This is what I’m thinking:
Mickey Guyton did a terrific rendition of the national anthem before Sunday’s Super Bowl.
But Whitney Houston’s rendition before the Buffalo Bills’ 20-19 Super Bowl XXV loss to the New York Giants remains the standard that can’t be duplicated.
Houston’s performance while Operation Desert Storm was underway in Iraq is part of a terrific ESPN “E:60” episode, “Whitney’s Anthem,” that premiered Friday and is available now on ESPN+.
If you don’t subscribe to ESPN+, set your DVRs: “Whitney’s Anthem” airs at 8 tonight (Tuesday) on ESPNEWS, 2 a.m. Thursday on ESPN2 and 7 p.m. Friday on ESPNEWS.
It should be must-see TV for any Bills fan. Bruce Smith, Andre Reed and Jim Kelly are among the players interviewed about the impact of Houston's performance. Of course, Giants players are also interviewed.
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But the key moment comes from Rickey Minor, Houston’s music director. He explains that NFL officials didn’t like the anthem recording that Houston made for them to preview days before the game and asked her to change it.
Whitney declined – and the rest is history.
Give CBS sports announcer Jim Nantz some credit for making an accurate prediction after the Bills’ heartbreaking overtime playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
“I can’t imagine how difficult this has been for the Mafia to process,” he told me after the game. “And all of Western New York. Every non-KC fan in the country fell in love with the Bills last night. And Josh Allen's star – even in defeat – has gone to another stratosphere.”
Judging by Allen’s media appearances during Super Bowl week, Nantz nailed it. Allen is in another stratosphere.
Of course, Madison Avenue should be calling Allen soon to raise his profile even more in national commercials.
There were multiple Bills-related moments during Sunday’s Super Bowl pregame show.
Bruce Smith’s ears might have been burning when NBC’s Peter King relayed an “Untold Super Bowl” story about how Giants coach Bill Parcells had Lawrence Taylor create a skirmish with Jumbo Elliott before the final practice to motivate the left tackle to keep Smith in check in Super Bowl XXV. Host Mike Tirico noted Smith did have a strip sack in the game that led to a safety but wasn’t a factor after that. King said over the game’s final 38 minutes, Smith was held to one tackle and no sacks.
It may have sounded a little harsh, but here is what the late Larry Felser wrote about Smith’s performance in his column after the Bills loss.
“The Giants also made Bruce Smith a large part of their game plan, suckering him out of position more than a few times and enticing him to take himself out of plays. Smith made two big plays, tackling (Giants quarterback Jeff) Hostetler for a safety and stopping Ottis Anderson on a fourth-down run, but there were long periods when Bruce was a non-factor.”
Parcells was not kind to Smith the day after the game, either. The coach interrupted a reporter who started his question by saying, "Bruce Smith says that ..."
“Is he still talking?" asked Parcells. "Ask Smith to come over and talk to Jumbo."
Insider Mike Florio also made some news by suggesting the NFL competition committee may decide to allow each team in overtime during the playoffs to get one guaranteed possession as a result of the Bills not seeing the ball in their loss to Kansas City. However, Florio’s explanation about how it would have impacted the Bills in their OT loss to Kansas City was confusing.
In a discussion of the lack of minority coaching hires, NBC studio analyst Tony Dungy noted that it would be better if all interviews and hires couldn’t be done until after the Super Bowl to be fairer to those whose teams remain in the playoffs. As an example, he said Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier had to do interviews with the Giants and the Chicago Bears about their head coaching jobs on the same weekend that he was preparing a game plan against the Chiefs. That obviously isn’t ideal for any candidate to prepare.
My Fumble: In my favorable review of NBC’s Cris Collinsworth during the Los Angeles Rams’ 23-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals I mistakenly thought the analyst said Rams tackle Andrew Whitworth won the Peyton Manning Man of the Year Award. After listening again, Collinsworth was correct in saying that Whitworth won the (Walter) Payton Man of the Year Award.
I will get my ears cleaned as penance.
