minutes later.

The woman behind the man who built the New York Giants

By Craig Ellenport

I doubt many of Peter King’s readers knew who Lovie Young was when they read the news in this week’s MMQB column that she had passed away last Thursday. She was the widow of the late George Young, architect of the New York Giants teams that won two Super Bowls under his reign as general manager.

I never met Lovie Young, but I did have the honor of talking to her just a few weeks ago. Though she was weakened by cancer, she was very gracious and offered her time to speak with me for a book project that focuses on how her husband built the Giants, almost from the ground up, when he was hired just two months after the debacle known as “The Miracle at the Meadowlands.”

There was never any doubt that Lovie was extremely proud of George, and his storied NFL career really had nothing to do with that. George was an incredibly popular high school coach and educator in Baltimore long before he drafted Phil Simms and Lawrence Taylor, long before he hired Bill Parcells, long before he laid the foundation that has kept the Giants successful long after he retired.

Lovie explained to me that George got his NFL break in the late ‘60s, when then-Baltimore Colts head coach Don Shula needed someone to evaluate players on film for him. Shula was impressed with George’s work, enough so to offer him a job with the Colts in 1968.

“But George had been so big in Baltimore and so popular, that I didn’t really think it was that big a deal,” said Lovie. “Isn’t that strange? But it’s true.”

Ten years later, after serving a number of roles under Shula with both the Colts and Miami Dolphins, Young was hired as GM of the Giants. It was never a job George aspired to, Lovie said. “He wasn’t interested (in being the boss),” she said. “He was interested in the franchise. The franchise was the thing that always fascinated him about the Giants. He always said, ‘Remember, they don’t love me, they don’t love you. They love the team.’”

One Giants player who did love both George and Lovie Young was Hall of Famer Harry Carson (and he wasn’t even drafted by George; he was already on the team when the Youngs came to town). Carson developed a close bond with George. He spoke at his funeral in 2001 and continued to speak with Lovie on a regular basis after that.

“One thing that really stands out is that his wife would always be at the airport,” Carson told me when I interviewed him about George for the book. “Regardless of what time we would come in from playing a game, she would be there to meet him. And I’d think, ‘How did this fat, bald guy with these big glasses… how did he snag this woman?’ And she’d love him so much that she’d be at the airport after every away game to pick him up. I thought, he must really be smooth, there must be something else to George.”

There was an awful lot to George, for which Giants fans can be eternally grateful. One of them was a strong woman by his side.

FootballNation.com is your home for NFL Draft coverage

By Craig Ellenport

With the 2012 NFL Draft set to kick off Thursday, here are some recent draft-related items I wrote this week for FootballNation.com:

* The biggest linebacker busts in NFL history -- I actually felt bad including Quentin Coryatt and Brian Bosworth on this list because neither would have been considered had it not been for major injuries. That's right, Bosworth had an excuse. Meanwhile, I was tickled to see Big Ten bully Ohio State land four players on this list.

* The 10 best draft picks in Jets history -- It would have been much more fun to write about the biggest busts in Jets history, but there are some good picks here. FYI, with all the scrutiny prospects face these days, do you think a wide receiver who is blind in one eye would ever be a second-round draft pick? That was the case with Wesley Walker, who turned out just fine.

* The 10 best draft picks in Giants history -- LT and Simms have to be at the top of the list. No questions asked. After that, the order could easily have been jumbled. I had no problem putting Jason Pierre-Paul on this list after just two seasons. In this day and age, where winning now is the mantra, GM Jerry Reese was gutsy enough to use the 15th overall pick on a guy everyone said was a project. And JPP  showed return on investment sooner than anyone expected.

By the way, for more outstanding draft coverage, check out all the good stuff from FootballNation.com.