UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, January 22, 1997
9B
Coaches hope New Orleans activities won't attract players
The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — Young women giggle and call their names as they pass through the hotel lobby. Fans press drinks into their hands as they explore Bourbon Street. Jazz joints jump and strip clubs sparkle.
Life's a party in New Orleans, and the Green Bay Packers and New England Patriots are the guests of honor.
"It's a wild place and a lot of people are ready to party with you if you can," Packers guard Lindsay Knapp said. "What we need to do is remember the reason we're here, and it's not to have fun in the French Quarter."
True. But there is so much in New Orleans to distract players from that purpose. Away from the practice field, the world is waiting and fun is the first order of business.
Brandi Miller and Heather Jackson, both 18-year-olds from Mississippi, squealed with delight as Green Bay players began streaming into the hotel lobby. To show they were true fans, they clutched pennants and wore Packers T-shirts bearing autographs of team members.
Jackson reiterated her affection for the players.
"I'm saving the place over my heart for Brett Favre to sign," Miller said. "I just hope I don't faint when he touches me."
"We're trying to find out where they are going tonight and maybe hook up with them," Jackson said.
"It's national party with a player night and we're volunteers."
So many distractions. So little time.
In a city where the party never stops, Packers coach Mike Holmgren said he is counting on players to focus more on the game than the fun and games.
"Just because the curfew is for 1 a.m. doesn't mean you have to stay out that late," he said.
Holmgren began dealing with distractions the day after the Packers won the NFC title. He told his players to get their game tickets, make their travel plans and get it done within a day so they could concentrate on football.
Once his team arrived in New Orleans, Holinger counted on early morning meetings and hard practice sessions to curb his players' quest to experience nightlife.
"We've talked a lot about it and tried to educate them the best we could as to what to expect," Holmgren said. "It's my experience that by the end of the week most of the guys just stay around the hotel. They've had it and just want to play the game."
Bill Parcells, head coach of the Patriots, set no curfew for his players early in the week, and even gave them yesterday off.
"I don't try to keep them at it for 10 straight days or two weeks," Parcells said. "For me to hammer, hammer, hammer wouldn't pay off. We'll be focused when the time comes."
Like Holmgren, Parcells figured he would see enough of his players to be able to monitor their readiness for the game.
"I know my players are in 8:30 meetings with me every morning," Parcelcsa said. "I know what they look like at that hour, and I can tell from that pretty well what they've been doing."
Players were free to sample the city's delights prior to the big game, and most took advantage of it.
Early in the week, Packers safety Eugene Robinson grabbed a saxophone at Club 544 and jammed with the band. Teammates Knapp and Gary Brown wandered Bourbon Street bug-eve, checking out the clubs.
Lovett Purnell, a New England Patriot rookie, toured the clubs where there was live music.
At Pat O'Brien's, tackle Bruce Armstrong, a 10-year veteran, sampled a Hurricane, which is a fruit punch and rum concoction that has caused almost as much devastation as the storm for which it is named.
One of the few things specifically placed off limits for the players were the New Orleans casinos.
"I talked to my players. I told then to stay out of the casinos," Holmgren said. "They'd like to gamble a bit. I like to play cards. But I don't think it's the image football players
need to portray this week."
Parcells, who will coach in his third Super Bowl, also began preparing his players before they arrived in New Orleans.
He warned them that some things could get them sent home and some things might cost them the game.
"I know what the balance is; to allow them to enjoy part of it," Parcells said. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing for some of them and they should eat it. But they know what the rules are."
Have fun, but not so much fun you forget why you're in New Orleans. That was the message that players on both teams said they got from the coaches.
"We're going and having a good time, but we're not going to get drunk and get in trouble," said Patriots defensive Willie McGinest.
Should any players forget that, there are others around to remind them.
"We're grown men and we realize that basically this is a business trip and we need to take care of business," he said.
"Nobody's stupid on our team," said Gilbert Brown, a former Jayhawk and Packers nose tackle. "We know what we're down here for. If anyone doesn't know, we'll make sure they find out real fast. You don't get many chances to win a Super Bowl and we're going to see it nobody wastes it."
Patriots picked as Sunday's underdogs NFC's Packers favored to win "Once the game thats been said or done that wee really doesn't matter." he said
The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — The New England Patriots learned quickly how much being the surprise AFC champion was worth — a 14-point spread in favor of their Super Bowl opponent.
Moments after the Patriots won the AFC title game over Jacksonville, they were installed as two touchdown underdogs to the Packers in Sunday's Super Bowl.
One reason is the NFC's 12 consecutive NFL championships. Another is the fact that Green Bay, a preseason favorite that went 13-3, had the best offense and stingiest defense in the league.
The sting lingers.
Being a big underdog doesn't assure defeat.
"It's a lack of respect, but that doesn't matter," linebacker Chris Slade said Monday night. "Who cares what people think?"
"If you look through history, look at the fighting world," said defensive end Willie McGinest. "Look at Tyson-Holyfield. Look at David and Goliath. You can go way back. That's real far back."
You need only go back to 1991 to find the last Super Bowl underdog to win.
Buffalo, favored by six points, lost to the New York Giants 20-19. The winning coach was Bill Parcells, now in charge of the Patriots.
Patriots guard William Roberts, who played in that game, said being the underdog was something to think about, but not to dwell upon.
"I know we're the underdogs," Parcells said. "I know the NFC's been fairly dominant in this game.
"I'm aware of all that. I was part of that for a while, but each year's a different year. I thought Pittsburgh had a good shot last year."
The Steelers, 13-point underdogs,
lost to Dallas 27-17.
Green Bay's 14-point spread is tied for the third biggest in Super Bowl history.
The Baltimore Colts were favored by 18 in 1969 but fell to the New York Jets 16-7, and San Francisco, a 19-point favorite, pounded San Diego 49-26 two years ago.
Favorites have won 22 of the 30 Super Bowls, including the last five. In the Patriots' only other Super Bowl in 1986, they were 10-point underdogs to the Chicago Bears and lost 46-10.
The last AFC team to win was the Los Angeles Raiders, who were 21/2-point underdogs but beat Washington 38-9 in 1984.
The Patriots already have knocked off a favorite with a 28-3 win against Pittsburgh in their playoff opener this season.
"We are insulted. We worked just as hard as (the Packers) have, and we've done just as much as they've done. We've accomplished just as much as they accomplished. We're in the Super Bowl, and they're in the Super Bowl."
"It's a great thing being the underdog," McGinnett said. "It's an added incentive. The guys can feed off it.
And they've played outstanding defense for their last seven games.
Favre alcohol ban lifted
The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — The ban on Brett Favre's drinking alcohol has been lifted by the NFL. But that doesn't mean he'll be tearing up Bourbon Street before the Super Bowl, his agent said yesterday.
"It's not like Brett's jumping stumps to go out drinking," James "Bus" Cook said from his office in Hattiesburg, Miss. "He's not there to go out partying. He's there to win the Super Bowl."
Cook said Favre, the Green Bay Packers' two-time MVP quarterback, informed him late last week that the league upheld his appeal to change his status in its substance-abuse program. He will no longer face random testing for alcohol use.
The NFL wouldn't comment because of the confidentiality of its substance abuse policy but was upset that Favre's agent spoke publicly about the matter.
"The details of any player's status under our drug program are confidential. We don't plan to make any further comment this week nor at the time the final report is delivered," Aiello said. "Due to the policy's confidentiality provisions, we would hope that the Packers and Brett's agent would take the same position."
"This isn't about drinking. It's about freedom," Cook said. "If they win the ballgame Sunday and he wants to drink a beer, then he can drink a beer. It's just a choice that he has the right to make."
The decision was revealed as the Packers prepare for Sunday's Super Bowl.
Vicodin. He later protested his status, arguing that he shouldn't be treated like a player who got caught using illicit drugs.
Favre joined the league's sub- substance abuse program in May after he told the NFL he was addicted to the painkiller
He spent 46 days last summer at the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, to treat his addiction. He now takes non-narcotic medicine to deal with his aches and pains.
Cook said the NFL reclassified Favre as "self-referred," rather than "behavioral-referred," several days before the Packers' Jan. 4 playoff victory against San Francisco.
Favre said during the season he was forced into rehabilitation by the league because the alternative was a $970,588 fine — four weeks' worth of his $4.125 million salary. That's also the fine he would have faced for a positive alcohol test during the season.
"Brett Favre wanted the freedom to choose, just like any other player that was self-referred." Cook said. "If he elects to have a drink, he doesn't want to be penalized or have his team penalized."
Favre's new status still carries restrictions. He will continue to be tested for painkillers for another year and must meet with league-appointed doctors every six months.
In September, Favre revealed he was protesting his status in the NFL's substance abuse program.
"This isn't about me being able to drink," he said. "I haven't touched a drop in five months, so that's not a problem. This is about me regaining my freedom."
Favre's play this season revealed no ill effects of his addiction. He threw an NFC-record 39 touchdowns, he won the MVP award for the second straight year and guided Green Bay to its first Super Bowl in 29 seasons.
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