Today the Bears and Colts fielded more questions from the media before they headed off to closed practices. Questions. How could we have more questions after the wacky media day? Well, I didn't say they were particularly original, but there were a few interesting notes that came out of the press conferences.

Both teams were asked about the pressure they face this week. They all stipulated there is a ton of pressure on them as they prepare for the Super Bowl, the biggest games of their lives on the biggest stage in the world.

Colts quarterback Peyton Manning offered the most amusing response when if this was the most pressure he had ever felt in his life.

Here's his answer, complete and uncut:

“I signed up for this class in eighth grade called ‘musical theatre’ with the goal of getting out of computers. A week into the class they told me that I had to be in the school play, and I said that I didn’t want to do that and they said that I was in the play. They assigned you a role, the play was called ‘The Boyfriend’. They gave me the role of Miguel. One of the scenes I had to do the tango with Lola. It had the wardrobe; black pants, red ruffled tuxedo shirt and a yellow cumber bun. It was a full on tango. I had to do it on Friday in front of the whole school which wasn’t that much pressure. But they said that you had to do it again Saturday Night in front of the families, which meant in front of my two brothers, Eli and Cooper, because on Friday they weren’t going to be there because Cooper had practice Saturday they were going to be able to be there. Now that’s pressure. But I did it. I studied that, and I went full speed on that tango. There is video. Don’t look for it. It’s deep in the Manning vault I can assure you. That was some pressure.

"The way that I deal with pressure and I used this quote yesterday and I will say it again, my dad used to give me quotes and put a quote on my bulletin board. He would just peg them on there, like Jimmy Connors ‘I hate to lose, more than I like to win’, and I agree with that. Chuck Noll’s ‘pressure is something you feel only when you don’t know what you are doing’ and that is how I feel. I get prepared. I prepare as hard as I possibly can. Sure you feel nervous, you feel anxious, but I don’t feel pressure because I feel that I have done everything I could to be prepared for that game. When you go out there and do it, and there have been plenty of games where I have said that I wish that I could have this throw back or I wish that I would have seen that linebacker, but it just didn’t happen, but I have never left the field saying I could have done more to get ready for that game. That gives me piece of mind. That is how I am dealing with it this week. I will study as hard as I possibly can. I am not over studying and I am not over preparing. I am doing what I feel I need to do to get ready. I feel that will be enough, and hopefully I go out there and play well."

That's quite an answer. It's got humor and intelligence. No wonder Manning has been a media darling at the Super Bowl. He doesn't just play well, he manages to spin new yarns every day.

Reporters asked former Lobo Brian Urlacher if this starts to feel like a normal game week. He replied as long as players keep coming in for interviews at their hotels before practice instead of afterward, it wouldn't feel normal.

“Usually we wake up, eat breakfast, and go to meetings, which is our normal routine so this is all very different. The nice thing is we’ll be able to practice this afternoon and we’ll be able to practice tomorrow and then tomorrow is our last media day. That will be nice to get that all out of the way and then we just have to play the game.”

That's all for now. Check out Thursday's Tribune for more Super Bowl and Urlacher-related coverage.

Posted by ilimon at 06:13 PM | Permalink