Steelers coach Mike Tomlin meets the press

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin met with the media one last time Monday morning before leaving Tampa. Read the full transcript here:

Tampa mayor wants another Super Bowl

Even before kick-off on Sunday, Mayor Pam Iorio was thinking about the possibility of another Super Bowl in Tampa.

Iorio said she wanted the city to bid on another Super Bowl "before I leave office." Her term ends in 2011. "It's been a fantastic week. Just fantastic," she said as she walked into the stadium with her husband, Mark Woodard.

The next Super Bowl that's available is in 2013. The game will go to Miami in 2010, Dallas in 2011 and Indianapolis in 2012.

"We'd like to do this again," said Paul Catoe, executive director of Tampa Bay and Company, the local convention and visitors bureau. "As soon as the NFL invites us to bid we'll bid if the Bucs and the Glazers want us to."

Janet Zink, Times Staff Writer

Super Bowl TV ratings down from last year

Preliminary Nielsen Media Research ratings show the Super Bowl's audience was likely down from last year's peak, but about on par with the 2007 and 2006 games, according to an Associated Press story.

The Pittsburgh-Arizona game on NBC recorded a 42.1 rating and 65 share in Nielsen's overnight measurement of the nation's top cities. The same measurement for last year's New York Giants-New England Patriots game, which was the most-watched Super Bowl ever, was 44.7.

Read the full story here.

Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes meets the press

Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes met with the media one final time before leaving Tampa Monday morning. Here is the complete transcript:

Arizona Cardinals strike too quickly in Super Bowl

''The only problem with the quick-strike abilities of Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald was that they left too much time for Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who engineered a 78-yard touchdown drive. Roethlisberger tossed the winner to Santonio Holmes, who tightroped the end zone corner with 35 seconds remaining in the Steelers' 27-23 win.''

Read Rick Stroud's story here.

James Harrison's return 'biggest' play of the game

''Lost in all the late drama and an improbable finish, Steelers linebacker James Harrison had one of the best plays in Super Bowl history.

In Pittsburgh's 27-23 victory Sunday Harrison's 100-yard interception return for a touchdown at the end of the first half was "the difference in the game," Cardinals offensive coordinator Todd Haley said.

"I think it was the biggest play of the game," Steelers cornerback Bryant McFadden said. "It took the momentum from them."

Read the full story here.

NFL has never seen anything like this Super Bowl

''In a hundred years, they will talk of this game. In a hundred years, they will talk about the plays, about the comebacks, about the amazing finish that came after the other amazing finish. In a hundred years, they will talk about the finest Super Bowl of them all.

Forty-three years, and a championship has never been this exciting, this breathless, this much fun. Forty-three games, and none of them has measured up to this: Pittsburgh 27, Arizona 23.

And tell me: Is your heart beating normally yet?

This was terrific stuff. This was amazing entertainment. This was everything you ever wanted in a Super Bowl. It was Ben Roethlisberger's arm and Santonio Holmes' toes tucked inside the sideline and James Harrison's wild ramble down the sideline. This was Kurt Warner's toughness and Larry Fitzgerald's speed and Anquan Boldin's hands. It was a team that refused to lose against a team that would not go away.

This was Super Bowl XLIII, and the NFL has never seen anything like it.''

Read Gary Shelton's entire column here.

Santonio Holmes is latest Steelers' Super bowl hero

''The list of the Steelers' past Super Bowl heroes is as long as it is impressive.

Names such as Franco Harris, Terry Bradshaw and Lynn Swann, each enshrined in Canton, immediately come to mind.

And then you have the man who can be credited with saving Super Bowl XLIII for Pittsburgh: Santonio Holmes.

The third-year Steeler didn't even rank as the most feared receiver in the game. But it was Holmes — not Hines Ward, not Larry Fitzgerald, not Anquan Boldin — who made the winning reception in a breathtaking 27-23 Pittsburgh victory Sunday over Arizona, a catch that will go down as one of the most remarkable in Super Bowl history.''

Read the rest of Stephen F. Holder's story here.

Ben Roethlisberger among Super Bowl's best

''Given a handful of moments, he changed history.

Entrusted with the dreams of a franchise, he passed for glory.

In one unforgettable evening, Ben Roethlisberger made you reconsider all that you once thought about a quarterback whose bottom line has always been better than his line of statistics.

Remember this moment. Savor this performance. For it was as good as any you will see by a quarterback with a championship in the balance. It took 122 seconds, it covered 78 yards, and it will last an eternity.''

Read John Romano's entire column here.

Woman runs into horse, dozen arrested for counterfeit Super Bowl tickets

TAMPA - Police nabbed more than a dozen people Sunday for a variety of crimes, including selling counterfeit Super Bowl tickets and a woman who allegedly drunkenly drove into a police horse.

Tampa International Airport running smoothly despite Super Bowl exodous

TAMPA -- The citywide exodus of Super Bowl visitors began early this morning at Tampa International Airport, with officials expecting the busiest day in more than a year.

Despite the traffic, there were no big delays at ticket counters or security-screening checkpoints. Airlines began checking in passengers as early as 3 a.m., and the Transportation Security Administration brought in extra officers from Orlando to open all 27 of the airport's screening lanes.

Airport officials estimate about 32,000 passengers will fly out of Tampa through Monday, likely the most since the Sunday after Thanksgiving in 2007, said airport executive director Louis Miller.

Warner: I'm not sure I'm coming back

After his record-setting postseason, Cardinals QB Kurt Warner told reporters he wasn't ready to decide whether he was going to play next season.

"I don’t know if I’m going to play next year," Warner said. "I’m going to enjoy what we just accomplished as a football team. I want to take some time away from the game and then I’ll make a decision. There are just so many emotions that go into making that decision. There are things that make you want to come back. There are things that make you say, ‘Man I wish I had a break.’ I really don’t know. I don’t want to make an emotional decision."

Warner, who threw for 377 yards and three touchdowns tonight, now owns the top three passing yardage games in Super Bowl history. No other quarterback has thrown for 300 yards in three Super Bowl appearances, let alone three consecutive appearances.

Super Bowl traffic tied up around stadium

TAMPA -- It's more than an hour since the game ended, and traffic is thick.

Transportation officials are trying to move 72,000 people out of the area.

Martin Luther King Boulevard eastbound is at a complete standstill, officials say. Buses off MLK are lined up and stalled as they attempt to wade into the traffic.

511.tampabay.com reports jams on all streets around Raymond James Stadium as well as westbound on Hillsborough Avenue between N Dale Mabry Highway and Sawyer Road and eastbound on Hillsborough Avenue between the Veterans Expressway and Interstate-275.

Gameday Transportation Group VP Mike Witte is on and off his phone issuing orders to try to reroute buses into into less conjested areas. One area of concern is in Lot 11, where team family members waiting to depart on buses.

Also, Florida Highway Patrol is responding to a wreck on N Dale Mabry Hwy. at Ehrlich Road. There is also a crash at Hillsborough Avenue and Golden Dr., just west of Dale Mabry, involving a road block in the left turn lane.

Rebecca Catalanello, Times staff writer

John Elway: 'Great football game.'

John Elway -- a man who knows a thing or two about wild fourth quarters -- wouldn't go so far as to say this was the best game he's ever seen in person. But he did say the Steelers' heartstopping win over the Cardinals was "good for the NFL."

"It was a great game. Great football game, and obviously some very big plays. Every big football game, five plays make the difference, and those five plays dictated the outcome tonight."

Jesse Jackson: 'This was a super game'

The Rev. Jesse Jackson sat in the stands for Super Bowl XLIII. Here's what he had to say in the concourse after the game:

"Most Super Bowls are not super games. This was a super game. This matched the hype. A lot of the great games you saw when X-team beat Y-team, it was the Super Bowl, but the game was not super. This was a super game. And in many ways, the players are all winners. One team ended up with more points, but these were champions. And no one was injured. No injuries, nothing ugly. This was a beautiful weekend in Tampa. And it's a beautiful season. You had the King holiday, the inauguration, the Super Bowl. This is one of America's great, shining moments."

Was this the greatest Super Bowl ever?

What a game, huh? Three touchdowns and a safety in the final 7  minutes 41 seconds. But was this the best Super Bowl ever? Vote for the best game, or comment below about your fave.

XXIII: 49ers 20, Bengals 16
XXV: Giants 20, Bills 19
XXXVIII: Patriots 32, Panthers 29
XLII: Giants 17, Patriots 14
XLIII: Steelers 27, Cardinals 23

Chips, Chili's, sex and ecstasy outside RayJay

TAMPA -- Those who couldn't get tickets to the Super Bowl slammed Moe's Southwest Grill, Bennigan's and Chili's, along Dale Mabry Highway. Inside Moe's, the crowd cheered loudly for both teams and lauded Bruce Springsteen's halftime performance.

One man, who carried a harmonica, even played along inside the restaurant to "Born to Run."

But Moe's closing at 9 p.m. forcing the spectators to find another TV. At nearby Chili's, an employee barred the door and turned away any more patrons because the restaurant was standing-room only already. An FWC officer stood by in support.

About 30 fans, a number that grew during the seesaw game, stood outside the restaurant and peered in at televisions showing one of the greatest Super Bowls ever played.

About midway through the fourth quarter, the employee at the front door told the FWC officer that a couple was having sex in one of the bathrooms. The officer ran in. Twenty minutes later, he exited with a Steelers fan wearing a No. 86 Hines Ward jersey and a woman. The officer sternly told the man he should take him to jail.

Super Bowl Sunday's photos

Santonio Holmes hugs Ben Roethlisberger after Holmes' fourth quarter, touchdown, which turned out to be the game clincher. [JAMES BORCHUCK   |   Times]

Word goes out: 'Final score: 27 to 23. Steelers.'

TAMPA -- Super Bowl transportation dispatcher John Gundersen flipped on the mic and called all 16 radio channels.

"Final score," he announced, "Twenty-seven to 23. Steelers."

Next channel.

"Final score," he said, "Twenty-seven to 23. Steelers."

Next channel...

Gundersen has done this for 15 Super Bowls now. He's as good at calling the game as he is communicating with lot managers, golf cart drivers and bus escorts to move masses of people at one time, his boss says.

Rebecca Catalanello, Times staff writer

 

Quiet, then chaos for Steelers fans

After some quiet moments, the pro-Steelers crowd just erupted as Pittsburgh receiver Santonio Holmes' go-ahead touchdown was upheld after review.

The NBC TV replays showed that Holmes got both feet down in time, but those replays weren't shown on the replay boards, leading to some anxious seconds for the Steelers faithful.

But now the towels are waving.

-- Eduardo A. Encina, Times staff writer