What a treat! Motown legends Bobby Rogers, of the Miracles, and Duke Fakir, of the Four Tops, join 7 Action News anchor Carolyn Clifford for Tuesday's noon newscast. The pair were at Broadcast House to promote Saturday's Motown Music Fest at the Masonic Temple.
I heard Seahawks #22 Jimmy Williams tell a great story today at Media Day. He was being interviewed by a Japanese broadcaster and began talking to the reporter in Japanese - apparently he knows some of the language. Well, Jimmy then showed the reporter (all of us, really) the tattoo on his left bicep. It was Japanese characters that spelled "D-O-G".
Why does he have "dog" tattooed on his arm? Jimmy said it was supposed to say "God" but it somehow was put on there in reverse!
With so much company in town, it pays to be looking your best. A friend who lives in the Millender Center just called to say that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is looking really good for the big game. He saw the mayor getting a manicure at Gents in the Millender. Kwame was there with his sons.
My friend John tells me that he stopped into Fudruckers in Dearborn for dinner last night and was shocked to find a table of Seattle Seahawks at an otherwise empty restaurant. John says NFL MVP Shaun Alexander, quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, and strong safety Michael Boulware were all there. My friend said they were the best, nicest guys and they talked to him for 30 minutes!
What a buzz... lots of things going on around the Renaissance Center. I highly recommend making a trip through if you can to see the ESPN set, NFL Network's set and Radio Row.
Seattle news of the day - a van carrying some key players was involved in an accident .
Tuesday is media day - I'm going to find out the first Super Bowl memory of a few players and see if I can make a story out of that. Tune in at 5, 6 and 11 to see what I come up with.
This weekend we heard from the folks at Ilowski Sausage Company in St. Clair. They had football-shaped sausages and we wanted to see pictures. "Not only are they realistic - they are delicious!," said an email from Jeanne over at Ilowski Sausage.
Well... Here they are. In the picture below, you see owner Joe Ilowski with a whole rack of his football-shaped salamis. Want one? Give them a call: (810) 329-9117
No! He is working right across at the street at the Gem Theatre, but Jimmy tells me he won't be able to go to the game.
I sat down with Jimmy for a half hour or so yesterday (you'll be seeing clips all week on Action News). He says it's killin' him that the Gem is so close to Ford Field, but preparations for his Sunday night show will keep him from attending the game.
Kimmel also said he was really looking forward to having Kid Rock on the show Tuesday for an interview and performance. He's also really excited to have the Four Tops on the show this week.
A friend just sent me a link to a fairly geeky article detailing some of the equipment ABC Sports will use to cover the game:
"ABC Sports will use 36 cameras, 29 vehicles and more than 400 people to cover Super Bowl XL."
The article comes from Broadcast Engineering. Check it out for full details.
Welcomed the Seahawks to the Detroit area tonight and was impressed with what I saw. I only had a chance to talk to four guys - Hasselbeck, Alexander, Totupu and Jurevicious.
These guys have a chip on their shoulder. They're going to play the no-respect card this week and let everyone tell them how they don't stand a chance. In that vain, they remind me of the Patriots of 2001-02 that beat the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. Could Josh Brown be the next Adam Vinatieri?
Funny conversation with Matt Hasselbeck when I introduced myself and told him I also went to Boston College. I was a senior when he was a freshman.
Said Matt, "You probably kicked me out of your Mod."
I responded, "I would never do that."
It's true, I let everyone party on, even if I don't know you - until you start drinking the last of my beer, then you're out of there! On second thought, maybe I did kick him out.
Who am I kidding? I didn't even live in the Mods.
Kudos to the Hyatt Regency in Dearborn. The place looks like a million bucks, with a fabulous souvenir shop in the lobby run by a guy from Reading, MA (just north of Boston). Outside the front entrance, the hotel raised the #12 banner that was previously flown at Qwest Field in Seattle. Nice touch.
I also had fun signing a few autographs for some kids in the lobby. A couple recognized me from Channel 7 and then the rest just played, 'monkey see-monkey do.' I had to make sure a few of them still wanted my autograph after they found out I wasn't a Seahawk.
That headline rhymes... I just wanted to point that out.
Anyway, if you find yourself in the area, now's the time to begin those strolls through the RenCen. You'll see that the building is adorned in all sorts of Super Bowl Media Center signage. I was in there this afternoon and was impressed by the large ESPN set that was going up in the Winter Garden area. Their set's backdrop is that giant glass wall looking across the Detroit River into Windsor.
UPDATE: 7 Action News reporter Michael Rosenfield says ESPN is encouraging Detroiters to come on out and watch their broadcasts at the RenCen. The first one will be Sports Center on Sunday morning at 10:30. Plenty more will follow as the network also plans to air Cold Pizza and other shows from the RenCen.
It seems that Super Bowl partiers from all over the place are searching for authentic Detroit foods they can serve on Super Sunday. What are they finding? How about coney dogs you can order online.
This word just filtered into the 7 Sports office. Apparently, the state of Michigan is lauching a 30-day speeding ticket frenzy. The state estimates that $9 million will be generated in speeding tickets. There will be 50 state troopers on duty at all times patrolling the six main intersections and highways.
I-75 North and South
I-94 (from Ann Arbor to Port Huron)
Entire length of I-696
I-275 North and South
M-10 Lodge Fwy
I-96 from Detroit West to M-14
Now, 5 mph above the limit can justify a ticket. From what we hear, every state trooper is supposed to pull a car over and write a ticket every 10 minutes. The state police have issued 30 new unmarked Crown Victoria cruisers and all part-timers are being brought in to work full time.
If you work anywhere in the Detroit Metropolitan area or if you're visiting for Super Bowl XL, you'll likely drive on one of these interstates, routes, or parkways. Wear your seat belt, don't hang anything the rear view mirror, drive the speed limit (not a mile over), use cruise control if you have it, fix any cracks in your windshield and use your turn signals.
You know us... we'll do whatever we can to help you save a couple bucks to spend on the Super Bowl activities.
MAYBE NOT: This one looks like it was just a rumor. Sure, speeding is never safe and always puts you at risk for a ticket, but the Snopes.com urban legends site pretty much debunks this one.
Chopper 7 pilot Captain Dennis Neubacher tells us that Detroit's City Airport expects 80 corporate jets to begin arriving for the big game next week.
Seems like there are more than a few folks who have taken those "invite only" tickets to see Snoop at Tiger Stadium and put them up for sale on eBay. As of this posting, tickets will cost you as much as $499 on "Buy it Now". Worth it?
UPDATE: Someone else is eBaying a pair of Playboy Party tickets. The price at this point is $2,850.
If you're looking for something to do Super Bowl week, but don't want to make the trek downtown, check your local paper for events in your city.
The city of Royal Oak will have events all week during Tailgate Royal Oak.
Sunday January 29 Royal Oak: Grillin' and Chilllin' - football and a "Taste of Royal Oak."
Tuesday January 31: Winter Music Fest - live music at 20+ venues with free admission all night long.
Friday February 3 and Saturday February 4: Sports Market Day - a variety of sports memorabilia will be available at the Farmer's Market from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
For more information on the events in Royal Oak visit http://www.downtownroyaloak.org/calendar.htm
The Seahawks and Steelers are ready to turn the Motor City into Detroit Hawk City and Steel City North, at least for a week. The teams have made their travel arrangements, so if you want to greet them at the airport, here's what you need to know:
Seattle will arrive at Metro Airport via Charter Flight N756AF at 4:40pm on Sunday, January 29.
Pittsburgh will arrive at Metro Airport via US Airways Charter 9098 at 10:00am on Monday, January 30.
Tiger Stadium will open its doors for the first time in ages during Super Bowl weekend. Inside the tented "Club 1620," invited guests will hear concerts from Snoop Dogg and Three Doors Down. Right now, the old stadium gates are still closed, so we flew Chopper 7 over top for a bird's eye view.
Plus...
Another view from above
Workers build a large tent inside Tiger Stadium
Also on WXYZ.com: Bud Bowl Events at Old Tiger Stadium
Following up on my last post, if you really do want to rent a home in metro Detroit... Or put your home up for rent... OR if you just want to amuse yourself by reading about other people's rentable homes, check out the ever-growing "vacation rentals" listings on Craigslist. ...Then compare that to how few postings there are on their "housing wanted" section.
Many Channel 7 viewers have heard talk of renting their homes to Super Bowl visitors. There are a few websites out there that offer a place for you to advertise your home as a short term rental during Super Bowl Week (one for the price of $250). But is there a demand for home rentals?
On their website, the Super Bowl XL Host Committee says, "No.":
"Currently, there isn't a demand for home rentals... "
The Channel 7 sports team has broken down our game-coverage assignments for Super Bowl XL. Vic Faust will be covering the AFC Champion Pittsburgh Steelers and Tom Leyden will be covering the NFC Champion Seattle Seahawks.
Clearly, there will be a lot of crossover and we'll be all over many other stories, but for now Vic and Tom are up to their eyeballs researching interesting story angles.
The Seahawks arrive in Detroit on Sunday. They will practice at the Lions facility in Allen Park. The Steelers arrive in Detroit on Monday. They will practice at the Silverdome in Pontiac.
Anyone driving our freeways in the past few days (that's everyone, right?) has seen the signs. Those message boards that usually tell of traffic delays and travel times now talk about Super Bowl shuttle service. Wow! Public transporation!!
I just looked into it and there are some really easy "park and ride" options to take you into the city for all of the hubbub. Start with this PDF flyer from DDOT. It shows shuttle stops at the Zoo in Royal Oak, the Macomb Mall, Northland, Fairlane Mall, Wayne State, and City Airport.
You can buy special transit passes that will work on DDOT and SMART buses as well as the People Mover and the Transit Windsor system. There's some impressive coordination here and the all access multi-day pass is only $20 (compare that to the cost and trouble of a few days of downtown parking)!
As Detroit readies for the biggest of big events, we wanted to create something that would give you an inside look at it all.
Our Super Bowl "Super Blog" (you can blame me for the cheesey name) aims to be a simple way for the WXYZ team to quickly share what we're seeing out there.
As the Channel 7 team covers Super Bowl XL over the coming days, we'll use this space to share personal observations and hopefully some fun stories. Enjoy!