THE BULLETIN • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2021 B3
NFL | SUPER BOWL LV
Nickelodeon to have big presence in CBS’s coverage
BY JOE REEDY
Associated Press
There might eventually be a
kids-focused broadcast of the
Super Bowl. It won’t be hap-
pening this year.
Nickelodeon will still have
a noticeable presence during
Sunday’s coverage on CBS.
Following the success of Nick’s
presentation of an NFL playoff
contest last month, CBS Sports
chairman Sean McManus said
there were some discussions
about an encore for Sunday’s
matchup between the Kansas
City Chiefs and Tampa Bay
Buccaneers before deciding to
keep everything on CBS.
“It’s the biggest night of tele-
vision for CBS, obviously, and
that really is our motivation.
It is all about getting as many
eyeballs as we can on the CBS
television network,” McManus
said. “Nickelodeon will have a
real presence at the Super Bowl
in some really creative ways.”
Two months ago, no one
would have thought of asking
McManus about possibly do-
ing a kids-focused broadcast
for the biggest game of the
year. But the Jan. 10 wild-card
game between the Chicago
Bears and New Orleans Saints
on Nickelodeon was a huge
success. The game, which was
also on CBS, averaged 30.65
million viewers — including
2.06 million on Nickelodeon
— and generated 2 billion im-
pressions on social media.
McManus is still surprised
CBS/Viacom via AP
Nate Burleson, Gabrielle Nevaeh Green and Noah Eagle were part of
Nickelodeon’s kid-focused broadcast of the wild-card game between
the Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints in New Orleans on Jan. 10.
over the reaction the broad-
cast received.
“It’s the gift that keeps on
giving to be honest with you,”
he said. “The reaction which
you saw, was nuts. I mean,
social media, legacy media,
television, parents, kids, you
know, the whole thing just
blew up.”
CBS’ Nate Burleson, the
analyst on the Nickelodeon
game, said the broadcast was
a success because it was able
to “speak a different language
while explaining the same
type of football that we all
love. It spoke to different gen-
erations, people who are all
kids at heart.”
Nickelodeon will air its own
pregame special throughout
the weekend, featuring net-
work stars Gabrielle Nevaeh
Green and Lex Lumpkin, who
were also a part of the playoff
broadcast.
During “The Super Bowl
Today” pregame show on CBS
on Sunday, Green and Lump-
kin will be part of a segment
based on Nickelodeon’s game
show “Unfiltered.” They will
try to guess the identity of one
of the players who is disguised
behind an animated filter and
voice changer.
At halftime, Burleson will
recap the first and second
quarters with highlights pre-
sented with on-field graphics
and filters first seen during the
playoff game last month.
Besides halftime, there will
be more “Nick-ified” high-
lights during the game on
Nickelodeon, CBS and NFL
social media accounts.
“Super Bowl Today” pro-
ducer Drew Kaliski said Nick-
elodeon was in the pregame
plans, but that more ideas
came out of working with
Green and Lumpkin during
Super Bowl
the playoff game.
“We were always talking
SpongeBob or characters of
shows on Nickelodeon that we
could involve, but it just kind
of hit us right in the face off
the success of that game,” Ka-
liski said. “It was just like, OK,
we have something but how
do we take it to the next level,
or kind of work with that ele-
ment in our pregame show?”
CBS and Nickelodeon con-
tinue to explore when to do
another NFL or sports telecast.
Hall of Fame coach and CBS
analyst Bill Cowher said the
best time to do it would be the
opening week of the season
as a way to help old and new
fans. Imagine not knowing
the game and having some-
one trying to explain why
if you only go 9 yards after
three downs you punt the ball,
but somebody else gets four
downs, Cowher said.
He also brought up the dif-
ferences in why the play clock
is 25 seconds sometimes com-
pared to 40 seconds.
“Think about the element of
what you’re trying to teach our
young people,” he said. “We
also have everybody coming
across to our country, they see
we really love and have this
energy, but what’s this game
of football? I would say, ‘Go to
a Nickelodeon telecast, they
speak to you in terms where
you might get a chance to un-
derstand it, then you can start
to watch our show.’ ”
Super Bowl LV
Continued from B1
Add in two 60-something
head coaches, Kansas City’s
Andy Reid and Tampa Bay’s
Bruce Arians, both offensive
masterminds as comfortable
with today’s high-scoring, cre-
ative NFL attacks as all those
kid coaches who are all the
rage.
“There’s nobody that would
ever say a bad thing about
B.A., he’s just so endearing
to everybody and I think ev-
eryone wants to win for him,”
Brady said of Arians, the kind
of praise the quarterback
rarely used about his previous
head coach.
“He’s got almost like a fa-
ther figure kind of role in the
building and it’s because ev-
eryone loves him so much,”
Chiefs unanimous All-Pro
tight end Travis Kelce said of
Reid. “He’s got an unbelievable
way of getting the best out of
everybody that is relating to
all different aspects and all dif-
ferent forms of life.”
Don’t forget the defenses,
which could easily be ig-
nored with all the dynamism
on both offenses. Tampa has
probably the best set of line-
backers in the NFL with Shaq
Barrett, Lavonte David and
Devin White, studs up front
in Vita Vea, Ndamukong Suh
and Jason Pierre-Paul, and an
ever-improving secondary.
KC has All-Pro safety
Tyrann Mathieu, linemen
Frank Clark and Chris Jones
— and a coordinator, Steve
Spagnuolo, who doesn’t back
off.
“I’ve played for a lot of
coaches in high school and
college,” Clark notes, “and I’m
not saying they were bad, but
I’m not saying their intentions
were to bring out the best in
NASCAR
Continued from B1
At least four drivers tested
positive for COVID-19 during
the 2020 season, with Jimmie
Johnson, Austin Dillon and
Truck Series driver Spencer
Davis missing races.
NASCAR again won’t test
competitors in 2021 but plans
on having rapid tests at the
tracks when needed. The bub-
ble has been widened this sea-
son to allow a team owner into
the garage for the first time
since last March and NASCAR
acknowledged it must be “nim-
ble” with its schedule.
The second race of the sea-
son scheduled in Fontana,
California, has already been
moved to the road course at
Daytona because of pandemic
restrictions.
NASCAR executive vice
Kansas City (16-2) vs. Tampa Bay (14-5)
When: 3:30 p.m. Sunday TV: CBS
Jeff Roberson/AP file
Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes celebrates after throwing a TD pass during
the AFC championship game on Jan. 24 in Kansas City, Missouri.
players. I can say that for sure
with coach Spags. His inten-
tions are not negative or any-
thing like that. His intentions
are solely to have the best de-
fense on that field.”
All of this at the end of a
season played during a pan-
demic, yet not delayed, with
no games canceled, and each
of the Super Bowl participants
experiencing relatively few
COVID-19 setbacks.
“I think with the pandemic
and the sacrifices they have all
made for each other, they go
to work and go home,” Arians
says. “They don’t get to sit and
eat together, don’t get to have
conversations, it is amazing
to me how close they are. It is
the commitment they made to
each other to beat the virus.”
The NFL and Florida health
officials have approved about
22,000 fans and all will be re-
quired to wear masks. Ray-
mond James Stadium normally
has a capacity of 75,000 fans.
Playing before real people
rather than just cardboard cut-
outs — oh, there will be plenty
of those, too, with proceeds
donated to local charities —
has been rare in the NFL all
season. But both the Chiefs
president Steve O’Donnell
touted the momentum from
a successful 2020 season but
acknowledged the pandemic
has challenged NASCAR going
into 2021.
“I think all of us hoped by
this time we’d have full grand-
stands and be ready to rock
and roll for the 500. That’s not
the case,” he said.
Daytona International
Speedway can hold more than
100,000 in the grandstands
and thousands more in the
infield, but the speedway will
be limited to roughly 30,000
spectators for the Feb. 14 sea-
son-opener.
Hamlin is seeking to be-
come the first driver to win
three consecutive Daytona
500s while also transitioning
into team ownership. He still
drives for Joe Gibbs Racing
but has partnered with Jordan
and Buccaneers were among
the few teams to have fans on
hand for some games.
Their paths to the champi-
onship game have been diver-
gent, though. The Bucs (14-5)
finished second in the NFC
South to the Saints, sending
them on the wild-card route.
That meant trips to Washing-
ton, New Orleans and Green
Bay. And now, staying home.
The Chiefs (16-2) had the
top seed and lone bye in the
AFC, then outlasted Cleve-
land with Mahomes sidelined
for nearly half the game before
routing Buffalo.
Of course, with the week
off between the conference
title matches and the Super
Bowl, each side should be
well rested. The only perceiv-
able edge might be the Chiefs
needing a plane ride to the
game site while the Bucs could
drive over to RJS.
Because of the coronavirus
pandemic, the NFL had teams
delay traveling into the host
city until Friday at the earli-
est as a safety and health pre-
caution measure. The Chiefs
instead chose to come on Sat-
urday, repeating their itiner-
ary from earlier in the season
when they beat the Bucs 27-24
on Nov. 29.
Assistant coach Britt Reid,
the son of head coach Andy
Reid, was not among those
traveling with the team after
he was involved in a multi-ve-
hicle crash late Thursday that
injured two young children
near the Chiefs’ training com-
plex adjacent to Arrowhead
Stadium.
The team had no further
comment Saturday after re-
leasing a statement Friday
night saying it was in the in-
formation-gathering process.
By Sunday, both teams will
be as eager as possible to get
back on the field and write the
final chapter to an unfathom-
ably atypical season.
“You don’t get these oppor-
tunities every year in the NFL
to be in the Super Bowl and to
be in these games,” Mahomes
said, though it sure seems as if
Brady has a Super Bowl habit,
and Mahomes is developing
one. “So you don’t want to
look back and have regrets on
how you played or how you
went about the week before
preparing to go out there to
play your best football.
“When the end of your ca-
reer is done, then you can
kind of look and see where
those moments were in your
career where you could’ve had
something or that you exe-
cuted and you did go out there
and achieve your dreams.”
“In the same way that music is a universal language, I also
see NASCAR as a universal language. Everybody loves a fast
car and a great story.”
— Pitbull, recording artist who’s invested in Trackhouse Racing team
to create 23XI Racing (pro-
nounced twenty-three eleven)
and field a car for Wallace, the
only Black full-time driver at
NASCAR’s top level.
Wallace had a tumultuous
2020 as he became NASCAR’s
face for racial justice and
change. He successfully pushed
NASCAR to ban the Confed-
erate flag at its events and with
it came a wave of backlash
from traditional fans. Wal-
lace weathered it as best as he
could — even when NASCAR
brought in the FBI to investi-
gate a garage door pull in his
stall at Talladega that had been
fashioned into a noose months
earlier — and it ultimately led
to a millions in new sponsor-
ship dollars that gave Wallace
the funding to help get 23XI
Racing off the ground.
He and Jordan become the
only Black team owner and
driver combination in the
sport and the pairing puts
Wallace in a glaring spotlight.
Winless in 112 Cup races driv-
ing for underfunded Richard
Petty Motorsports, Wallace
knows it is time to deliver.
Wallace is seeking a balance
in trying to be successful with
a high-profile team while also
using his platform to push
for diversity. If he can do it all
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
Mike Rougeux, the new executive director of the Bend Endurance
Academy, spots Kai Brennan during a rock climbing outing with a
group of students at Meadow Camp on Thursday.
Outdoors
Continued from B1
“Some of those indoor pro-
grams, like dance or gymnas-
tics, or basketball, have defi-
nitely been more impacted,”
Rougeux said. “But people are
still hungry to get their kids
that social interaction. So out-
door programs are more able
to operate and parents are
more comfortable with it.”
Rougeux, 42, said the big-
gest challenge has been navi-
gating the constant changes to
COVID-19 guidelines. Bend
Endurance Academy works
with the Deschutes National
Forest to operate its nordic ski-
ing programs at Virginia Meis-
sner Sno-park and also uses
the Bend Rock Gym for its
rock climbing programs.
“Once you figure out what
the guidance is, it hasn’t been
super hard to put things in
place,” Rougeux said. “It’s just
been trying to figure out, OK
where do we fit and how do we
adapt to it? We’ve been trying
to be as agile as possible as an
organization. You can’t really
plan ahead. You can only put
the pieces in place, wait to see
what happens, and then move
your piece.”
Bend Endurance Academy
canceled its programs last
March but was able to resume
in June with several adjust-
ments. Rock climbing moved
from the Bend Rock Gym out-
side to Smith Rock State Park
in Terrebonne.
The nonprofit has found its
niche with rock climbing and
mountain biking youth pro-
grams. It also offers nordic
skiing, but most Central Ore-
gon youth nordic skiers train
with the Mt. Bachelor Sports
Education Foundation, a long-
time youth outdoor sports
nonprofit that also offers al-
pine skiing, freeride skiing and
snowboarding.
Rougeux — who has coached
multiple youth climbers as
members of the U.S. National
Climbing Team and served as
a regional coordinator for USA
Climbing — has helped to grow
the climbing program at Bend
Endurance Academy over the
past few years.
with fewer headaches, he’d be
thrilled.
“I lost 7 pounds through
everything that happened last
year. So much stress and pres-
sure, Lord,” Wallace said. “I
have a goal every year to not be
a part of the headlines. Every
year I have that goal. And I’ve
failed every year.”
23XI with Jordan and Track-
house with Pitbull are two of
three new teams entering the
Cup Series this year in antic-
ipation of a new car in 2022
that will make NASCAR more
affordable for owners.
Kyle Larson returns after a
nearly full-season suspension
for using a racial slur and he
will drive for Hendrick Mo-
torsports, which in November
celebrated its 13th NASCAR
championship with Elliott’s
win. Larson and Elliott are two
of the most dynamic young
“Mike has created a culture
within our climbing team that
sets a precedent on community
over competition, determina-
tion over talent, and passion
over performance,” said Brady
Kendrick, assistant climbing
director for the nonprofit. “I
look forward to seeing him ap-
ply these principles to the en-
tirety of the Bend Endurance
Academy.”
Mountain biking has been
the most popular sport at the
nonprofit, according to Rou-
geux.
“Our mountain biking pro-
gram is way bigger than our
other two programs,” Rougeux
said.
“While the sport I coach
has predominantly been rock
climbing, I’m focused on trying
to bring what I did in terms of
coaching development, coach-
ing philosophy, and working
with youth on the climbing
side, and applying that to the
other two programs.”
He added that mountain
biking has grown quickly be-
cause of its accessibility and the
many miles of trails in Central
Oregon.
“It’s so familiar to a lot of
people who are moving here,”
said Rougeux, who has lived
in Bend for 15 years and was
raised in upstate New York. “A
lot of them ride bikes for fun
out on the trails, so they sign
their kids up.”
One of Rougeux’s goals as
executive director is to pro-
vide more scholarship and tu-
ition-assistance programs so
underprivileged youth can par-
ticipate in the Bend Endurance
Academy programs.
“There could be kids out
there who aren’t riding the
trails near town,” he said. “And
if they’re exposed to that and
provided the opportunity and
the access, maybe that is some-
thing that they just pour their
heart and soul into. But we
won’t know if we can’t reach
them and give them the oppor-
tunity to experience it.”
For more information on the
Bend Endurance Academy or
to register for programs, visit
bendenduranceacademy.org.
ý
Reporter: 541-383-0318,
mmorical@bendbulletin.com
drivers in the series and hope
to fill a void created by a rash
of retirements, most recent
seven-time champion Johnson.
New teams, new tracks,
young drivers and an abun-
dance of optimism has led
broadcast partner Fox to mar-
ket the 2021 NASCAR cam-
paign as “the best season ever.”
That remains to be seen start-
ing with the Daytona 500 and
ending with the Nov. 7 finale at
Phoenix.
“I can’t remember, at least
not as season that I’ve been a
driver in Cup, this amount of
changes ever happening before,
and I think it’s a nice little shot
in the arm,” NASCAR veteran
Brad Keselowski said. “As far as
best season ever, I don’t think
I’m the right person to judge,
but I don’t know how you
could argue that it’s not mostly
good stuff happening.”