Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/24230
2B – Daily News – Tuesday, February 1, 2011 Packers arrive in Texas, put Twitter trouble aside Green Bay Packers IRVING, Texas (AP) — Now that the Packers have arrived in North Texas for the Super Bowl, Aaron Rodgers has put his team’s Twitter-driven mini-controversy to rest. ‘‘I think, obviously, this was made a bigger issue than it was,’’ Rodgers said shortly after his team settled in at its hotel. ‘‘There was nothing going on in Green Bay last week, so this little thing blew up bigger than we ever thought it would.’’ Rodgers hopes that’s the last word in a week filled with bickering about hurt feelings of injured teammates who tweeted to complain when it looked like they weren’t being included in this week’s team photo. It’s the kind of minor issue that can suddenly become a big deal when a team is in the spotlight preparing for the Super Bowl. Packers coach Mike McCarthy will try to steer the team clear of such potential distractions the rest of the week. ‘‘Our players were really excited to get down here today, just visiting with a number of them one-on-one,’’ McCarthy said. ‘‘They’re excited about the process leading up to the game. Like a lot of us, we wish the game was already here. We don’t want to take away this experience. I told them to be very realistic, be practical. Enjoy it, it’s unique, an opportunity to be in front of the media every day. It will be a great experience for our players and our coaches. But at the end of the day, this is about beating the Pittsburgh Steelers.’’ First they’ll have to figure out how they want to deal with the weather. They’ve left Wisconsin but can’t seem to shake free from winter. With icy conditions predicted in the Dallas area, McCarthy said he will consider taking the team indoors for practice but first wants to get a look at the indoor practice facility available to him. ‘‘We discussed it earlier in the week,’’ McCarthy said. ‘‘With the weather and the indoor facility and the surface and so forth, we’ll probably make that decision sometime later tomorrow.’’ Then they’ll have to find a way to bridge their inexperience gap. While the Steelers have no shortage of Super Bowl experience, the Packers have two players who have been on losing teams, Charles Woodson and Ryan Pickett. Fullback John Kuhn earned a Super Bowl ring as a member of the Steelers’ prac- tice squad. McCarthy doesn’t think experience will be a MCTphoto Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers answers questions at a Monday press conference. factor after the game kicks off. ‘‘The advantage Pittsburgh has over us in my opinion is today through Saturday,’’ McCarthy said. ‘‘So we’ll continue to work and educate our football team. They are a dedicated and focused bunch so I’m not really concerned about it.’’ McCarthy has picked other coaches’ brains for advice about preparing for a Super Bowl, but he can’t draw on any personal experience. This will be his first trip to the game — even as a spectator. McCarthy said he intentionally stayed away throughout his coaching career, saying he’d go only when one of his teams is playing. ‘‘I’m sure I’m like every other coach in the past when your season is over, I really didn’t want to be around the participation leading up to the big game,’’ McCarthy said. ‘‘I just always waited until this moment, and I’m glad I did.’’ McCarthy’s family is coming in later this week, but it doesn’t sound like the coach is planning on having much fun. ‘‘I’m going to do as little as I possibly can to enjoy myself,’’ McCarthy said. Woodson said he managed to forget all about the pregame hype on the flight down to the Dallas area; he watched the movie ‘‘The Social Network.’’ Then the Packers landed, and it hit him. ‘‘I really didn’t think about the game ’til we landed,’’ Woodson said. ‘‘Then you look out the window and you see all the cameras, you see all the police escorts and that sort of thing. So once we landed and I (saw) all that, then I got some chills a little bit because this is the last game.” Super Bowl XLV Steelers arrive in Big D, ready for Super business Pittsburgh Steelers FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Howdy, Hines. Welcome to Big D. Hines Ward was ready for a rodeo of a week leading up to the Super Bowl as he stepped off the Pittsburgh Steelers’ charter flight when the team arrived in Dallas. Pittsburgh’s star wide receiver, who embraces his reputation as one of the league’s most aggressive — and some say, dirtiest — players, was decked out in a big black cowboy hat, a black sequined Western-style shirt, blue jeans, boots and a Texas-sized silver belt buckle. ‘‘I’m in Dallas, Texas,’’ Ward said, smiling. ‘‘I wanted to put on my whole cowboy outfit and enjoy it. No nerves.’’ He sure looked loose, and almost like a native Texan. Not bad for a guy born in South Korea who grew up in Georgia and has played in Pittsburgh for 13 years. ‘‘Where’d I find all this stuff?’’ an amused Ward asked, repeating a reporter’s question. ‘‘A little place in Monroeville (Pa.). It’s my little dia- mond in the rough there.’’ Ward and the rest of these Steelers are no strangers to the NFL’s biggest stage, making their third Super Bowl trip in six years. ‘‘We’re enjoying this,’’ Ward said. ‘‘We know right now that there are a lot of guys who would love to have this opportunity. Being here, there’s a comfort level. We kind of know what to expect.’’ And, in Pittsburgh, titles are expected. The Steelers are looking to win the franchise’s seventh league championship Sunday, when they take on Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. ‘‘Just like last time when we were in this game, it’s our intention to enjoy all of the elements that this week has in store for us and not fight against it,’’ said Tomlin, looking for his second ring as the Steelers’ coach. ‘‘Part of you is somewhat resistant to some of the things, but we’re not going to make a negative out of what a wonderful week that we have awaiting us. We are going to embrace it all.’’ That includes all the hoopla that goes along with being one of the teams playing in the Super Bowl. ‘‘You step off the plane and you’ve got helicopters, you’ve got police, media and then this,’’ quarterback Ben MCTphoto Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward talks to reporters, Monday, in his cowboy outfit. Roethlisberger said. ‘‘If you’re not used to it, it could be overwhelming.’’ Maybe for the Packers, playing in their first Super Bowl since a Brett Favre-led team lost to John Elway and the Denver Broncos in 1998. For the Steelers, though, this is no sweat. ‘‘I definitely think it’s more a sense of calm on our side of the ball, being that we’ve been here,’’ linebacker James Farrior said. ‘‘A lot of guys in this locker room have got Super Bowl experience. I think it’ll help us out just dealing with everything that’ll be going on this week.’’ Roethlisberger is plenty used to this wild environment, and he has tried to take a low-key approach since win- ning his first ring back in his second season, when the Steelers beat the Seattle Seahawks 21-10 in 2006. It was the same three years later, when he engineered a late comeback win as Pittsburgh rallied to beat Arizona 27- 23. ‘‘I’m just taking it in stride, enjoy- ing this opportunity, regardless of what comes and the outcomes,’’ he said. ‘‘I’m just taking it all in.’’ And, this all comes after an offsea- son in which he was accused of sexu- al assault of a 20-year-old college stu- dent, but a prosecutor in Georgia declined to bring charges. But, Roeth- lisberger was still suspended by the NFL for the first four games of the season for violating the league’s per- sonal conduct policy. ‘‘We’re all human,’’ Roethlisberger said. ‘‘We all make mistakes, and it’s how can you bounce back from your mistakes? Just like a football game, you throw interceptions, you lose a game, you’ve got to be able to bounce back and find a way that it doesn’t happen again.’’ The Steelers are trying to focus only on the task at hand, and might have learned a few things about the Packers in their last meeting — a 37- 36 win in 2009 — that they can make use of in this game. Not that Tomlin is giving away any secrets. ‘‘You get yourself into trouble when you try to have preconceived notions about how the game is going to unfold,’’ he said. ‘‘That was an exciting, entertaining game we had against them a year ago. ... What hap- pened at Heinz Field in ’09 is going to have no bearing on what happens in this stadium. So many of the compo- nents of those teams are different, so it’s really irrelevant.’’ But even Tomlin acknowledged that that meeting could help ramp up the expectations for a hard-fought, close Super Bowl game. ‘‘This is going to be an execution- oriented game,’’ Tomlin said. ‘‘The team that executes better is going to have a better chance to win. So we’re going to sharpen our sword for battle with that in mind.’’ When he took over as the Steelers coach in 2007, he set some lofty goals for himself and the franchise. And, he’s one win closer to achieving the biggest of all. ‘‘It’s probably about two Super Bowls short of my vision,’’ he said. ‘‘But that’s just me. I’m not in a reflection mode. I’m really not. I’m just trying to go and do it.’’