The players complied with Fox's "All-American Super Bowl," as the aptly named Patriots beat the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI.

The football-fest had plenty of moments to remember.

Paul McCartney was given Super Bowl treatment with tons of cheerleaders as background dancers for his pregame performance (and we thought Wings was embarrassing). Mariah Carey gets a "thumbs up" for her performance of the national anthem. She looked great, sang great, and wore something classy. After former President Bush and former Dallas quarterback Roger Staubach (who suddenly looks like Clint Eastwood) did the ceremonial coin toss, Pat Summerall (who may have been having the jitters because it was his final Super Bowl) inexplicably said, "It looks like he's tossed a lot of coins in his day."

What?!

Besides the game, the big story line was that it was the final game for the broadcasting team of Summerall and John Madden. After no mention of the fact for the first three quarters, at the beginning of the final period, Madden mentioned that this was their final quarter together and called Summerall a "national treasure."

Summerall took a subtle shot at Fox, which gently forced him out of the No. 1 announcer's booth, by saying, "They can take me out of this booth, but they can't take away the times we've had together."

For the most part, they had a decent broadcast. However, Summerall got faked out by a Patriots halfback option, and Madden will never hear the end of it for questioning the Patriots' attempting that final drive of the game.

The most aggressive advertisers were Budweiser and Mlife (I still don't know what Mlife is). The Bud commercials included a funny story about the difference between a man and a woman buying greeting cards and the return of Cedric the Entertainer in a Cyrano de Bergerac spoof. The Britney Spears Pepsi ads were almost overshadowed by NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who was drinking a Coke at the end of the game. Wonder if Coke can get him to wear a belly shirt?

Fox cameras also caught a Patriots assistant coach mouthing "What the f--" after a call went against the team, and Tom Brady saying "We won" to Drew Bledsoe at the end of the game. Former Eagles receiver Charles Johnson got some air time as the Patriots celebrated at the end of the game.

At halftime, in a change of roles, it was Fox that took the high road with U2's mini-concert that had a backdrop featuring the names of every victim from Sept. 11, while NBC went for the lowest common denominator with a Playboy Playmate version of "Fear Factor."

Fox played a salute to Summerall during the postgame show, which must have been infuriating for Patriots fans. The taped piece, which featured clips of Summerall's playing and announcing days, also had comments from Tom Brookshier, Frank Gifford and Bill Parcells.

After the exhilarating finish to the game, it seemed awkward to have the salute at that time, especially when Fox could have easily played it during the three- hour pregame show. I'm sure many fans would have rather seen more player reaction at that time.

The questions for next year: Can the Patriots repeat? Who will replace Summerall? And what is Mlife?

Laura Nachman covers television and radio sports for the Courier Times. Write her in care of the Courier Times, 8400 Route 13, Levittown, PA 19057, fax 215-949-4177 or e-mail [email protected].

Tuesday, February 5, 2002