ATLANTA — The wind whipped and the temperature cowered in the 30s. This faceless city of concrete structures was one giant refrigerator with a suffocating ice storm walloping the area late last night and today. Welcome to the new South — Pole, that is, but this is football’s biggest bash and no matter the conditions, the party will go on in style on and off the field.
The clock is ticking. Both teams can’t wait to rumble in the climate-controlled conditions of the Georgia Dome come 6:18 p.m. tomorrow.
Each player knows these final 60 minutes of the season will be decided not with hype, but with hard hits and super plays. Like soldiers quietly awaiting their final orders to attack, the Titans and Rams, part of the new NFL, are calm before the Super Bowl XXXIV storm.
“I believe our team is confident,” coach Jeff Fisher said yesterday of his Titans, who have won three straight playoff games and seven straight games overall. “I believe our team expects to play well. I told them that if they sensed that any of the coaches were beginning to tighten, a little bit just to let me know, I was going to send the coaches home.
“Our team is not going to peak today. They are going to be ready to play at kickoff.”
Rams coach Dick Vermeil, making his own Super comeback this season, was just as confident, noting, “We have earned the right to be here. I don’t think we have won a game by fluke
“Our players are very calm, very relaxed, not over-enthused. I think they are just sort of allowing themselves to build it up to a crescendo on Sunday evening.”
Someone cue up the late John Facenda of NFL Films and his comments about the frozen tundra of Atlanta. For a true football fan, shivers are not caused by the cold, but by the anticipation of a mammoth matchup.
While the coaches made their comments yesterday in a cavernous ballroom of headquarters hotel with the Vince Lombardi Trophy standing tall next to the podium, the action was brisk in a lobby over-saturated with fans and scalpers. Tickets to last night’s commissioner’s party were going for $400. Most of the ticket-less were holding off on buying game tickets, knowing the price could plummet if the horrid weather continues.
Celebrities like Joe Namath, looking as cool as ever, and the wrestler Goldberg, looking as menacing as ever, were engulfed by fans as they made their way through the hotel and into radio row, where fans were stacked five deep watching, of all things, radio.
On Thursday, ex-Yankee David Wells, a millionaire many times over, was spotted buying a beer in the lobby and complaining to the bartender of the $4.50 price tag, saying, “Man, you’re a bandido.”
Ironically, the Great One, Wayne Gretzky, had been able to move easily through the hotel and was even sitting alone in the lobby bar two nights ago. But this is football and NASCAR country so while Gretzky went largely unnoticed, quasi-celebs like Ron Jaworski and Jerry Glanville, wearing shades where the sun don’t shine, were swarmed. Fisher offered the line of the day yesterday, when, for the 500th time he was asked about the difficulty of calling four different stadiums home in the last four nomad years.
“Well, some have said,” Fisher began, showing perfect timing, “we have had five home stadiums in four years, if you would include Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville.”
Bod-a-bing.
Physically, quarterback Steve McNair is looking stronger every day and has no major problems with his turf toe. As for the state of mind of the Titans, there are two items you must know. During their practice session Thursday at Georgia Tech, some large drainage pipes were stockpiled on one end of the field. In the special-teams session, Fisher looked over and saw the offensive linemen rolling one pipe down the field — “with an offensive lineman inside the pipe,” he deadpanned.
In yesterday’s practice at the Georgia Dome, return specialist Derrick Mason and safety Blaine Bishop came to blows. Even after they were separated, they tried to get back at one another and both were dismissed from the remainder of the drill. Mason complained about Bishop hitting him in the helmet. Fisher huddled with both players after practice and the two ended up hugging.
“Those two are about as competitive guys as I’ve got,” Fisher said.
There were no fights in Ramland. After a sluggish practice Wednesday, the Rams have found their rhythm the last two days.
“I have said all along,” Vermeil noted, “that if you are going to win on Sunday, you have to win the battle of preparation. You have to win the battle of handling distractions that you are not used to in these kinds of things.”
He promised the game will be a war.
“They’ve been hit three weeks in a row,” Vermeil said of the Titans, who have played one more game as a wild card. “We should have a little more gas in our tank.”
Come tomorrow, like Patton’s tanks, the winner will need every drop.