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American Morning

St. Louis Rams and New England Patriots Headed to Super Bowl XXXVI

Aired January 28, 2002 - 07:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: The St. Louis Rams and the New England Patriots are enjoying the breakfast of champions this morning. I did not write that. The Patriots stunned the Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday. They won the AFC championship game and the trip to New Orleans, where they'll play in Super Bowl XXXVI on Sunday. Hence, their opponent will be the St. Louis Rams, who took the NFC title game by beating the Philadelphia Eagles behind their star quarterback, Kurt Warner.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KURT WARNER, QUARTERBACK, ST. LOUIS RAMS: We've got such a great group of guys here that the lord has assembled, and we just give the praise and glory to God and then we say, "Thank you St. Louis."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAFFERTY: I mean, it just doesn't get any better than that. Kurt Warner, I mean he's all the American guy, right? And on the Patriot side, you've got this feel good story of triumph over adversity. Bledsoe comes off the bench after being benched for almost the entire season, he wins the game. Brady, who is also a really squeaky clean family guy -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) kind of guy -- is the starting quarterback -- I mean, there are too many good guys lining up for the Super Bowl in New Orleans. Or are there?

Joining us now to talk about the image of this year's game. From St. Louis, Sports Illustrated's Jeffri Chadiha. And here in New York, Radio Talk Show Host Steve Somers, who is known on the All Sports radio station as "the schmoozer." Gentlemen, welcome.

Mr. Chadiha, what about the idea that the stands are not going to be populated with like parole officers and stuff this year, looking for their clients to come off the field so they can get them to the next court appearance?

JEFFRI CHADIHA, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED: Well, I don't know if it was that bad last year. I think with the...

CAFFERTY: Well, maybe that's overstating it.

CHADIHA: Yeah, that was the controversy surrounding Ray Lewis (UNINTELLIGIBLE). He had a lot of negative publicity. And, obviously, when Brian (UNINTELLIGIBLE) came in, he actually exacerbated that by making some comments to the media, saying they shouldn't be talking about this story. And, actually, that only creates more attention from the media.

But coming in, obviously, you've got Drew Bledsoe, you've got Tom Brady, you've got Kurt Warner guys that have come from difficult backgrounds or at least difficult situations this year. And it makes for a good copy, good stories.

CAFFERTY: Steve, I remember years ago, you know, you had Mean Joe Green -- and that was his name because he was -- doing that great commercial with the little kid for Coca Cola. Now you've got guys doing Chunky soup commercials with their mothers. I mean, what's going on?

STEVE SOMERS, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Yeah, I mean, this is going to be Dan Quayle's Super Bowl, Jack. This is -- this is family values and red, white and blue, with the Chunky soup with Kurt Warner -- yeah. And even God may watch this Super Bowl for the simple reason that, of course, this is going to be with one team from St. Louis, of course, and -- and they even have a marshal on their team for doing things the right way.

Last year, the Super Bowl was sponsored by the NRA. This year, it's the PTA.

CAFFERTY: OK. Jeffri, what's the headline behind the game? You said that there are no bad guys, no controversy. Is there a story behind the story? Because a week from now, our teeth will hurt if it's just about the football game. The media needs something else to latch onto.

CHADIHA: Well, I think Tom Brady and Drew Bledsoe is going to be very interesting to watch. Drew Bledsoe coming in and winning that game yesterday was a dramatic ending to his season. Obviously, he came in and lost the job to Tom Brady. But Tom Brady is a great story too. He's the guy who won 12 -- won 12 and 3 as a starter. Nobody knew he was. He was a guy that was forgotten last year (UNINTELLIGIBLE) quarterback. So deciding who that quarterback is going to be is going to be what everybody's talking about this week.

CAFFERTY: Well, there's some question, though, whether Brady is going to be able to play or not, right? They're saying -- he hurt his ankle yesterday and they're saying that he may not be ready to go.

SOMERS: Yeah. He probably will start.

CAFFERTY: He will?

SOMERS: Yeah, he says he's going to be OK. If the health issue is not in question, he will start and Bledsoe will come off the bench.

CAFFERTY: If necessary. But if Brady starts the game and they, you know, jump up a couple of touchdowns, I mean, how tough would it be for Bledsoe after he came off the bench to get him to the Super Bowl not to be able to play in this game? And it's possible you wouldn't see -- you wouldn't see any action.

SOMERS: Yeah, that's right. And -- no, Brady would start and Bledsoe would come off the bench, unless, of course, Brady is fine and healthy and doing well.

CAFFERTY: Jeffri, what's the buzz on the line? In Vegas, the Rams are two touchdowns plus early line on the game. It seems like a bunch.

CHAHIDA: Well, I think so, too. I think if you are New England, you're going to Pittsburgh. You beat -- you're up 21 to 3 on the team that won 14 games. I find it hard to believe you're coming to this game being a 14, 15 point underdog. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) has said all year long that they -- they don't get any respect, well they're not going to get any now. I mean, I think they realize that it's going to be the high road. They have to come in, they have to prove to the Rams that they're as good as anybody -- as good as they think they are.

And I look at them. They won their -- they won their division, they've won two games in the playoffs. And they're as good as any team out there right now.

CAFFERTY: Traditionally, Steve, these games are awful if you like football. They tend to be lopsided, one-sided, a lot of times they're decided by half-time. Is it going to be a decent game?

SOMERS: I don't think it matters to most of America, Jack. What you usually have here with the Super Bowl, it's -- the unofficial American holiday. It's a party day and a fun day, and, oh yeah, there's a game on. But it's a good excuse for a lot of people to go and have a good time with family and friends and have a nice party somewhere.

But I think it will be a lot better football game than the odds- makers are saying. I think it will be a closer game. The Rams are a better team. But I think it will be a lot closer than the 14 point spread.

CAFFERTY: I remember 10 years ago -- maybe it was 11 -- during Desert Storm they had Whitney Houston do "The Star Spangled Banner" a cappella -- aruably the greatest performance of the National Anthem ever -- ever. They released that as a single, it became a best- selling record. And I just remember sitting and getting tears in my eyes watching her do that. There was so much patriotism in the air over Desert Storm. It will be interesting to see what kind of emotion given the events of 9-11 is attached to this game.

Fellows, thank you. Jeff Chadiha of Sports Illustrated, joining us this morning from St. Louis. Jeff, good to have you with us.

CHADIHA: Thank you.

CAFFERTY: And Steve Somers, WFAN radio here in New York City. The Rams and the Patriots tee it up in a week. And we will talk on about this at some length no doubt between now and then. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com