The Super Bowl is this Sunday if you did not already know. Super Bowl Sunday is more than the big game which this year features the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The day is one of which enjoying eating, the halftime show. and the wonderful commercials. This year things are going to be a little different due to the pandemic, and we may not be able to get together like we usually do but we can still have fun.
Normally, the Monday of Super Bowl week features Super Bowl Opening Night with hundreds of media members and fans. These events like so many others have been forced to go online due to COVID-19.
As a member of the media, this meant that I would not be able to get any face-to-face time with the players, but that everything would be done over Zoom. This would ensure that the players are able to stay healthy before the most important game in their lives.
Media was sent a schedule and you would have to access a room with that coach/player in order to ask your questions. If it was usually for us to ask questions this way, the players were just as amused by their surroundings. Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes was stationed in the back of the team’s public relations department, sitting in front of a screen and staring into the camera. Mahomes stated that “that they must have shipped this camera in, I’ve never seen it before”.
Many questions to Mahomes centered around his return to the Super Bowl and him going up against Tom Brady, they were still time for some fun questions. Mahomes was asked what both his and tight end Travis Kelce’s spirit animals would be.
“I would like to be a wolf,” Mahomes answered. “As a wolf, I can run around with my pack, and be a leader and someone that continues to attack and continues to lead as much as possible.”
His explanation for Kelce’s was a bit different. “I bet he’d be a giraffe,” Mahomes thought. “He’s just out there, grazing around the field, trying to make something happen, find different things he can run around and do things with, and he’s always a good time.”
The difference in having Zoom interviews as opposed to traditional interviewing was a frequent topic for both teams.