Super Bowl controversy; Tiger controversy and Sedins -- no controversy

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The earliest part of Super Bowl week is the nuttiest; with so many media running around trying to fill space so long before there's something concrete fill space with; so, if it's Tuesday, we must have our first Super Bowl controversy - and that's before the zaniness of Media Day today. We've got that, some interesting comments about Tiger Woods and the secrets of the Sedin twins' success and the best pre-game speeches ever captured on film, so we'll get on with things.

1. Peter King starts the first big brouhaha of Super Bowl week - by accident

One of the first rules about journalism is that the reporter is not supposed to be part of the story. This rule gets thrown out the window when it comes to Peter King, Sports Illustrated's senior NFL writer. He is a brand until himself; with a half-million followers on Twitter; so respected in his field that he was recently the subject of an episode of HBO's Real Sports.

So when King teased his upcoming profile on NFL commissioner Roger Goodell with this nugget in his Monday Morning Quarterback blog, it stirred things up. In reference to his role as the league's disciplinarian and his decision to suspend Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for six games (later four) to start the season, King quoted Goodell as saying: "The one thing I take a little bit of issue with is when guys tell me they're being screwed,'' Goodell said. "[Most often]they're not recognizing they have a role in it.'' Regarding Roethlisberger, Goodell said when he was investigating what to do with the quarterback, he talked to "I bet two dozen players ... Not one, not a single player, went to his defense. It wasn't personal in a sense, but all kinds of stories like, 'He won't sign my jersey.' ''

That's an amended quote; the original read like Goodell said two-dozen Steelers, with Steelers in parantheses added by King.

That set things off: nearly half of the Steelers roster sold out their quarterback to the commissioner?

Rothelsberger defended himself: I know for a fact that when the commissioner came to training camp to talk, a lot of guys kind of did."

And then King had to clarify things: This is an important clarification of something I wrote in my "Monday Morning Quarterback'' column. I erred in inserting the parenthetical "Steelers'' in a quote by Goodell, which was an incorrect assumption on my part.

In a Jan. 7 interview for a larger profile on Goodell for this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, Goodell was talking about his deliberations for the Roethlisberger sanctions last year, when the Pittsburgh quarterback was accused of sexual misconduct in connection with an incident at a Georgia bar. Goodell said when he was investigating what to do with Roethlisberger, he talked to "I bet two dozen players ... Not one, not a single player, went to his defense. It wasn't personal in a sense, but all kinds of stories like, 'He won't sign my jersey.' ''

I inserted the word "Steelers'' in parentheses, though Goodell had not told me specifically he meant to refer to two dozen Steelers players.

My question prior to his answer referred to the "many people I know in Pittsburgh'' who "want him on the Steelers.'' I thought Goodell was referring to speaking with two dozen Steelers. He clarified late Monday that he was not referring to the Steelers specifically.

I regret the error.

2. There are going to be a lot of stories about Roethlisberger as a changed man; this is why he had to change:

This feature on the Steeler's quarterback by Sports Illustrated captures an entitled meathead in full flight. Time will tell if Roethlisberger is a changed man or not; but read this and it's easy to understand why he had to at least try to mend his ways; this is an off-the-record assessment of the face of the Steelers franchise from one of his friends, keep in mind: Roethlisberger's reputation in Pittsburgh is not only a matter of an us-against-Ben war waged by service people. SI spoke at length with a friend of Roethlisberger's, who gets along with the quarterback but who is pained by his behavior. When they're out together, the man, who didn't want his name used, sometimes feels obligated to apologize to waiters and bartenders whom Roethlisberger has treated like garbage. He says he shakes his head when he sees Roethlisberger "disrespect" women in bars. (He has never seen any sign of sexual impropriety.) He is embarrassed by Roethlisberger's pettiness and immaturity during pickup basketball games-he says Big Ben will whine about team selection, talk mean-spirited trash and flex his biceps when he makes a good play. He despairs when he sees Roethlisberger blow off attempts by older Steelers, such as Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw, to give him advice. He doubts that Roethlisberger's closest buddies tell him anything except what he wants to hear.

3. Clarifications aside, Goodell still comes off as a bit power hungery, agreed?

So Goodell revealed his opinion of the consensus what two dozen NFL players said about Roethlisberger instead of two dozen Steelers; big difference. But the point remains - why was the NFL commissioner revealing what anyone he spoke with in an investigative capacity was saying to him? Clarification or not, Dan Wetzel's point stands: Goodell appears to thrive in the role of judge, jury and executioner. He comes across as very comfortable as the purveyor of justice. His predecessors in the commissioner's office were never so iron-fisted when it came to player conduct. The public has backed his authority, in part because it has little sympathy for things like millionaire quarterbacks and drunken 20-year-old coeds in bodyguard-protected bathrooms of dive bars.

But with the authority that Goodell has seized comes a responsibility to put his employees in the most positive light possible. Everyone else can debate the merits of Ben Roethlisberger this week. Goodell should be pushing the spotlight onto something else. He can't be preening around and talking it over with reporters.

That's not how the disciplinary system has been sold to the players.

If he's going to ask for teammates to participate in investigations, he can't go defying that trust by passing along what they said. Things are either anonymous or not, you can't be a little bit pregnant on that.

No, Goodell didn't name names. He didn't need to. By saying everyone he spoke with killed Roethlisberger behind his back then every Steeler that Goodell spoke with is implicated. Goodell ratted them all out.

That isn't fair to them.

4. Brendan Steele clearly hasn't chatted with Stephen Ames about making off-hand remarks about Tiger Woods

It's one thing for Tiger Woods to shoot 75 at Torrey Pines the other day; he's in the midst of a swing makeover and is clearly searching for his vaunted 'A' game; though he'd probably settle for his 'B' game right now. But Woods' greatness has in part been attributed to his willingness and ability to grind out par scores regardless of the situation. He was a superstar with a Monday qualifier's work ethic. But that's not what Brendan Steele - a PGA rookie making just his third Tour start - saw when he was paired with Woods during the final round of Woods' 2011 debut: Steele shot 70 en route to a T17 finish, while Woods shot 75 to finish tied for 44th. Afterward, Steele said that Woods appeared to lose interest in his round Sunday once he started to struggle, according to an article in this week's issue of Sports Illustrated."I don't think he gave it ¬everything today," Steele told SI. "Once it started going in the wrong direction, I don't think it had his full attention."Throughout his career, Woods has been known as a grinder who brings maximum effort and focus to every shot on the course. However, that legendary intensity has appeared to flag at times, most recently during the second round at last year's Quail Hollow Championship, when Woods shot 79 and missed the cut.

We'll make a couple of predictions here: any minute now Steele will make some kind of clarification about his comments being taken out of context; and the next time Woods is paired with Steele he'll give him the Stepen Ames treatment.

5. The Leafs haven't played for a week and still drama:

The Leafs came back to work after the all-star break and had to explain why Ron Wilson isn't the least liked coach in the NHL (according to this poll) - how's that for the first day back in the office?

Obviously you're not going to get the full picture in cases like this - which player is foolish enough to pipe up about how much they don't like playing for the guy who holds the fate of their career in their hands?

But I thought Luke Schenn came off very well in this story by James Mirtle, with the third-year defenseman defending Wilson without completely sucking up: "If you don't know Ron, you can kind of take him the wrong way," defenceman Luke Schenn said. "A lot of times, people see him [in the media] after we don't play great, don't play up to our ability, and he's got to face some tough questions."

With one year remaining on Wilson's contract beyond this season, it's believed the Leafs' record over the final 33 games of 2010-11 will heavily influence Burke's decision on bringing him back next year.

Several Leafs suggested Monday that Wilson's reputation has come in part as a result of being the face of struggling franchise the past 2½ seasons.

"Does he hate losing? Yeah. Who doesn't hate losing?" Schenn said. "Obviously, people handle it different ways.

"He's a great coach to play for when you're winning. People see the interviews when he's unhappy and some things come out that people disagree with, but that's all part of it and we're used to it and we see where he's coming from at times.

"I think he's had a great run of success, so you can't argue that."

6. The secret of the Sedin's success:

Family dynamics are probably the most under-rated aspect of athletic accomplishment. I bet you could go through the back stories of 100 elite athletes and in every case there would be some "lucky" circumstance that explained - in part - their success. They all would have an older brother who pushed them or some kids on the street that they competed with all the time or a Dad who was coach or something. Talent doesn't develop in a vacuum. In that context I found this story about the Vancouver Canucks' Sedin twins interesting. Not only did they have each other as constant playmates; they had two older, hockey-playing older brothers as role models and playmates to help further their development: "In the summer, we had (soccer) games in the garden, and in the winter we played hockey games in the street," Peter recalls. "So they were always invited to those games. These were hard games for them. That's partly why they are where they are today. "From the beginning, we had a very close relationship with them. I can't remember there being fights. Of course, in games we had disagreements, but never any real fights. We were quite close and we still are." Henrik and Daniel agree that playing constantly against their big brothers instilled the competitiveness and commitment that have carried the twins to the top of the NHL. "They've always been role models for us," Daniel says. "They were always good at school, they always behaved good. They were the perfect older brothers to look up to and be role models. "They had their own friends and we had our own friends. But always when they were playing hockey, they invited us. They had a choice, but that's how we were brought up - to include everyone. So if we wanted to play with them we could. Looking back, we took it for granted when we grew up. But we realize it now that if it wasn't for them, we probably wouldn't be here right now. I think we were very fortunate."

7. Pre-game speeches to start your day:

This is worth three minutes of your time - it's a mash-up of the best pre-game speeches of all time, courtesy of Hollywood. As a minor soccer coach myself; I thought Will Ferrell's -- "I DON'T WANT ANYONE FREAKING OUT OUT THERE, OKAY!!! -- had the ring of truth.