A Viewers' Cheat Sheet To Super Bowl Weekend

updated 5 a.m. Friday

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All You Need To Know To Get You Through Super Bowl Weekend

NEW YORK (AQB)--This is it. It's finally here. The greatest sports day of year.

Super Bowl Sunday.

To help you maximize the pleasure from this national holiday weekend, ArmchairQB.com has compiled a list of all the key Super Bowl-related programming for this weekend.

Come back often as ArmchairQB.com will update this page as more information becomes available on these programs. And don't forget to watch the game Sunday with ArmchairQB.com, which will review ABC's coverage as the game proceeds.

Happy viewing!

Thursday, Jan. 27

Inside The NFL, 8 p.m., HBO. Len Dawson, Nick Buoniconti, Cris Collinsworth and Jerry Glanville provide the first in-depth preview of the big game. The show repeats at 11:59 p.m. Thursday, 7 p.m. Friday, 1:40 a.m. Saturday, 11 a.m. Saturday and 12:40 a.m. Sunday.

Friday, Jan. 28

Commissioner's Press Conference, 11:30 a.m., various networks. CNN/SI, ESPN and Fox Sports Net will present Paul Tagliabue's annual state of the NFL speech.

Edge NFL Matchup, 8 p.m., ESPN. Suzy Kolber, along with analysts Merril Hoge and Ron Jaworski, break down the Super Bowl. The half-hour show will be repeated 12:30 a.m. Saturday and 8:30 a.m. Sunday.

NFL Films Presents, 8:30 p.m., ESPN2. NFL Films remembers the five greatest games of the 1999 season. They are:

Cincinnati Bengals at Tennessee Titans - Week 1
Miami Dolphins at Indianapolis Colts - Week 5
Carolina Panthers at Green Bay Packers - Week 14
Seattle Seahawks at Denver Broncos - Week 15
Oakland Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs - Week 17

The half-hour show will be repeated 10 a.m. Saturday.

Friday Night At The Super Bowl, 10:30 p.m., TNT. Bob Lorenz, Ron Meyer and Trev Alberts host this 90-minute special, which will preview the game, look at key matchups and take a peak at the Super Bowl parties. NFL insider Peter King, Atlanta Falcons running back Jamal Anderson and Buffalo Bills future Hall of Famer Bruce Smith also will contribute.

The program will have reporters throughout Atlanta reporting on all the festivities surrounding the big game.

Turner Sports reporter Craig Sager will be at the Sports Illustrated party at a club just blocks from the Georgia Dome.
CNN/SI's Mike Galanos will bring viewers all the action from in and around downtown Atlanta's Centennial Park.
Andre Aldridge will report from the NFL Players Association party.

John Giannone and Josie Karp will be at the Georgia Dome with features on Tennessee Titans veteran lineman Bruce Matthews and the St. Louis Rams quarterback Kurt Warner.

Finally, the show will go inside the Time-Warner house and recruit Len Dawson, Nick Buoniconti, Cris Collinsworth and Jerry Glanville from HBO's Inside the NFL to review the keys to the game and make their predictions for Super Bowl XXXIV.

Saturday, Jan. 29

SportsCenter, 10:30 a.m., ESPN. Includes the live announcement of this year's Hall of Fame inductees.

Lineman Challenge, 1 p.m., ESPN2. One of those silly competitions, on tape, similar to what former New England running back Robert Edwards got hurt in last year.

Special Monday Night Countdown, 7 p.m., ESPN. Host Mike Tirico will be joined by Suzy Kolber and Stuart Scott, analysts Tom Jackson, Ron Jaworski, Chris Mortensen and Sterling Sharpe, guest analyst Cris Carter and reporters Ed Werder (AFC), Sal Paolantonio (NFC) and Lesley Visser.

Among the features planned are:

Separate profiles of the two quarterbacks, St. Louis' Kurt Warner and Tennessee's Steve McNair
Andrea Kremer on St. Louis running back Marshall Faulk, who discusses the science of making people miss.
A look back at Super Bowl IV through the men who played it three decades ago, including one of the NFL's first "wirings for sound" in a championship game, Kansas City head coach Hank Stram.
Lesley Visser goes backstage with the man credited with originating the "quarterback sack," former Ram and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deacon Jones.
The show opens the playbook on the Rams passing game and Steve McNair
Soundtracks takes an inside look at how Tampa Bay shut down the vaunted Rams offense through the eyes of John Lynch, who was wired for sound during the NFC Championship.

Sunday, Jan. 30

Inside The NFL, 12:40 a.m., HBO. The final airing of this show before the Super Bowl.

Edge NFL Matchup, 8:30 a.m., ESPN. The final airing of this show before the Super Bowl.

The NFL Now, 9 a.m., MSNBC. MSNBC simulcasts Mike Francesa's two-hour national radio program from Atlanta. (In New York, the radio show is three hours).

NFL Preview, 10 a.m., CNN. Bob Lorenz hosts with Trev Alberts, Ron Meyer and NFL insider Peter King. Mike Galanos and King will report live from the Georgia Dome with the latest news, injury updates and game plans.

The show will interview Rams head coach Dick Vermeil, who is a far different coach than he was when he led the Eagles to Super Bowl XV in 1981. Also, Josie Karp, who is covering the Rams all week, will profile running back Marshall Faulk, while John Giannone, covering the Titans, will have a feature on Bruce Matthews.

NFL This Morning, 11 a.m., Fox Sports Net. Chris Myers hosts this one-hour show with analysts Marv Levy, Jackie Slater and Chris Spielman. John Madden also will appear live. Bill Maas and Ron Pitts will provide live reports from the Georgia Dome, with team reports from Sam Marchiano and Jeanne Zelasko. Finally, Mike Goldberg will conduct guest interviews.

Levy names three match-ups to watch.

"One, Tennessee must bring pressure on Kurt Warner and successfully have one-on-one coverage on the Rams' core receivers. Two, St. Louis has to shut down the Titans' running game and neutralize Steve McNair and Eddie George. Three, the Rams have a great kick return unit and the Titans have one of the best coverage units in the NFL. That could be a key match-up."

Levy's prediction: St. Louis 30 Tennessee 17.

Slater, a former Ram, likes his old team.

"A wide variety of offensive weapons, a tough and stingy defense, plus an excellent special teams unit will lead the Rams to their first Super Bowl win," Slater said in a statement this week. His prediction: Rams 38 Titans 21.

What did you expect from the ex-Ram?

Finally, Fox Sports Net NFL analyst Bill Maas loves St. Louis running back Marshall Faulk but doesn't love the Rams.

"I can't remember a time when one guy brought out the best in his team like Faulk has with the Rams. Faulk is not only a tremendous athletic talent, but he is also an extremely smart football player, but it won't be enough."

Maas picks Tennessee, 33-27.

Sunday NFL Countdown, 11 a.m., ESPN. ESPN kicks off Disney's daylong coverage of Super Bowl Sunday with this three-hour pregame show hosted by Mike Tirico, who will be joined by Suzy Kolber and Stuart Scott, analysts Merril Hoge, Tom Jackson, Ron Jaworski, Jim Kelly, Chris Mortensen, Marty Schottenheimer and Sterling Sharpe, guest analysts Atlanta's Jamal Anderson and Minnesota's Cris Carter, and reporters Ed Werder (AFC) and Sal Paolantonio (NFC).

Among the features planned are:

Ron Jaworski on Dick Vermeil and Kurt Warner
A profile of St. Louis defensive lineman D'Marco Farr, who works out with a martial arts teacher to help with his agility and speed.
Greg Garber on Steve McNair. The feature includes a story about how McNair bought land for his Mom in Mt. Olive, Miss., to build a house for her, only to find out that the land he bought was the same land where his mother picked cotton as a 6-year-old girl.
Tom Jackson examines what makes Jevon Kearse so dangerous.
Chris Berman explores how people celebrated and spent their time during Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami, covering a dozen sights across the United States and one in Germany, incvluding an airport, a naval base, a prison, the small town of Miami, Mo., and a couple that drove from Denver to Miami, Fla.
NFL Films remembers the 20th anniversary of the 1979 Pittsburgh Steelers and looks at where some of the stars are now and how a number of them stayed in Pittsburgh.
Andrea Kremer, who had a baby this week, examines NFL players who have been taken advantage of financially by their families, featuring former 49er offensive lineman Steve Wallace, who was sued by his parents when he wanted to move them into a smaller house than the larger one he had initially bought them because, at the time, his parents were living a better life than he was - on his money.

College Football All-Star Challenge, noon, Fox. The second annual event showcases the nation's top college quarterbacks, receivers, running backs and kickers in several unique skills events. Interviews, profiles and draft prospectuses are included in the show.

Players scheduled to compete include Heisman Trophy winner and Wisconsin running back Ron Dayne, Virginia running back Thomas Jones and Arizona receiver Dennis Northcutt. Kenny Albert, Matt Millen and D.J. Johnson host this one-hour special that will be taped Friday, Jan. 28 at Riverside Military Academy in Gainesville, Ga.

Blockbuster 17th Annual All-Madden Team, 1 p.m., Fox. Fox NFL analyst John Madden and his play-by-play partner for 19 years, Pat Summerall, unveil this year's "All-Madden Team" in a one-hour special that was taped earlier this week from frigid Atlanta, the home of Super Bowl XXXIV.

Nine members of the NFC Champion St. Louis Rams, the most by any team, are among the 56 players from 16 teams selected, including 26 first-time members. Because Madden and Summerall did not broadcast a Tennessee Titans game this season, they are not eligible.

In addition, Madden has assembled a five-person coaching staff that is unmatched in professional sports. The staff includes Madden, Summerall, Rams head coach Dick Vermeil, Indianapolis Colts head coach Jim Mora and Joe Torre, manager of the two-time defending World Champion New York Yankees.

"You want a guy like Joe Torre to help coach your players no matter what sport he's in," Madden said in a statement this week.

Madden also will induct Chicago Bears great Walter Payton into the "All-Madden Haul-of-Fame," which is located this year on the hill where Payton trained during the off-season at Nickol Knoll Park in Arlington Heights, Ill.

"There are many players who are deserving of this honor, but because of the respect and admiration I have for Walter as a person and a player, he is getting his own special induction on Sunday," Madden said.

The only requirements for All-Madden status are that Madden and Summerall must have seen the player, coach or other selectee in action during the season and that he must show the necessary grittiness to be included on the team.

"These are the kind of players that John and I admire," Summerall said. "They may not be the best, but they all play with heart and don't mind getting dirty."

Super Bowl XXXIV Pre-Game Show, 2 p.m., ABC
Chris Berman hosts this four-hour show with analyst Steve Young. They will be joined by Jim McKay, Brent Musberger, Dan Fouts, Bob Griese, Lynn Swann, Lesley Visser, Robin Roberts, Mike Tirico, Jimmy Roberts, Beano Cook, Andrea Kremer, Charles Gibson, Barbara Walters and the cast of The View, and Emeril Lagasse.

Among the features planned are:

Robin Roberts' feature on Fritz Pollard, the first black player and head coach in the NFL. Pollard played for and coached the Akron Pros starting in 1921.
Mike Tirico's feature on the incomparable Vince Lombardi with never-before-seen footage of the great coach of the Green Bay Packers.
Brent Musberger's remembrance of the great Walter Payton.
Beano Cook's story of "the Cumberland Game" in which Georgia Tech beat Cumberland College 222-0 in 1916 at Georgia Tech, where the AFC team was training. There's no truth to the rumor that the 68-year-old Cook was at the game.
Lesley Visser and Robin Roberts with Barbara Walters and the cast of ABC's The View.
Dan Fouts hosts "Hershey's Million-Dollar Kick" from the new ESPN Zone in Atlanta.
Good Morning America's Charles Gibson interviews both Super Bowl coaches.
Chef Emeril Lagasse offers a Super Bowl recipe.
Mike Tirico hosts a quarterback round-table discussion with Dan Fouts, Bob Griese, Jim Kelly and Ron Jaworski. Questions will be taken from online users.
Al Michaels announces the 30th Anniversary team, as selected by online users.
Chris Berman interviews Phil Collins, who will perform during halftime.
Magician David Blaine performs some sleight of hand.
Chris Berman's Top-10 Super Bowl plays of all time.
A trip to the NFL Tailgate Party for a performance by Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Jimmy Roberts feature on Dan Marino and his wife's adoption of an abandoned Chinese baby.
Andrea Kremer's feature on concussions in the NFL, including an animated look at the brain during a concussion.
Tina Turner performing Proud Mary on the Georgia Dome field.

Tennessee Titans vs. St. Louis Rams, 6 p.m., ABC
Al Michaels, Boomer Esiason, Lesley Visser and Lynn Swann

Al Michaels calls his fourth Super Bowl, while Boomer Esiason handles his first as an announcer. He was Cincinnati's starting quarterback in Super Bowl XXIII against the 49ers.

Lesley Visser has covered more than a dozen Super Bowls for both print and television. This is her second for ABC, having worked Super Bowl XXIX in Miami. While at CBS, Visser became the first woman to handle the post-game presentation ceremonies at the Super Bowl.

This is Lynn Swann's fourth Super Bowl as an announcer, having covered Super Bowls XXII, XXV, XXIX for ABC. Swann, of course, also was a member of all four Pittsburgh Steeler Super Bowl teams and was MVP of Super Bowl X in 1976.

Ken Wolfe is the producer and Craig Janoff is the director of the telecast, which ABC estimates about 125 million people will view all or part of on the 226 ABC-affiliated stations in the country.

Of course, ABC will have plenty of equipment on hand to broadcast the Super Bowl, including 23 stationary cameras (including three Super Slo-Mos), six hand-held cameras (including two Super Slo-Mos), seven high-definition cameras, 30 videotape machines, 60 microphones, 35 vehicles, 75 television monitors, 20 miles of cable and more than 300 workers.

And, naturally, the obligatory first down marker, telestrator and blimp.

Other notes about the telecast:

Faith Hill will sing the National Anthem.
The halftime show will feature Phil Collins, Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias and Toni Braxton. They will be joined by more than 125 drummers and percussionists, a full symphony orchestra, larger-than-life puppets, aerial dancers, and a multigenerational choir.

NFL PrimeTime, approximately 10:30 p.m., ESPN
Mike Tirico, Tom Jackson and others review the big game.

Other recent stories by ArmchairQB.com:

ArmchairQB.com's NFL Playoff Coverage Page