Super Bowl 57 between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs  is less than a week away and that means the hype train for the biggest game in American sports to be played. The first stop for the Super Bowl hype is NFL Media Night. The event took place in the Footprint Center, home of the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury. 

  1. It was the first in-person media day since 2020

I guess I just lost track of time because it did not feel like that long ago. Despite not wanting to talk about it, the pandemic has messed up my sense of recollecting things during the beginning of this decade. Anyways, the event was held for the first time and fans were allowed to attend by purchasing a ticket. Obviously, right? I mean the NFL can’t turn an easy decision to make money. The fans, media, players, coaches, and other people involved with the National Football League being back together in person is a nice return to normalcy within the sports universe. The media night event gave the NFL another night to rule Twitter before their season ends and broke back a tradition that is a fun, laidback part of the stressful and serious week that Super Bowl week is.

  1. The Kelce brothers are too charismatic to just transition to media after football

Everyone knows that they are entertaining. Entertaining enough to produce their own podcast centered around football. An easy transition for their post-playing career even though they have gotten a head start on that with their hit podcast ‘New Heights’. We have also seen Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce cut their own version of scintillating wrestling-esque promos. The only reason I see that they were wrestling-esque is that they weren’t in a wrestling ring or promoted on a wrestling event. Besides that technicality, we have seen Jason do so with his “hungry dogs” promo at the Eagles Super Bowl parade in 2018 and we have seen Travis do so just a couple of weeks ago as he channeled his inner “The Rock” when he called the Mayor of Cincinnati a jabroni. My point here is Vince McMahon or Tony Khan, you guys need to be in contact with the Kelce brothers about signing a contract with either WWE or AEW. 

  1. A.J. Brown says that they did not take the Batman capes to Glendale

The Super Bowl Media Night always comes with its goofy and whimsical storylines or bits that occur just for entertainment and internet fodder. That is why the Eagles bringing Batman capes into training camp early this year as the receiver core is a trio of Batmans. Brown told NFL Network’s Michael Irvin that the team left the capes at home. The team is all business in this game, predictably so. I can see why the team decided upon leaving that stuff at home. A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Quez Watkins are all in their early or mid-20s. They don’t have the leeway with the coaching staff and franchise to be acting in that manner. A guy like Jason Kelce, for example, can. That is totally my speculation though. 

  1. The whole live interview idea is cool in theory but does not add much value 

The production looked great. They had some of the most well-known and well-respected reporters gentlemen like Sal Paolantonio and Jay Glazer interviewing Jalen Hurts, Patrick Mahomes, Brandon Graham, Chris Jones, Andy Reid, and Nick Sirianni. The coach’s interview was perfectly fine and done with the story of the old guard against the new guard as the backdrop. What was a missed opportunity was the live interview segment. Sal Pal was in the middle with Hurts and Mahomes on his right and Graham and Jones on his left. For a game that is very personal for them to win, the intensity was just not there. The theory of this type of sitdown is supposed to serve the same purpose as a presser for WWE or UFC. If there is no trash talk in some form during the sitdown, then this segment can go. 

  1. It was the first time that I have seen Scott Hansen not behind the NFL Redzone desk

I have never seen Scott Hansen, host of NFL Redzone, not behind that desk. I was surprised to him standing on the large podium where select players from both respective teams were interviewed. I read a story on ‘The Athletic’ that Hansen does not take break during the time of broadcasting NFL Redzone. With this information, I figured that this guy just traveled with the desk wrapped around his body. Everywhere he went, he had to be the host of NFL Redzone. He can barely fit through doors and is just an overall nuisance with the desk. I then found it funny that for a second I thought that he is always in character as the host of NFL Redzone. 

I hope you enjoyed that fifth observation and my attempt to be funny. Well, NFL Media Night did what it was supposed to do, it built hype for the Super Bowl. With that being said, it’s certainly going to be a historic game.