Super Bowl Week: Three Questions With…

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With the NFL's biggest event here in the Bay Area, Insiders Matt Maiocco and Scott Bair are polling luminaries in town to provide a glimpse at what's really going on.

Enjoy "Three Questions With..." all Super Bowl Week.

Eric Heitmann, Former 49ers offensive lineman

Q: What’s your Super Bowl experience been like?
EH: "So far, it’s been great. To have the Super Bowl in the Bay Area, especially, with two young daughters and my family being able to experience it, it’s just been great to witness this whole energy around San Francisco and the entire Bay Area.”

Q: What’s been the highlight of your stay?
EH: "We just got back from a father-family breakfast, and the girls had a blast. They got to do touchdown dances and drills. I got to embarrass myself.”

Q: What’s your prediction for Sunday’s game?
EH: "It’s tough. As a former 49er, you have guys like Ken Dorsey for Carolina, and Vernon Davis with the Broncos. All the coaches on both sides. There are so many crazy 49ers connections. I like Carolina. We’ll see. I think Carolina by three points.”

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J.T. the Brick, Fox Sports Radio

 

Q: What’s you’re Super Bowl experience been like?
JT: I’m loving this Super Bowl because the music has been so great. I saw Dave Matthews. I’m going to see Metallica. I saw Snoop Dogg. Knowing San Francisco as well as I do from living up here, with the city’s history of music from the Fillmore to the Warfield, I think this is the best music Super Bowl I’ve been to. Instead of the local, crazy parties no one really cares about, there has been a great concert every night.

Q: What’s been the highlight of your stay?
JT: We went to see Snoop Dogg at the Regency Ballroom, and that was awesome. That was really fun because it was a great set by him, and I actually got to meet him. I’m not a Dave Matthews guy, but I went to that show on Pier 70, and that was a really unique show. I now understand why he has such a massive following. He was really good.

Q: What’s your prediction for Sunday’s game?
JT: I’m looking at this like a Disney movie. It’s going to play out with Peyton Manning winning some way, some how. It’s going to be the ultimate PR piece for the NFL. It’ll be Super Bowl 50, which is iconic, ending with Peyton Manning holding a Lombardi Trophy. The only way the movie is going to happen is if Denver’s defense has one of the greatest Super Bowl performances of all time, and I think they’re capable of doing it. Carolina is a better team, but I think the story of Peyton is too big. I’m going with Broncos 24, Panthers 23.

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Jason Whitlock, Fox Sports 1

Q: What’s you’re Super Bowl experience been like?
JW: I love the location, and how easy it’s been for me to get around. They’ve done a good job with traffic in a major city like this. I’ve been to one party and it was terrific. A city like San Francisco seems like an ideal host to me.

Q: What’s been the highlight of your stay?
JW: (New England Patriots tight end) Rob Gronkowski doing a lap dance on my reporter (Julie Stewart-Binks) during our television show. That was the highlight for me.

Q: What’s your prediction for Sunday’s game?
JW: It’s going to be a blowout. Carolina’s going to win by 20 or more.

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Lindsay Jones, USA Today

Q: What’s your Super Bowl experience been like?
LJ: "Logistically, it’s been really challenging. The bus situation and all the driving has not been ideal. But player access has been good once we’ve gotten there. Both teams have been very good to deal with, but leaving our hotel at 5am to get to player availability, which begins at 8, has not been the best.”

Q: What’s been the highlight of your stay?
LJ: "I had a fantastic dinner at Slanted Door the other night. I’ve been wanting to get there for a long time. That was really, really great. And I just really love being in San Francisco, now that we’re here for these couple of days.”

Q: What’s your prediction for Sunday’s game?
LJ: "I’m picking Panthers, 24-21.”

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Jim Trotter, ESPN (member of Hall of Fame board who will introduce Eddie DeBartolo on Saturday)

Q: What’s your Super Bowl experience been like?
JT: "I hate it. San Francisco is the worst city in the country. Why can’t we be in Saskatoon? I’m kidding. It’s been great. I was born here. You can’t say anything bad about San Francisco to me. Selfishly, the fact that Eddie could wind up being named a member of the Hall of Fame, for somebody who grew up watching that team, would be phenomenal. That would be phenomenal.”

Q: What’s been the highlight of your stay?
JT: "I don’t go out. I’m so old. I do my work and I go back to my room and try to avoid the crowds. The other thing is that the player interviews have been at 8am, so getting from Fisherman’s Wharf, where I’m staying, to Santa Clara means 4am wakeup calls. So I haven’t been out and seeing anything.”

Q: What’s your prediction for Sunday’s game?
JT: "Carolina, 27-17. I think you’re going to have to score points to win, and when I look at these two teams, they both have outstanding defenses. When I look at the offenses, which one is going to be able to put up more points? I just think Carolina is on a roll. For me, it’s going to come down to who can make those one-on-one plays. And if you’re telling me you’re going to contain Cam (Newton) and put your defenders in a position where one guy is going to have to make an open-field play on him, I’m going with Cam.”

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Jim Gray, Showtime/Fox/Westwood One sideline reporter (on Super Bowl broadcast team)

Q: What’s your Super Bowl experience been like?
JG: "It’s been good, but there are far less people than you’d expect. I’m sure the city doesn’t feel that way, but it just seems like there are fewer big names involved in this week."

Q: What’s been the highlight of your stay?
JG: "It only took an hour to get here from my hotel. I hear it could’ve been worse."

Q: What’s your prediction for Sunday’s game?
JG: "Since I’m calling the game, I can’t really answer that one. I’m just hoping for a close contest."

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Nate Jackson, Former NFL receiver and current author

Q: What’s your Super Bowl experience been like?
NJ: "I came in yesterday and I’m staying in the Tenderloin, which I love. I wanted to get the pulse of the city. A lot of the stuff I’m writing about is also the Niners and their exodus from San Francisco to Santa Clara and the influx of the tech money and the lost of the soul of the 49ers, which you can equate to that new money moving in. So I like to being around here for this. I thought it was going to be more packed and annoying. It’s certainly concentrated over there at Super Bowl City, which seems like one long commercial. I don’t even know what that is over there.”

Q: What’s been the highlight of your stay?
NJ: "The highlight might be this moment right here.”

Q: What’s your prediction for Sunday’s game?
NJ: "The Broncos by two touchdowns. Whenever everybody thinks something is going to happen, it doesn’t happen. All the momentum is on Carolina’s side right now. They’re six-point favorites. Everybody is thinking, ‘They are the team.’ And I really believe in the NFL, the way you survive is by killing the narrative, flipping it. For instance, all season long people were saying, ‘You can’t win with Peyton Manning at quarterback.’ The industry is burying him, but he’s the quarterback of the team that’s going to the Super Bowl. He’s getting it done. I think they’ll find a way.”

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John Sutcliffe, ESPN Deportes

Q: What’s your Super Bowl experience been like?
JS: "It’s a little different, just the way it has changed. They have the media day on a Monday night, and I came in from the Pro Bowl. But it’s been great. Logistically, it’s been 5am every morning because I’m covering the Broncos. So from Fisherman’s Wharf to Santa Clara, those things happen sometimes. It’s a good week. I think it’s so spread out, there isn’t that typical atmosphere of a Super Bowl you’d feel when you walk out of your hotel because it’s such a large area for fans to be in. But the Mexican flavor, the Hispanic flavor, when you’re in San Francisco, you go out and feel a little bit like you’re in Mexico City."

Q: What’s been the highlight of your stay?
JS: "Great dinners. I went to a restaurant that’s called Trattoria Contadina, and it was one of the best Italian places I’ve ever been in my life. You could tell all the football players and baseball players go there."

Q: What’s your prediction for Sunday’s game?
JS: "I covered the AFC Championship game, and I got the feeling that nobody was giving the Broncos any chance against New England. I just think it’ll be a low-scoring game. I usually like experience and I think the Broncos, if they got it done against New England, they can get it done against Carolina.”

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Jason Cole, Bleacher Report (Stanford alum)

Q: What’s your Super Bowl experience been like?
JC: "Fantastic, as always. Look, we’re in San Francisco. What else do you want from me? It’s pretty awesome.”

Q: What’s been the highlight of your stay?
JC: "I went to the Mountain View-Los Altos girls basketball game on Tuesday night. I took that in with my friend (a school board member). It was really cool to see a high school sporting event without a rooting interest of any kind for the first time in 30 years. It was a simple thing, but I enjoyed it.”

Q: What’s your prediction for Sunday’s game?
JC: "I’m predicting Denver is going to win in a very low-scoring game, 20-17, similar to the two games they’ve won in the playoffs. I think their defense can shut down Carolina.”

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Darren Rovell, ESPN

 

Q: What’s you’re Super Bowl experience been like?
DR: "Since this is my 15th Super Bowl, I know a lot of it depends on transport. I would say this is the first 'Uber Super Bowl,' which helps me out. It was different back in the day, when I used to pay $200 bucks to lock down a cabbie for the week. Now it’s a lot more convenient."

Q: What’s been the highlight of your stay?
DR: "I’m just too jaded to pick one. The highlight is that it’s Thursday, and I’ve made it three days without getting sick yet."

Q: What’s your prediction for Sunday’s game?
DR: "Since I’m a business guy, I’ll say who is going to have the best Super Bowl commercial. I think the most buzz is going to be around Taco Bell, which is coming out with a new product. It might be a 'Queso-lupa,' a, even cheesier quesadilla. That one might carry the day."

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John Clayton, ESPN

Q: What’s your Super Bowl experience been like?
JC: "I feel like I’m on the all-commuter team because we’re spending pretty much 3 to 3 ½ hours on a bus every day. It’s been fun because I’ve had the chance to get together with a bunch of writers and people I’ve been working with for 30 or 40 years and catch up. That’s been nice because usually you don’t get that time to do that during the season. It’s been pleasant because it is San Francisco and it is the Bay Area"

Q: What’s been the highlight of your stay?
JC: "The highlight so far has been the hospitality in the hotels. It seems like they’re on their ‘A’ game. Everybody is receptive to getting things done quickly. The service has been very good. I’m assuming it’s the same way at most hotels. I know the hotel I’m staying at (Hilton San Francisco Financial District) it’s been excellent."

Q: What’s your prediction for Sunday’s game?
JC: "Cam Newton can get touchdown drives even though they’re going against historically one of the six or seven best defenses in NFL history. The storyline should be, even though I don’t think it will be, Peyton Manning getting that last Super Bowl win and one of the great defenses getting that win. But I don’t know if Peyton can get enough points. Because of that, I think it’ll be: Carolina 27, Denver 17."

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 Bob Glauber, New York Newsday

Q: What’s your Super Bowl experience been like?
BG: "Well, it’s been a little spread out. That can’t be helped. I certainly like staying in San Francisco and going out from there. It’s my favorite city in America. I don’t know how they could’ve avoided the logistics, short of keeping the teams up here, but that’s a problem for them getting to practice. It’s been a logistical high-wire act that has challenges. Fighting rush-hour traffic in San Jose and Santa Clara and getting out of San Francisco is not optimal.”

Q: What’s been the highlight of your stay?
BG: "The highlights were two meals: One at Slanted Door, and one at Lers Ros, a Thai restaurant on Larkin. As a writer, those are your highlights. The meals are the highlights. Fortunately, I was here over the summer and did the Muir Woods, Sir Francis Drake stuff and Monterey.”

Q: What’s your prediction for Sunday’s game?
BG: "I like the Panthers, 31-17. I kind of liked them all along coming in. A 15-1 team. That’s no accident. Cam is the best quarterback going right now, right here. Unless the Broncos can get to him early, I think the Panthers will have their way.”

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