Yesterday, I wrote that Jonathan Martin’s handlers picked the right person in Tony Dungy to conduct his first interview since the controversy broke. The former coach is one of the most highly respected people in the NFL.

However, it has been pointed out to me that Dungy might have been the wrong choice for NBC.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The former coach serves on a special Miami committee to review the Dolphins standards of behavior and make recommendations in the wake of the charges that Richie Incognito bullied Martin. Dungy, along with Dolphins great Dan Marino, was brought in by owner Stephen Ross and will begin work on the committee when the NFL investigation is complete.

It should be noted that Dungy isn’t being paid by Ross. However, there is a connection to the team.

The first two segments of the Martin interview ran under the NBC News umbrella, not sports. Last night, there was a short airing on NBC Nightly News. This morning, the Martin interview and then a chat with Dungy aired on Today. More of the interview will be shown tonight on Pro Football Talk on NBCSN at 6:30 p.m. ET

On the Today show, Carson Daly did say, “We also want to point out that coach Dungy was brought in as an outside advisor by the Dolphins in this situation…”

I’m bringing this up because it appears to show there are different journalism standards between news and sports within the networks. Would NBC News allow a similar arrangement to occur for an interview regarding someone in politics or business?

For instance, let’s say NBC had a staffer, one of its experts, who was part of a panel conducting an investigation involving somebody in President Obama’s cabinet. Would NBC gives its OK for that person to conduct a first interview with that cabinet member? Probably not. It would be a clear conflict of interest.

But here, NBC approved Dungy, despite his Miami ties, to do the interview with Martin.

Please don’t say, well, the Martin thing is just sports. The Martin thing likely will result in a lawsuit, affecting numerous individuals. This is a big deal.

I have a call into NBC to see it has an official comment. Will update if I get one.

Bottom line: I like and admire what Dungy has done in football and beyond. He does make a considerable impact.

However, if you follow the rules of journalism, Dungy probably shouldn’t have been the person to do that interview.

Pat Hanlon thought he would have some fun Tuesday. The PR man for the New York Giants did a spin as a panelist for NFL Network’s coverage of Super Bowl media day.

However, it went bad for Hanlon. He suddenly got a taste of what it feels like on our end when we say something that ticks off an athlete. Or this case, a Hall of Famer, Deion Sanders.

This one played right into the wheelhouse for Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News.

Following Sanders landing an interview–if you want to call it that–with the elusive Marshawn Lynch, the fun began.

Raissman:

“Prime got him,” Hanlon said smiling. “Hey, they said Prime didn’t tackle anybody (when he played). Well, he just ‘tackled’ Marshawn Lynch… Sorry to bring that up. I’m a Giant.” While Hanlon was delivering the word, Faulk — who was taking this whole Lynch thing way too seriously — glared at the PR man.

A few moments later, Sanders was back on the screen.

“I’m about to go into Beast Mode (on Hanlon). Name one game when you didn’t see me (make tackles) — especially against the Giants. Show me the tape,” Sanders seethed. “See, I get offended when people say that.”

Hanlon did not exactly go Ralph Kramden, but he was looking for a way out.

“When I think about you, I think about you breaking (kicker) Brad Daluiso’s leg (in 1999) returning a kickoff,” Hanlon said.

“Let’s not get off the subject,” Sanders shot back. “Name me one game… One game when you ever saw me cost my team anything? That (Deion Sanders) hit reel is 59 minutes long. If you want to be the last minute on that hit reel, you can.”

Now, Hanlon’s weasel, er, PR techniques kicked in.

“We can replay the tape,” Hanlon said. “I didn’t say you didn’t tackle. I said THEY said you didn’t tackle.”

Later, Raissman wrote:

We will at least credit Hanlon and Sanders for carbonating a flat drink. The only thing better would’ve been Sanders coming on the set and getting in Hanlon’s face. Maybe they would have had to be separated — by Sherman. Now that would have been some smokin’ TV. And the confrontation would’ve also reinforced the NFL’s trash-talking, anything-goes image. It might have also led to new studio segments where the analysts are miked in the Green Room just in case any blood is spilled.

Make no mistake, Hanlon and Sanders saved NFLN’s media day telecast. Unfortunately it was held in New Jersey, so no one will remember it. The Giants PR man will. For his ability to glom the neon spotlight fits right in with words that will be etched on his professional tombstone.

“We got this PR motto,” Hanlon said. “If you can’t promote yourself, how can I promote you?”

Now that’s spin. Welcome to our world, Pat.

My latest Chicago Tribune column is on how Fox will handle the weather element of this year’s Super Bowl. Terry Bradshaw isn’t pleased to be in New York/New Jersey.

You also can access the column via my Twitter feed at Sherman_Report.

From the column.

*******

This year’s Super Bowl will be played in an open-air stadium in a cold-weather city while the 2015 version will take place in a domed stadium in warm-weather Phoenix.

So pardon Terry Bradshaw if he remains confused with the NFL’s logic to subject him, his Fox Sports teammates, players, coaches, fans and everyone else to the elements Sunday.

“I don’t quite understand why we’re in New York,” Bradshaw said. “Was there some deal worked out?”

Actually, the game will be across the river in MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Yeah, there was a deal. Being awarded a Super Bowl was a big part of getting the stadium built.

Bradshaw and his cohorts are spending the week trying to warm up to the notion of a Super Bowl unlike any other in the big game’s history. The weather will be a big part of the story in Fox’s all-day coverage. Not that the announcers are looking forward to it.

When asked if it would be a letdown if Sunday turned out to be relatively balmy like it was for the AFC title game in Denver (temperatures in the 60s), Joe Buck quickly replied, “It won’t be for me.”

“I could see where the viewing audience might feel that way. I wouldn’t be disappointed. I don’t think the players and coaches would be either.”

Well here’s one way to grab the spotlight during Super Bowl. This just in from NBC:

********

Miami Dolphins offensive lineman Jonathan Martin sat down with Football Night in America’s Tony Dungy today for an exclusive interview about the alleged bullying incident that erupted in the fall. This is Martin’s first interview since leaving the Miami Dolphins in October, and first time he is speaking publicly about the ongoing NFL investigation.

Portions of the interview will air tonight on “NBC Nightly News” and tomorrow on “TODAY.” Dungy will join “TODAY” live to discuss his conversation with Martin.

The in-depth interview will air on a special edition of NBCSN’s “Pro Football Talk” on Wednesday at 6:30pm ET.

*******

Martin’s handlers made a wise choice in doing the sit-down with Dungy. Dungy carries a certain presence as one of the most respected men in football. Yet, considering his work with troubled athletes, there is sure to be a significant amount of empathy that comes across during the interview.

However, will there be a backlash against Martin for doing the interview during Super Bowl week? He definitely is pulling attention away from the game. Will be interesting to gauge the reaction.

The interview guarantees NBCSN’s highest-ever audience. I’m sure Richie Incognito will be tuning in.

I’m still surprised at all the shock and disgust over Richard Sherman’s postgame interview with Erin Andrews. I’m more surprised it doesn’t happen more often.

They take place almost immediately after games, when players have been jawing and trying to kill each other for 60 minutes. There are highly combustible moments, and it should be expected that more than a few of them will explode when somebody sticks a microphone in their face in these situations.

During a Fox Sports conference call yesterday, Michael Strahan defended Sherman. He understood the emotions that the Seattle DB was feeling at that time.

Strahan had some telling comments.

Said Strahan: “A lot of backlash unfairly came toward Richard [Sherman] because everybody wants to know what it’s like and wants to be on the inside, but when they get a glimpse of it, they get scared of it and they want to criticize the guy who did it. Richard is a good guy, he’s a smart guy, and he’s an inspirational player to a lot of kids who are going through some bad situations and growing up in not the best neighborhoods, but he made it out …

“Off the field, that’s not Richard, but on the field it is. When you see that side, you can’t complain, you can’t be scared, because when he’s on the field, he has to have the utmost belief in himself. We all did at that time when we were playing, because if you didn’t (don’t), you’re not (weren’t) going to survive out there. I don’t fault him at all. The comments about him are a lot worse than anything he ever did.”

Indeed, this wasn’t about sportsmanship. It was about being in the heat of the moment. Sherman clearly was still playing the game.

It made for great, brutally honest TV. Deal with it.

And now on to Super Bowl week.

If you’re looking to fill the football void this weekend with something more substantive than watching the Pro Bowl, read this wonderful piece on the roots of Vince Lombardi in ESPN.com.

Ian O’Connor, a gifted writer, attended the same New York high school where Lombardi got his start as a coach. In fact, remarkably it was his only head coaching job prior to taking over the Packers.

O’Connor organized a meeting with several of the surviving players who were the first to experience Lombardi’s greatness. The presentation includes videos of their discussion.

O’Connor writes:

They can tell you how he could gauge a student’s untapped potential within a week or two of class time, and how he understood the necessity of building up any player he’d spent a stormy afternoon tearing down. So these are the stories from some of the oldest Lombardi Saints, ages 84 to 91, many of them still living within a short drive of the high school that shut down in 1986, and of the grand old Gothic church Lombardi attended every day. Some told their stories over the phone, some at a gathering at a New Jersey restaurant. The stories belong to men who played football and basketball for him, and to a woman who played six-on-six basketball for him and who still sounds ready to run through a wall on his command. They still hear him as if he were standing before them, spittle flying, his voice loud enough to be heard over the jitterbug music playing on the cafeteria jukebox at lunchtime.

Yes, Vincent Thomas Lombardi is very much alive to these oldest living Saints.

In an interview with ESPN’s Front Row, O’Connor talks about writing the story.

What surprised you most about Lombardi throughout your research, interviews and writing for this piece?
I don’t think I realized just how good of a basketball coach he was, even without complete command of the Xs and Os of the sport. Lombardi shaped his teams through the force of his personality, and he did win the only boys basketball state championship in St. Cecilia history for a reason. I also didn’t realize he helped out with girls basketball. One of his players, Rosemary Maroldi Diemar, a delightful 89-year-old woman, said her team felt that losing was never an option when Lombardi was around. Of course it wasn’t.

All in all, you will find the entire package more satisfying than watching a bunch of guys play touch football in Hawaii.

Not sure what that was after the game, but Richard Sherman’s bizarre interview with Erin Andrews shows who else is going to be the star of Super Bowl week besides Peyton Manning. Please step up to the microphone, Mr. Sherman.

In case you’ve forgotten, here is Sherman’s attempted takedown of Skip Bayless last year on First Take.

Last night’s session with Andrews will go down in postgame interview history. It is a wonder outbursts like that don’t happen more often, given the intensity of emotions just after a game.

Andrews had this tweet:

Dan Levy of Bleacher Report writes:

After watching that game, and witnessing for the third time this year just how much these two teams genuinely hate each other, I kind of loved the moment.

I’m sorry, but hearing one of the best players in the game call out a guy he just beat to get to his first Super Bowl is awesome.

Tommy Tomlinson, writing for Forbes:

5. His degree from Stanford was in communications … which might explain why, while he seemed to be hollering like a crazy person, he didn’t curse and looked into the camera the whole time.

6. In other words, he might have just been auditioning for the WWE.

7. Maybe 15 minutes later, when Sherman sat down with the Fox NFL guys, he was calm and funny.

8. If you stick a microphone in a football player’s face seconds after he made a huge play to send his team to the Super Bowl, you shouldn’t be surprised if he’s a little amped up.

9. Ninety-nine percent of on-field interviews are boring and useless. The TV networks do them anyway for the 1 percent of the time they get a moment like Richard Sherman.

10. As a reporter and writer, that raw emotion — whatever form it takes — is exactly what I hope for. That’s why media people fight for access to locker rooms. After players and coaches cool off, most of them turn into Crash Davis, reading from the book of cliches.

The NFL is rolling out the money machine again.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times and John Ourand of Sports Business Daily report that the league is shopping a package of six to eight Thursday night games of the 13 that aired on its NFL Network.

Sandomir writes:

If the league likes an offer it receives, the winning network will televise the games in the first half of the season, which would ideally give a promotional boost to NFL Network for its later-season games. The league’s preference would probably be a broadcast network like NBC, CBS or Fox, but it would also be pleased if a cable channel got the package. It is conceivable, for example, that ESPN would buy the deal and put the games on ABC, its sibling network in the Walt Disney empire.

TNT also would be in the hunt for the package.

Ourand writes:

The NFL is auctioning a one-year deal with a bigger TV channel to help build “Thursday Night Football” into the same high-powered brand as “Sunday Night Football,” which is the top-rated show in primetime, and “MNF,” which is the top-rated show on cable. It is likely that the NFL will use the one-year deal as a springboard for a longer Thursday night deal.

Can Thursday night games reach that level? The players don’t like them, and they were mostly panned this year by critics and fans. The short weeks seem to produce lower quality games that are sloppier and move slower than the Sunday/Monday games.

Yet the NFL is the ratings king. Airing a Thursday night package of games on a NBC, CBS, ABC or Fox definitely would take them to another level. You would have to think those networks will be interested.

However, the price likely will be outrageous. The winner will have to break the bank to get it done.

Bottom line: More big money for NFL.

My latest Chicago Tribune column is a Q/A with Al Michaels.

You also can access the column via my Twitter feed at Sherman_Report.

Here’s an excerpt:

*********

If circumstances play out, Al Michaels could find himself on the call for three straight Bears games.

Michaels and his NBC colleagues will work the Bears-Eagles game Sunday night. There’s a strong possibility NBC will be at Soldier Field on the evening of Dec. 29 if Bears-Packers is for the NFC North title. Under flexible scheduling guidelines, the NFL will announce Monday its selection for the final Sunday night game of the season.

Finally, if the Bears go to the playoffs, Michaels could be on hand if their first-round game is on wild card Saturday. NBC will air both games that day.

All in all, it could be quite a Bears feast for Michaels. The 69-year-old announcer always relishes doing Bears games, ever since his first in 1986 when he took over the play-by-play duties for ABC’s “Monday Night Football.”

Here’s my interview with Michaels.

How would you feel about doing three straight Bears games?

It’s hard to speculate. It also could be three straight Philadelphia games. The Bears make for great TV. They’re always a good story.

You always have had a special affinity for calling Bears games. Why?

It starts with the history. The Bears are one of those iconic teams, like Green Bay, Pittsburgh and Dallas, that people want to watch. The name just resonates. If you go, “Jacksonville Jaguars,” people go “What?” For teams like the Bears and Packers, it’s different.

It doesn’t matter what kind of year they’re having. People forget for a moment what their record is.

What are your memories of calling Bears games?

I remember the night it was raining sideways and the wind was blowing 40 miles per hour (a 33-6 Packers win in 1994). We had a preseason game in the ’90s that was canceled midway through the third quarter because of thunderstorms. We had a phenomenal overtime game with Jets, with the turf coming up in Cap Boso’s facemask. There was the guy jumping out of the stands to catch an extra point.

I can’t say there’s one game. Rather, it is a compilation of games through the years. There’s always a lot of excitement with the Bears.