Page 2 columnist

Editor's Note: The Sports Guy is writing a running blog from Super Bowl XXXVIII in Houston, and he will be updating it a couple of times each day.

Updated: Monday, 11:45 p.m. ET

HOUSTON -- In honor of Norv Turner getting hired by the Raiders today, I'm running an excerpt from a Vegas column that appeared on my old website (posted on May 7, 2001). In the column, I'm describing a Sunday breakfast at Mandalay Bay with three of my buddies -- including our friend Hopper, who played blackjack until the wee hours with Turner, who had been recently fired in Washington. It's one of my favorite stories ... and it's absolutely, 100-percent true.

Updated: Monday, 4:30 p.m. ET



Gas up the stolen van! The "Bad News Bears" are coming back to Houston.

Because I'm working for Jimmy Kimmel's show this week, I could upgrade to first class -- it's one of the little-known perks that members of the Writer's Guild get when working for a TV show. See, this is the part I warned you about -- the part where you would start to hate me. And yes, I know ... I'm the same man who once wrote the line, "I've never walked through first class on an airplane without wanting to punch someone in the face."



Here's that little hair flip from Jaclyn Smith that drove The Sports Boy crazy.

Jaclyn Smith: I can still see her taking the helmet off in the "Charlie's Angels" opening credits, then doing that little hair flip thingie. Geez. The best thing about her? Even other women agree that she's gorgeous. Those are always the fun ones, when they can't even get mad at you for ogling another chick.



Some weird curse kept Phoebe Cates from reaching the next level.

Phoebe Cates: She's the Bernard King of babes -- you never hear her name mentioned with the all-time greats, but mention her to the right guy, and they go crazy. Has it ever been explained why she didn't become a huge star? Was it the "Blue Lagoon" ripoff with Willie Aames that killed her? Was she one of those actresses who just wanted to have kids and didn't like the limelight? Did the same mysterious force derail her career that ended up derailing Jamie Gertz's career for 10 years? I need to see a one-hour documentary about this.

Updated: Monday, 11 a.m. ET

Guess who's back ... back again ... Shady's back ... tell a friend ... guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back ...



You might remember Bill Simmons' last trip to the Super Bowl ... even if Bill can't remember it all.

That's why any premature Houston-bashing this week will be coming in the form of harmless barbs and passive-aggressive digs. As colleague Jim Caple wrote in one of his columns from San Diego last January, "The predictable, patented formula for an early Super Bowl column is for the writer to fly into town and immediately rip the host city. You won't read that here though."

Warm weather. Serviceable stadium. A downtown that's easy to get around. Fun things to do at night. A city that gives you that "Wow, what a city!" feeling.



Despite his pleas with the ESPN travel department, Simmons was not allowed to fly to Houston on the Patriots' team plane.

Under this logic, only three cities should ever host the Super Bowl: San Diego, New Orleans and Miami. And you know what? I'm fine with that! Seriously, who isn't OK with those cities? So we rotate between the three of them ... and if they ever allow Vegas to host a Super Bowl, then we make it a foursome.



The Sports Guy was happy to pick up Tom Brady's luggage for him.

So in that sense, maybe it's not so terrible that the Super Bowl is here. The locals seem nice. The weather is fine. There's stuff to do. Would I rather be in San Diego, Miami, Vegas or N'Awlins? That goes without saying. Believe me, nothing would make me happier than being surprised by the city of Houston. And they have one week to pull it off.

What to expect in this blog



They call Carolina's Rod Smart "He Hate Me" -- and that sums up Simmons' feelings about all the Panthers.

Since I already covered the Super Bowl two years ago, this time around I'm looking to answer one simple question: "What's it like to be here?" And there's really only way to do that -- give you as much information as possible, write as much as possible, hit the town as much as possible, and forget about constructing standard columns every day. Most of the entries won't even be as long as the one you're reading right now.