Hiestand: Harbaugh 'fatigue' by Super Bowl broadcast?

Hiestand: Harbaugh 'fatigue' by Super Bowl broadcast?

 

Jim Nantz knows he has an exceptional storyline to work with when he calls the Super Bowl for CBS but doesn't know how compelling it will be by game time.

Nantz, who'll work his third Super Bowl game broadcast with the upcoming Baltimore Ravens-San Francisco 49ers, knows the sibling rivalry between the Harbaugh brothers as opposing coaches is a big storyline -- now.

"We'll talk about it some," he told USA TODAY Sports by phone Tuesday from his home in Carmel, Calif. "But there's a chance there'll be some Harbaugh brother fatigue by the time they kick the football."

Yet Nantz, working with analyst Phil Simms, knows the camera will love it: "It's one of the more intoxicating Super Bowl stories of all time, and that's not hyperbole."

Nantz knows the victory this time "comes with a hitch -- knowing your brother is suffering."

Nantz's preparation doesn't include watching game film incessantly: "Phil watches a lot of film. He watches more film than Roger Ebert. I'll watch some. But my role is more reactionary. I watch something unfold and tell people what I see. ... By that Sunday, you can't wait to get the game started. I wish it would break out in my backyard now."

His preparation also can't be exclusively Super Bowl. This weekend he'll call the PGA Tour Farmers Insurance Open. In his 28th year of golf coverage for CBS, Nantz doesn't need to do a lot of research to keep up with the PGA Tour, but says, "That's not a vacation."

Nantz called three Ravens games this season, none of the 49ers. He says focusing on everybody in the Super Bowl is his priority, given that "a backup lineman might make the big play. I want to know the background on all the players, from long snappers to (49ers quarterback) Colin Kaepernik."

He'll gather nuggets for the Super Bowl broadcast -- such as retiring Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis getting his first NFL sack by downing Jim Harbaugh in 1996 -- but knows "a lot of the good ones will be used up" in the media by game time.

Nantz also must make time for being the object of the media once he arrives in New Orleans on Monday. He says he and Simms "do more media appearances than we do interviews for anybody for the game."

Morh sports: Jay Mohr is an actor and comedian who doesn't just gab about sports -- he now does it three hours per day nationally for Fox Sports Radio. Replacing Jim Rome, who moved on to CBS Sports Radio as part of his move to CBS, Mohr this month started a morning show (9 a.m.-noon ET): "The No. 1 ingredient I bring to the table is comedy."

A sample, as told to USA TODAY Sports: "Manti Te'o wasn't missing tackles against Alabama. He was just hugging his girlfriend."

The radio show, Mohr says, isn't all that different from his childhood pursuits. "When I was 10 growing up in New Jersey, my friends and I would read the papers and do a sports show at my dining room table. ... We liked the sound of our own voices, and as a comic, that never goes away. I've only had one discernible skill -- talking incessantly.

Spice rack: Due to NHL lockout-adjusted scheduling, lead NBC NHL announcer Mike "Doc" Emrick will call salchow Saturday and Sunday. With NBC not having an NHL game this weekend, Emrick will call the U.S. figure skating championships. Emrick, who called a Skate America figure-skating event in October, doesn't mind calling ice action where nobody gets slammed into the boards. "I can appreciate what the figure skaters do," he says. "It's like talking to goaltenders -- they're out there alone. I'm really impressed by them as athletes." But it would help if figure skating had enforcers. ... Golf analyst David Feherty on live TV is somewhat of a dicey proposition, which is why it's worth watching. In advance of the third season of his Golf Channel series, debuting Feb. 25, Feherty on Wednesday will host a live special (8 p.m. ET) that will include Gary Player, Lee Trevino and swing coach Butch Harmon.

Five on the road to the Super Bowl:

1. The NFL Network will announce Wednesday a new NFL Fan Pass meant to give viewers, via NFL Network and nfl.com, behind-the-scenes footage they wouldn't otherwise see. Tom Brady, a vice president for NFL Media, says the idea is that there's "a lava flow of content" during the week leading up to the Super Bowl "and there's a lot of great stuff you miss."

And, he says, the goal is to take advantage of footage that only the league can get for a free service online that begins Monday.. "Our booking department has a list of the celebrities asking for tickets to the game and we'll just ask if they'll sit and talk," he says. "So you can see, say, who John Travolta thinks will win the game." The objective, Brady suggests, is to let nothing go unused on TV and online: "Maybe it'll just be (a halftime performer) walking by and blowing us a kiss."

2. On Feb. 2, the night before the game-that-couldn't-be-more-momentous, CBS will air a two-hour 2nd Annual NFL Honors show (9 p.m. ET) to announce various awards, like league MVP. But really, who can wait for that show? Fortunately, the NFL Network will air a one-hour red-carpet show to interview celebs arriving, Key question for them: Who are you wearing?

3. Nantz realizes his game call will have some oddities. "I can never just say, 'Coach Harbaugh.' ''

4. CBS will tip its hat to the Super Bowl city with a one-hour New Orleans: Let the Good Times Roll pregame special (noon ET) hosted by musician Wynton Marsalis.

5. The CBS Sports Network cable channel's Lead Off show, hosted by Doug Gottlieb and Allie LaForce (weekdays, midnight-1:a.m. ET), will originate from New Orleans' Jackson Square in the week before the Super Bowl.