Beautiful day

Hanging with rock heroes beats more boring football-speak

NEW ORLEANS -- Deep in my heart, I just know it's going to be tough to sit through another Bill Belichick news conference after this.

I just had my greatest Super Bowl moment of all time, and it'll stand even if I get to cover this baby until they tack a C in front of all those X's in the Roman numerals.

The heck with Brady and Bledsoe. I just went to see Bono and the boys, live and in person -- not to mention up close -- at a Wednesday afternoon news conference to hype the Super Bowl XXXVI halftime show.

For the uninitiated, that would be U2, the world's greatest rock band for 20 years running. You can look it up.

Bono. The Edge. Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton. Right there in front of me, not 20 yards. Laughing, posing, and taking our questions. Is this a great country or what?

Cast into what could have been a painfully out-of-character setting, the boys from Dublin played the moment with perfect pitch, proving to a few hundred reporters or so that they have more range than we might have imagined.

They were glib. They were witty. They were faking their way through most of the football questions. Just like Rams punter John Baker.

"There's been a lot written about the whole Brady-versus-Bledsoe issue over the past few days," deadpanned The Edge, the band's ultra-cool lead guitarist. "We are not here to add to that topic today. So we're not going to be fielding any questions on that issue. That will be up to coach Belichick, what he wants to do.

"However, it does have to be said that Drew Bledsoe has a superior long pass, and Tom Brady's sore ankle is a bit of a problem. I had a sore ankle once and it lasted for a good deal longer than one week. But we are not here to talk about Brady and Bledsoe."

Now this is what I want out of every Super Bowl news conference. As God is my witness, it was the first time I was excited about anything this week. Wednesday almost made up for the fact that I'm still not over missing Jewel and her cleavage at the commissioner's Super Bowl party in San Diego in 1998.

When Bono took a football and struck his own version of the Heisman pose, calling it the Hewson pose, my years of allegiance to the band paid off handsomely. As reporters around me struggled to discern the obscure reference, I casually informed them that Bono's real name is Paul Hewson, thus the Hewson pose. (I could have added that The Edge was born David Evans, but, hey, why show off?)

Then again, I attended five shows in three different cities on U2's 2001 world tour, so the little distinction of being the band historian on my side of the ballroom was well-earned. I can't even tell you how much money of mine the lads have pocketed, but suffice to say it was enough to buy a few rounds of drinks for everybody on their tour charter. And tip the flight attendants.

Greatest show on turf? The St. Louis Rams' season was small potatoes compared to the 2001 turned in by U2, who were named rock band of the year by Rolling Stone. For those still groping for perspective, U2 is to rock and roll what the 1972 Dolphins are to the NFL, only without Shula's jaw.

Reporters repeatedly tried to get the band to declare an allegiance to either the Patriots or the Rams. One reporter from Boston reminded the fellows that Boston holds the country's biggest concentration of Irish-Americans, letting Bono kind of get his drift.

"It sounds easy," Bono said. "But as you know, or maybe you don't know, The Edge used to baby-sit Kurt Warner. So we're not ready to come out on that."

Some might wonder if I deemed to ask the modern-day Fab Four a question. Nope. I was not about to look like a fan. Even though I am, and attended the news conference without a pen, notebook or recorder. My sole purpose for being there was an up-close glimpse of the group I've followed since 1983. If I would have had a lighter on me, I would have flicked it, held it up, and screamed at the top of my lungs.

Initially, I was skeptical. On Tuesday, when one of my friends and co-horts who knows of my U2 devotion pointed out that the grease board in the media center contained a line about U2 being featured at a 1:30 p.m. news conference on Wednesday, I scoffed.

Repeatedly. Live via satellite, maybe. More likely, a canned and taped message from the band shot last month, while they were on holiday in Ireland (that's how they say it over there, you know).

But U2 as we live and breath, four days before they are to perform a 12-minute concert at halftime Sunday at the Superdome? Get real, I said. I just couldn't believe that the NFL had enough clout to get the band to go along with the idea of being grilled by the likes of me.

Who knew? I mean, besides Paul Tagliabue?

So now they can play the little football game, hand out the trophy and we'll all pack up and fly home Monday. For me, Super Bowl week will never be the same. I'm ruined.

Bono, Belichick? Bono, Belichick? You decide.

Don Banks covers pro football for CNNSI.com -- and attends as many U2 concerts as possible in his spare time.

 

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