<!-- /EdSysObj --><!-- EdSysObj ID="SandboxLede" FRAGMENTID="13377217" bstyers -->Trash-talking Porter grabs Super Bowl spotlight DETROIT, Mich. — What we have here is a true Super Bowl moment. If this is the week when much ado is made about nothing, imagine the ado when a linebacker on one team says the tight end on the other team is no good and soft. So maybe you're wondering which Seattle Seahawk was surrounded Thursday by two dozen minicams and 100 members of the media. A star, certainly. The quarterback, perhaps.
Jerramy Stevens.
Who?
Nothing enlivens Super Bowl week like some good mudslinging. By the time Pittsburgh's
Joey Porter was done with poor Stevens Thursday, the Seahawks tight end looked like the flap on the back of a truck wheel.
How to build a Super Bowl media storm in three easy stages.
Tuesday: Being clever at media day, Stevens said it's a shame the feel-good story about
Jerome Bettis returning to Detroit will be ruined when the Seahawks win and send him home without a trophy. Bold, perhaps, but hardly Joe Namath's guarantee.
Wednesday: The incendiary Porter had been restlessly tactful all week, trying to follow orders of being diplomatic. "It was hurting my stomach," he said Thursday. Figuring Stevens had opened the door, Porter called him a "first-round bust" who had no business talking.
Thursday: Having deftly raised a crowd of cameras and notebooks hungry for more, Porter fed the multitudes. To begin with ...
"I don't think he's worthy enough to talk like that. This is what, his fourth year in the league? You're not too good if you're a first-rounder and you're barely getting on the field your fourth year. And he got on only because somebody else got hurt. I don't respect his game or nothing he's talking about."
And then ...
"He knows he's soft. He's a tight end. I've never, ever been afraid of a tight end. They'd better not let him block me. I bet they won't make that coaching mistake."
Not to mention ...
"I like it this way. I don't want to go into a situation where you can't say how you really feel, where you're acting like it's going to be a nice game. It's not going to be a nice game.
"We don't have to act like we like each other. Now that their true feelings are out, they're going to hear my true feelings. We don't have to play that game, 'Oh yeah, they're great.' We don't have to do that anymore. It's official.
"It makes everything how it's supposed to be. You're not supposed to come into a game like this and act like you like the other team anyway."
And don't forget ...
"We're going to try to tap out as many people as we can. We're going to try to send as many people to the sideline as we can. Make them quit. When you see someone tapping on their helmet, they don't want no more."
And last but not least ...
"I watched him on film. He does not want to block. If they run a play to my side and the tight end has to block me, he's a liability. If they do anything using him to make a play come to my side, it's not going to work. I'm telling you that right now. If they leave him in to pass block against me, I'm going to hit that quarterback. Those are the facts."
OK. So maybe it seemed as orchestrated as a Don King press conference. Or WWW XL. But it certainly livened up the week.
The Pittsburgh coach more or less shrugged.
"It's just Joey being Joey," Bill Cowher said. "I was pretty proud he lasted this long."
The Seattle coach, having warned his players against any comments that could turn into a distraction, more or less sighed.
"We're dealing with young people," Mike Holmgren said. "I used to lecture my children all the time, too."
When Stevens walked into the press session Thursday and saw the mob waiting for him, he must have thought the next question would be, where did he hide the money and bury the baby?
"It's a little ridiculous," he said. "I don't believe I gave them bulletin-board information. I don't believe I was disrespectful.
"It kind of reflects the magnitude of the game. Little things turn into big things.
"This is not what I tried to create in any way, shape or form."
No, but we're grateful anyway. Super Bowl week can get dry if everyone's polite. And Porter? Someone send him a fruit basket. Just to say thanks.
