Mark Spector

Mark Spector is a columnist for sportsnet.ca

Colts head coach Jim Caldwell has money to burn, while Michael Irvin is out of a job.

MIAMI — On Friday Michael Irvin put the soup in Super Bowl, when he launched a $100 million counter lawsuit against a woman accusing him of a rape at a Florida casino three years ago. Then, on the same day, he lost his ESPN radio gig in Dallas.

We knew Super Bowl week can be expensive, but really.

• After missing the entire Super Bowl practice week, taking daily walks in the sand of Miami Beach to rehab his ankle, and talking about how he "hopes" to play on Sunday, the final word on Colts rush-end Dwight Freeney doesn’t change much.

Freeney spent Indianapolis’ final workout on Saturday watching from a golf cart. He didn’t work a single snap in anger this week due to torn ankle ligaments, so the best the Colts can hope for on Sunday is to deploy Freeney on third-down passing situations, with Raheem Brock playing the vast majority of the game.

"He’s better than yesterday," Colts coach Jim Caldwell revealed. "It’s still day to day."

The chances of Freeney doing anything impactful on Sunday are almost nonexistent. Rush-ends that can’t dig in with both feet don’t scare anyone at this level, even if their name is Dwight Freeney.

• An 18-foot, 150-pound chunk of a cargo plane fell from the sky on Friday and landed in the parking lot of a local mall. Saved by the ailing Florida economy, no people or cars were hit by the debris.

In related news, between 4 p.m. and midnight on Sunday, private pilots will be prohibited from flying within 10 nautical miles of the stadium, from the ground to 18,000 feet. They are serious about the terrorist threat here, with the NFL spending $6 million on game day security.

• How many Super Bowl tickets are in the hands of snowed-in Baltimore Colts fans who can’t get out of Baltimore after more than two feet of snow blanketed Maryland on Friday and Saturday? The storm nearly wrecked father and son team Albert and Corey Crockett’s trip to the game.

"At 6 (Thursday) night, Southwest called. We thought we were out," Albert, a lifetime Colts fan, told the Palm Beach Post.

"I went to the bathroom and bawled," said Corey.

They caught another flight out of a different airport, arriving in Miami in time to get absolutely poured on Friday night. The forecast for game day is near perfect: clear skies and around 17 C at kickoff.

• It is bad enough that the names of stadia and arenas have become commercials embedded in today’s sporting events. The selling of naming rights has thrust upon our games such sadly named joints as Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, the Jenny Craig Pavilion in San Diego, Pizza Hut Park in Dallas, and one of my least personal favourites, Canad Inns Stadium in Winnipeg.

But the site of the Super Bowl game has had seven different names since 1987, with three of those coming in the past calendar year.

Sun Life Financial most recently bought the naming rights. Before that, it was Dolphin Stadium — for two whole weeks — and Land Shark Stadium for eight months. That’s Jimmy Buffett’s beer.

The rest of the list: Joe Robbie Stadium, Pro Player Park, Pro Player Stadium and Dolphins Stadium.

It’s sad, really, to see what little value tradition has in pro sports today.

• Chad Ochocinco has lugged his considerable ego across every inch of this Super Bowl week, just to get in as many strokes as possible. But another non-participants who has had much ink here is Hank Baskett’s wife Kendra Wilkinson. She is, of course, of the Playboy mansion fame.

Like former Colts coach Tony Dungy, Wilkinson figures that Sunday’s game is going to be a clean kill for the Colts. During an exclusive interview with someone or other, when asked how she'll celebrate if the Colts win, she said., "We're gonna hit up the parade...and then have a lot of sex!"

We wonder if those plans include Hank or not?

• An entire roster of Edmonton Oilers fought over the amount of a dinner bill in Calgary at New Year’s, and everyone came out looking bad.

On Friday in Miami, Caldwell took his coaching staff out to dinner, and on a bill of around $2500, left a $1000 tip. He is the talk of the service industry today in South Florida, a town that will be happy to have the Colts back again — any time.

• Final word: Colts 30, Saints 21.