NEW ORLEANS — Seeking words of wisdom, we turned to Paul McCartney. Asked his feelings on the Super Bowl, McCartney said, “I just hear that the Patriots have a team of not-star players.” So it goes.

        It has been a not-star week. The game itself has always been an excuse for seven days of bacchanalian excess. As someone noted, without parties, the Super Bowl is just a football game. Now we are counting on the football game to bail out the week. This could be a first.

        A big problem is the players from the two teams. Unfortunately, they all seem to be pretty good guys. Many are religious. Nothing wrong with that. But religious athletes don't usually get the ink flowing.

        “I have to give glory and praise to God,” said New England wide receiver David Patten. Before he was a Super player, Patten loaded 75-pound bags of coffee beans in a warehouse. Then he started praying to get to the NFL, which seems a better option than praying for lighter bags of coffee beans.

        The next thing you know, Patten's playing for the Giants. “You can't tell me that's not God,” Patten said. Perhaps my prayers are misdirected. Instead of seeking grace for those around me, I should ask to write about swimsuit models for Sports Illustrated.

        There have been Super players who have declared God called them to various NFL teams or that God wanted their team to win. This is a conceit unique to jocks, to believe God wants them to be anything more than good people. Thankfully, the religious guys this year have not walked that path.

        The (almost) controversy

        Meanwhile, the one issue poised to bring the buzz back to the week ended almost before it began. Patriots coach Bill Belichick named mild-mannered Tom Brady to start at quarterback, over mild-mannered Drew Bledsoe.

        Everyone knew Brady would start if he could walk. This wasn't buzz; it was zzzz. Bledsoe didn't help by being entirely magnanimous. He said all the right things. He might have even meant them.

        Then there is the town. Usually on Bourbon Street, they toss you out if you're fully clothed. Now they wand you first and make you stagger through a metal detector.

        The Superdome is ringed with chain-link fencing festooned in red, white and blue bunting. Security officials won't specify what they have in store for fans coming to the game, but please, leave your gold-plated toothpicks at home.

        Several times a day, the media spread their arms to be wanded and pass through the mine sweeper. By Thursday, you're feeling like a piece of carry-on baggage and hoping to fit underneath the seat in front of you.

        Which takes us back to Paul McCartney, beamed in from New York to promote his appearance in the pregame show. (Keith Lockhart, erstwhile conductor of the Cincinnati Pops, will lead the Boston Pops in the pregame. We resisted the urge to ask him why the Bengals always stink.) Someone asked McCartney about the tight security. “The what?” he said.

        Welcome to sober New Orleans, for all who didn't believe that possible.

        Whom do you like Sunday, someone asked Beatle Paul.

        “I'm just looking for a good game,” he replied.

        There will be an answer. Let it be.

        Contact Paul Daugherty at 768-8454; fax: 768-8550; e-mail: pdaugherty@enquirer.com.
               

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