Too much hype? Nah, Super Bowl Week shines, serves

To some, a week's worth, especially two weeks worth, can be too much of a good thing. Or, really, too much of anything.

When it comes to the Super Bowl, though, the two-week breather between conference championship games and the national holiday/made-for-TV spectacle that the Super Bowl has become works perfectly.

And this week, Super Bowl Week -- with radio stations from across the country hunkered down on Radio Row, Media Day and all its silliness on Tuesday, experts and talking heads from competing outlets crawling all over each other, and former players turned pitchmen making the rounds shilling everything from gambling sites to impotency drugs -- provides endless entertainment (and even some information).

It's a weeklong national holiday for sports media.

Too much? No way.

Still, there is a secret to following (or just trying to keep up) with all the overkill. It's moderation, picking your spots and, most importantly, picking your connections and storytellers for the week.

Trying to consume all or most of the week is a recipe for failure, so this is a great week to play favorites. My list begins with "Mike and Mike" on ESPN Radio and ESPN2. During the past decade or so, they've become my go-to morning (6-10 a.m.) sport talk outlet because they almost reliably connect with issues and topics that resonate with me. And, their perspectives make sense without too much silliness.

Plus, an added benefit for them and other ESPN shows is that they're not anchored along Radio Row. ESPN has its own stages in Herald Square. That makes the shows a bit more accessible to "atmosphere shots" with fans and it makes the offerings seem a little more special than the comparative cattle call at Radio Row.

On the downside, with this New York/New Jersey game having parts and pieces spread all over the place, any real atmosphere might be tough to capture, or even manufacture. Even worse, ESPN Radio does not have "Mike and Mike" live on gameday. So, instead of what was a short-lived tradition of an interview by them with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, listeners will get "The Mike Lupica Show" Sunday morning. (That's not on my must-listen list.)

My other radio/TV preference, "The Dan Patrick Show" overlaps a bit (9 a.m. to noon), but it connects and succeeds for many of the same reasons. It can be heard on Fox Sports Radio, satellite radio and simulcast on NBC Sports Network and Root Sports affiliates. It's good because it mixes culture and sports, and it stays away from every possible guest. They know more is not better. It's quality over quantity and it works as a result.

The key to these shows always rests behind the scenes with the producers who secure guests. In his latest column, Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated talked to those talented, behind-the-scenes standout about their approach to booking shows this week. LINK

TV options this week are just as plentiful, and my initial plan leads toward three outlets: ESPN, NFL Network and Fox Sports.

Specifically, that's ESPN (John Clayton, Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter) for news and information evenings later this week, the NFL Network as much as possible Saturday and Sunday (their coverage gives a sense of immediacy to Hall of Fame decisions an on-site action), and then Fox later on gameday -- maybe even as early as the obligatory Bill O'Reilly interview with President Obama.

Anything from Media Day will get overblown, so if anything does emerge you have to wonder how poorly prepared those involved are, or if they have an agenda and message they want to convey. There's rarely much in between. And we'll almost certainly get the media-on-media stories.

By later in the week, the experts that have gained my trust through the years might have some valuable info, which leads to watching ESPN, and then, subsequently, NFL Network (they also do team departures and arrivals with an intriguing combination of oh-so serious that it's almost silly).

Of course, the game has to be Fox. The guys in the booth, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman are solid and the men behind them, producer Richie Zyontz and director Rich Russo, do their job as well as anyone in the business. Viewers should expect to get all the correct shots at all the right times without forays into the stands or things that are irrelevant. (Unless Fox has the stars of some mid-season replacement show strategically placed in MetLife Stadium.)

Breaking news, a semi-scandal or someone with a loose tongue could reshape things this week -- and a bit of news would make things even more enjoyable. Among broadcasters, the only potential wild card might be Fox Sports 1. Daytime programming on the channel has done little to distinguish itself, so the Super Bowl will be all about awareness. If FS1 gets lucky, more people will know about it at the end of this long week.

Unfortunately for FS1 and network officials, the biggest possible boost for Fox Sports 1 would've been something something similar to the megacast approach ESPN used for the final game of the college football season. Just image ... a handful of ex-NFL coaches and players with Fox Sports ties (Brian Billick, Shannon Sharpe) watching the game live and critiquing things as they happen. That's not possible under the TV contract, but it would've had as much a chance of delivering big ratings and viewership as anything else FS1 has offered since its inception in mid-August.