Stuck with "The Super Bowl Nobody Wanted," NBC takes to the air for about six hours Sunday to chronicle what could be one ugly Super Bowl XXVIII.
"The Super Bowl has turned into a happening," says NBC Sports Executive Producer Tommy Roy. "It's almost an American holiday. We look at this as the biggest television show airing on the NBC network in the next two years (or until the 1996 Summer Olympics In Atlanta)."Regrettably, the country might find more enjoyment watching "SeaQuest" than a rematch of last year's Super Bowl, won in a romp by the Dallas Cowboys over the Buffalo Bills.
"We prepare for every game potentially being a blowout," Roy remarks. "We hope it doesn't happen this week, but if we do have a blowout situation, Dick Enberg and Bob Trumpy have proven to be great storytellers."
Enberg and Trumpy mastered the practice last year in Pasadena when Dallas overpowered the Bills 52-17.
"I see this as being the beginning of the end of the Buffalo dynasty," Enberg says of the Bills, who have lost the last three Super Bowls. "They have accomplished a lot, have Hall of Fame players, but this is their time. This single game means more to the Buffalo Bills than it has for any other Super Bowl team.
"Either the Bills will become the Super Bowl poster child for losing four times In a row or they'll be known as a team that won a Super Bowl and made four straight appearances. They'll be known for defeat or dynasty based on 60 minutes of play."
Roy's two-hour pre-game show, beginning on KUTV at 2 p.m., will include Ahmad Rashad's look at the Minnesota Vikings, history's other big Super Bowl loser.
"Being part of those Vikings teams, Rashad thinks Buffalo, doesn't have a chance if they fall behind," Roy states.
Bill Cosby will be also part of the pre-game show, as will Mike Ditka, Joe Gibbs, the regular crew of "NFL Live," and Bob Costas, who will interview Dallas coach Jimmy Johnson and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
The kickoff is scheduled for 4:18 p.m. Salt Lake City time. Many feel the outcome will be decided only minutes later.
"There seems to be a big division on this game," says Trumpy. "There's a big percentage that says Buffalo has no chance and then there's a group sympathetic to Buffalo's problems. There doesn't seem to be anybody in the middle."
Advertisers who are paying a record $900,000 for 30 seconds of air time are certainly rooting for a close game.
"The Super Bowl is a mammoth happening," Enberg remarks. "This American celebration is more than one game should be. While it is the Super Bowl, it's just another game. If we try to make it more important than that, or try to make ourselves more important, then we've failed."