Indianapolis Colts Super Bowl XLIV Media Day (Charlie Riedel/AP Photo)
MIAMI – Indianapolis Colts DE Robert Mathis had been here before, and although it was crazy -- again -- the experience made Super Bowl XLIV Media Day a bit less overwhelming.
Not normal.
Not forgettable.
And Mathis said Media Day Tuesday was certainly still an experience to be savored, but because many of the Colts' veterans participated in one just three January ago, he said the day was a bit easier to digest.
“The difference is we are older and we are comfortable now," Mathis said Tuesday during Super Bowl XLIV Media Day. "We come here and there is no shock factor there because we know pretty much how things go and take it pretty much one day at a time.
“It is not easy because you still have all the butterflies and the anticipation with all the media. We are just taking it all in.”
With 19 veterans on the roster who played in Super Bowl XLI, many of those players shared Mathis' view Tuesday - that Media Day was a bit less chaotic than normal. For the younger players, the day was about remembering, experiencing and appreciating the moment.
“It's amazing,” rookie P Pat McAfee said. “Looking around, it's like a big zoo – a big petting zoo. It's obviously fun to see all these different cultures. I talked to a German reporter, a Spanish reporter. It's a good time. I'm trying to take it all in – my first year, first Super Bowl.”
Three years ago, five days before the Colts won Super Bowl XLI, Media Day was outside on a day so hot middle linebacker and defensive captain Gary Brackett recalled Tuesday he needed sun block. A lot of it.
Tuesday, the threat of rain forced media Day inside the stadium, to an upper concourse.
“It is fun to be out there in that stadium,” Colts QB Peyton Manning said. “I understand they had to make the call weather-wise to move it in here. I think all our players and I am sure the Saints players have our fingers crossed that the weather will be good on Sunday, no matter what happens during the week.
“But Picture Day (the team's official Super Bowl photograph) will be outside so we’ll get a little chance to be on the field and experience it and sort of get that feeling of what the environment is going to be like next Sunday.”
The rookies and younger players, the ones who hadn't experienced the scene personally, shared McAfee's view – that it was indeed a spectacle, just as they had seen on television.
The veterans said while it was never something to which you grow accustomed, part of Super Bowl week is handling the scene correctly.
“We’re inside, but it’s a very similar environment – the craziness of all the questions,” Brackett said. “Experiencing it a few years ago makes it a little bit easier. Last time it was pretty impressive to see all those people. Once you see it once you kind of get used to it.
“The shock factor has gone down a little bit experiencing it the second time.”
Taking it in, too – albeit with decidedly different perspective – was Colts guard Kyle DeVan.
A year ago, DeVan watched the Super Bowl between Pittsburgh and Arizona. He didn't watch Media Day, but he said he certainly remembers where he was – living with his parents, looking for a substitute teaching job. He played for the Boise Burn four games, signed with the Colts, and will start Sunday.
“A year ago, if someone would have asked me if I'd be playing in the Super Bowl today – there's no way,” DeVan said. “There would be no chance. That's how special this is.”
Looking around the room near the end of the Colts' hour session, DeVan said, “I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know there would be a big room like this with millions of reporters. I didn't know what to expect.”
But McAfee said even having a vague idea doesn't fully prepare a player for seeing it up close and in person.
“The way NFL Network is now, you see everything,” McAfee said. “I watched this growing up. Considering I'm not a reporter and probably never will be, it's my only chance to be inside here. It's really cool feeling. You see some very interesting people here. It's a really good people-watching place.”
COLTS ARRIVE. HERE.
LOOK AT FIVE MYTHS AROUND THE COLTS ENTERING SUPER BOWL WEEK. HERE
A LOOK AT THE COLTS ON THE ALL-DECADE TEAM. HERE.
COLTS DE DWIGHT FREENEY BIGGEST STORY ENTERING SUPER BOWL WEEK. HERE.
COLTS READY AS BYE WEEK ENDS. HERE.
CALDWELL UNWORRIED ABOUT GREGG WILLIAMS COMMENTS. HERE.
COLTS STILL HAVE THEIR CHANCE AT PERFECTION. HERE
CALDWELL KEEPING PLAYERS HUNGRY. HERE.
SUPER BOWL XLIV: PREPARATION THIS WEEK KEY NEXT WEEK. HERE.
DE DWIGHT FREENEY, CB JERRAUD POWERS MISS PRACTICE. HERE.
SUPER BOWL XLIV: EARLY THOUGHTS ON THE SAINTS. HERE
SUPER BOWL XLIV: PREPARATIONS BEGIN. HERE.
COFFEE WITH THE COLTS: A NEXT-DAY LOOK AT THE AFC TITLE GAME. HERE.
*** READ JOHN OEHSER'S INDIANA PACERS COVERAGE. HERE.
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