Sorry to hear that Edwin Pope, who had been on hand for the previous 47, will miss his first Super Bowl this year. Armando Saluergo of the Miami Herald reports:
No reason was given for Pope, 85, breaking his Super Bowl streak. Pope declined comment on not attending this year’s Super Bowl. He was among a few hundred journalists who covered the First World Championship game AFL vs. NFL when it was played on January 15, 1967 — Super Bowl I between the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs. And he was part of the weeklong coverage of every game since until this year’s game.
The legendary Miami Herald columnist will be missed. Back in 2005 when Pope was just a kid, Mickey Hershkowitz of the Houston Chronicle did a piece on him prior to the big game in Jacksonville.
At the time, Pope said: “Honestly, I don’t need this game, but I hate to give up the streak.”
Well, he took it through 2013. Quite a run.
Also in 2005, Pope did an interview with Chet Fussman that appeared in the Florida Times-Union.
Q: Where does the Super Bowl rank among your favorite sports events to cover?
It’s No. 1 with me. Yes, ahead of even the Masters. The Masters is fantastically organized and an unbelievable visual treat, but they have boring days there, too. Once upon a time I would have said heavyweight championship fights, and others involving Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran and Tommy Hearns were the best things to cover, but Las Vegas ruined that by putting them on so late, you can’t make deadline with a column from a big fight any more. Nothing is talked about on the street as much as a Super Bowl, and it is still played at a decent time for newspaper coverage. Nothing has bigger audiences, and that’s what it’s all about for us.
Q: In 38 Super Bowls, who is the most memorable Super Bowl personality and why?
Jim McMahon was the most memorable because he was the biggest jerk, hands down, no contest. He worked hard at being obnoxious, and succeeded completely.
On the positive side, I always think of Phil Simms. So many players view those few interview sessions as “distractions” — isn’t that awful, a guy having to spend a total of maybe five of six hours with the media all SB Week? — but Simms hugely enjoyed it all. I asked Phil how he managed to be so different from so many others, and he said, “Hey, this is what you spent your whole young life shooting for. Why wouldn’t you enjoy it?”
I have to add, from the players’ viewpoint, they have to put up with a lot more media idiots than they used to. Like TV’s Julie Brown barging into interviews with stupid questions. It would be pompous to present these interview sessions as anything sacred, but a lot of media depend on them to convey the players’ attitudes.
Larry Csonka and Bob Kuechenberg were great interviews. Roger Staubach was good; asked what cornerbacks he expected to meet in heaven, he said: “Cornerbacks don’t go to heaven.”
I liked Jack Reynolds. And Jim Kelly. Hollywood Henderson amused a lot of people, if not Chuck Noll, whose reply to Hollywood’s histrionics was: “Give a monkey a stage and he’ll dance.”
Don Shula had the best command presence of any coach. Jimmy Johnson was damned good. Some of them, like George Allen and Bill Parcells, sometimes acted as though they were being persecuted by having to stand up and answer questions, but most of the coaches have been easy to work with.
And this is vintage Pope.
Q: Has there been a Super Bowl that brought a tear to your eye?
No, but a lot of writers almost cried when the Janet Jackson Moment occurred and they rushed to their computers to see the replay, and then really couldn’t see anything. That was the most overpublicized happening in the history of Super Bowls, which is saying a lot.
In his interview with Hershkowitz, Pope said Dallas running back Duane Thomas summed up the Super Bowl for him.
“A writer asked Duane Thomas, then a Dallas rookie, how it felt to play in the ultimate game? Duane said, ‘If it’s the ultimate game, why are they playing it again next year?’ “