Sports

Super Bowl XLII Diary: Tuesday

PHOENIX (CBS) ― Abigail Lorge, the national sports producer for the CBS Television Stations digital media group, is providing a running diary from Super Bowl XLII.

Tuesday, Jan. 30, 10:30 p.m. MT

Greetings from Phoenix, where I'm excited to be on the scene of my first Super Bowl. In my career, I have been lucky enough to travel all over the world covering major sporting events - including four Olympics - but I've never experienced a uniquely American spectacle quite like this.

My first order of business upon arriving was to attend Tuesday's Media Day - a free-for-all in which the gathered reporters are unleashed on the two teams for an open forum of interviewing and sound byte-collection. But my credential wasn't enough to let me just breeze in to the University of Phoenix Stadium; the elaborate security routine required me to pass through metal detectors while bomb-sniffing dogs nosed around in my laptop bag – a process reminiscent of the Olympics.

Once I got inside, I encountered a bizarre blurring of boundaries between football and entertainment. There were American Samoans (Junior Seau) and Americal Idols (Kellie Pickler); "NFL Today" analysts and "Entertainment Tonight" reporters; contestants from "America's Next Top Model" and players who date supermodels (Osi Umenyiora and Selita Eubanks?!); Wrights (Manny Wright, Giants DT) and wrongs (the Mexican journalista who dressed in a mini wedding dress and red heels to propose to Tom Brady).

Obviously, this is a plum assignment for me - not just because I get to escape the brutal winter cold of the Northeast for the more forgiving climes of Arizona, but because as a lifelong football fan, I am able to witness the big game – and the frenzy that surrounds it - in person. Full disclosure: Even though I live in New York, I grew up in Massachusetts as a Pats and Red Sox fan. But I promise to maintain my objectivity for the sake of this gig - and this blog.

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)