The media day for Super Bowl XLII was Tuesday, Jan. 29, and the lead story was an entertainment reporter for Mexico-based TV Azteca, Ines Gomez Mont, and her marriage proposal to New England's Tom Brady. "Would you marry me, Tom?" she asked. Of course, Tom Brady declined the offer with a comment about being a "one-woman" man. That's news to Brady ex-girlfriend Bridget Moynihan, maybe.
No sooner was word out last spring that Moynihan was pregnant with Tom Brady's baby when Gisele Bundchen was introduced as Brady's new squeeze. Anyhow, Ms. Gomez Mont was attired in a skimpy white wedding gown that has been described as looking like something that came from the Britney Spears collection. After Tom Brady's rejection, Gomez Mont made the rounds, starting with Giant QB Eli Manning. She told Eli Manning she was in love with him. Upon Eli's brushoff, Gomez Mont basically made a pass at virtually all the players for both teams. Just another Super Bowl media day.
It reeks of a publicity stunt, but there have been many moments at the Super Bowl in which a reporter asked such a spectacularly stupid question that they became part of the news. Among the more famous stupid questions in Super Bowl media day history:
1981. The Super Bowl that year was played on the day Iran finally released a group of American hostages who had been held at the American Embassy in Teheran for 2 or 3 months. On media day before Super Bowl XV between the Oakland Raiders and Philadelphia Eagles, Oakland QB Jim Plunkett, who grew up in poverty in San Jose, CA, was asked a question that lives in infamy. Plunkett probably didn't know whether to be offended or laugh at the query. "Let me get this straight, Jim. Your mother is blind and your father is dead.Or is it the other way around?"
In 1988, most of the media focus was on Denver 's John Elway. Washington's Doug Williams, the first African-American to start at football's most glamorous position, was asked probably the dumbest question of all by a foreign reporter: "How long have you been a black Quarterback?" Williams went on to have the game of his life with 340 yards passing and 4 touchdown passes, most in the second quarter. Washington scored 35 of their 42 points in one quarter. After the media had been obsessing over darling John Elway all week.
As the Jan. 1997 matchup between the Green bay Packers and the New England Patriots neared, rumors then Patriot coach Bill Parcells was leaving to coach the New York Jets (rumors that turned out to be true) swirled. Parcells was asked by one New York reporter if it was true the Jets had offered to rename the Meadowlands complex where both the Giants and Jets currently play "Parcellsland". "Is LSD makin' a comeback?" Parcells replied, one of the greatest comebacks I've ever heard from a coach in any sport. You see, the stadium in question is Giants Stadium, the Jets couldn't have renamed it if they wanted to. The Giants played there long before their counterparts.
One of the problems with Super Bowls is the fact that there are many reporters present who don't normally cover the NFL or football. Players' careers can be ruined with a bad day on Super Sunday, just ask Scott Norwood of Buffalo who missed the game-winning field goal in 1991. Others have reaped the rewards of big contracts due to having a big day. Larry Brown of the Cowboys and Desmond Howard of Green Bay both got millions from Al Davis of the Raiders after winning the Super Bowl MVP award. Both flopped.
It is not known if the reporters who asked these questions gained or lost professionally as a result of dumb queries. They did, however, take their place in Super Bowl lore for being a part of the circus known as media day. Now they must make room for Ines Gomez Mont for making an unsuccessful marriage proposal to Tom Brady.
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