Jim Lang

From Fort Lauderdale to South Beach, all of South Florida is bracing itself for the arrival of the Who Dat Nation and the Colts big, bad, blue horseshoe.

After 43 years of suffering and heartbreak, Saints fans are ready to let loose and put on a party the likes of which has never been witnessed for any Super Bowl.

With the Vancouver Winter Olympics about to begin in less than two weeks, the Sportsnet mean street posse is traveling lean and mean this year.

Just because we’re traveling lean and mean, that doesn’t mean we can’t travel in style. This year we’re pimping a sweet ride; a Cadillac SRX crossover complete with leather seats and a kick ass sound system. Take that TSN, that’s how we roll over at Sportsnet.

First off, you have yours truly: Big nose, kind of geeky, tattooed, loves his football and just trying to do whatever it takes to feed my family and keep my wife happy. I did receive some good news this year before heading out to the Super Bowl; my wife has given me the green light to get a tan while I am down in Miami (I am not sure why she said I could get a tan this year. I have a bad feeling I am going to be hit with the mother of all home improvement projects when I get home).

Senior producer Brian: Everyone calls him Pepe. Why, I have no idea? He’s from the same hometown as my Mom, Cornwall, Ontario so right away that makes him a good guy in my books. He’s a first class producer and a dynamite hockey player; great moves, decent wrist shot, never plays defence.

Cameraman Cory: My man Cory hails from Sportsnet’s Edmonton bureau; which means the dude wears shorts 12 months a year. Not only is Cory a first class "shooter," he’s also capable of drinking any other ENG cameraman covering Super Bowl 44 under the table seven days a week and twice on Sunday. The only guy I have ever met who Cory can’t keep up with is John "Cheech" Garrett, minus the chicken wings.

Our main analyst that we will be using throughout the week and post game will be the pride of the NFL Network, Jamie Dukes. A former centre with the Atlanta Falcons and Green Bay Packers, Dukes is one of the most underrated NFL analysts working in American television. He’s also one of the best dressed sportscasters I have ever met. Partly due to his size, every single stitch of clothing the man wears is custom made. Jamie always looks like a million bucks and is a genuinely nice person to boot.

Sunday night we went to a Crab Shack near the hotel and stuffed our face as we laid out our plan for the week.

Monday morning we were greeted with a classic South Florida tropical rain storm. I mean it poured rain all morning. Then it kept raining all through the day and it never stopped. Seconds after we taped out hit with Jamie Dukes, we were forced to evacuate the set because there were reports of thunder and lightning coming our way. Another good thing about working with Jamie Dukes this week in South Beach is that the NFL Network’s set is right across the street from the Versace mansion. I am not kidding, this place is incredible. Unfortunately it was raining so hard there was no way to get a good picture of it.

It’s so wet that the NFL has taken the very rare step of moving media on Tuesday underneath the stands at Sun Life Stadium in Miami. Not only are they expecting rain on Tuesday, there’s a good chance we will see some lightning as well. This is my fourth Super Bowl and it will be the first time we will have held media day under the stands because of inclement weather. It should make for a strange scene with 4,600 reporters jammed under the stands at the stadium trying to interview the players and coaches from both teams.

The big story everyone will be talking about Tuesday is Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney and the status of his serious right ankle injury.

It’s going to be awfully tough for Freeney to get good leverage on a 320 offensive tackles when he has torn ligaments in his ankle.