Super Bowl Breakfast honors Warrick Dunn and Tony Dungy

TAMPA -- Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Warrick Dunn received the Atheletes In Action/Bart Starr Award at the Super Bowl Breakfast today.

The award honors exemplary players who make a difference off the field through community service.
Dunn was lauded for his Warrick Dunn Foundation Homes For The Holidays program, which offers down payments an furnishing to single parents and their children. So far it has provided 84 homes, the latest being awarded Tuesday in Tampa.

About 7,000 attended the breakfast at the University of South Florida Sun Dome, dining on eggs, bacon, strawberries, orange juice and coffee.

The ceremony also honored former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Tony Dungy.

Former players and friends spoke about his humbleness, faith in God and community commitment, and said they were exicted to see what he would do next, now that he has retired.

-- Jessica Vander Velde, Times Staff Writer

Chris Hovan won't go to Super Bowl unless he's playing

Bucs defensive tackle Chris Hovan took his wife and son to the NFL Experience. He made the rounds at Radio Row. Presumably, all that's missing from his Super Bowl week experience is the game itself.

But while his wife and brother-in-law have tickets to the game, Hovan will be on baby duty.

He has a strict rule when it comes to the Super Bowl.

"I'm not going unless I play,'' Hovan said.

Did Steelers' Mike Tomlin get away from Bucs?

Don Banks of SI.com is convinced the Glazers would have liked to have had Mike Tomlin around when they fired head coch Jon Gruden a few weeks ago.

Tomlin was stuck behind defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin and Gruden when he served as the Bucs' secondary coach from 2001-05.

Now, as the Bucs prepare to rebuild under first-time head coach Raheem Morris -- who was promoted to defensive coordinator in December -- Tomlin returns to Tampa Bay as head coach of the AFC Champion Pittsburgh Steelers in search of a Super Bowl victory.

Read the full column here.

More cool Super Bowl links worth checking out today:

+ Sure, the Arizona Cardinals are this season's surprise story in the NFL. But where does it rank among the most unlikely Super Bowl runs? Yahoo! Sports' Charles Robinson tells you.

+ Terry Bradshaw-Thomas ''Hollywood'' Henderson. Spygate. Ray Lewis. Stanley Wilson. They're all here, in Fox Sports' look back at the Super Bowl's biggest scandals/controversies.

+ Steelers linebacker James Farrior shares his thoughts in a daily diary with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

+ The year after the Steelers won Super Bowl XL, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had a motorcycle accident, appendectomy and concussion. Then-Steelers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt noticed that Roethlisberger didn't seem as confident in the pocket. A month after Whisenhunt was hired as the Arizona Cardinals' head coach, he said so publicly. And, so, a feud was born, the Arizona Republic's Dan Bickley writes.

+ Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Ron Cook acknowledges he has been called an idiot many times. Particularly when he suggested in 2003 that then-University of Pittsburgh and current Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald didn't deserve the Heisman Trophy that went to Oklahoma quarterback Jason White. Cook hasn't changed his mind.

(Pictured: Mike Tomlin. Times photo -- Brendan Fitterer. Click to enlarge.)

Former Bucs back Garner knew Tomlin had 'it'

Former Bucs running back Charlie Garner spent some of his best years with the Eagles, so he was hoping Philadelphia made the Super Bowl. But without the Eagles in the big game, he can easily root for another team -- the Steelers.

“I thought it was gonna be a (Pennsylvania) Super Bowl,” said Garner, who was participating in the Supper Bowl II charity benefit Saturday at Splitsville in Tampa. “It would have been tough for me, but I think I would have had to go with Mike Tomlin anyway.”

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was the Bucs defensive backs coach when Garner finished out his career in 2004 with the Bucs. 

“He just had ‘it,’” said Garner, who played in Super Bowl XXXVII with the Raiders. “When he would get up to do speeches with the Bucs, I would tell myself, ‘That’s a head coach right there.' It just goes to show how he prepared himself to get fundamentally ready for that opportunity.”

-- Eduardo A. Encina, Times Staff Writer

Time out with Tim Brown

TAMPA – Former Raiders and Bucs wide receiver Tim Brown made his mark on the NFL as one of the best to ever play his position, retiring in 2005 with among the all-time leaders in receiving yards (14,934, second), touchdown catches (100, third) and receptions (1,094, third). While attending Saturday’s Supper Bowl II at Splitsville in Tampa, a bowling benefit for Clearwater-based Somebody Cares, Brown (No. 81 at right with Jerry Rice preparing for Super Bowl XXXVII) took time out to talk with Times sports writer Eduardo A. Encina, giving his take on his Super Bowl experience, the big game, Raiders owner Al Davis and fellow Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow.

Q. How would you describe the Super Bowl experience to a guy who has never been through it?
A. It’s the ultimate. It’s the pinnacle. Whatever you do, you always want to get to the top of that profession and for us that’s the Super Bowl. It was a major thing for me. I wish we would have won it, but just to experience standing on that field and looking around and seeing Super Bowl XXXVII plastered everywhere you could glance, it hit you. After being in the league 15 years, I was very happy to have that opportunity.

Q. It took a while, but some guys never make it? Were you wondering there for a while?
A. Definitely. You get to a moment in your career when you’re like ‘Lord, please let me just see it. If I’m asking too much to win it, let me just go there.’ You do all you can to win it, but the experience of being there is what it’s all about.

Q. When you went to the Super Bowl with the Raiders, you guys were one of the favorites, but these days it’s really anyone’s game once you get into the playoffs. Just look at the Cardinals and all the home teams losing. Is it different now?
A. Yeah. Parity is a thing the NFL’s been trying to get to for years. I think this year you finally see it in full force. If you make the playoffs, it doesn’t matter whether you’re the six seed or the one seed. That’s the way it should be. You see Arizona go to Carolina on a cold night and win when everyone was saying they couldn’t win a game on the East Coast in the cold.

Q. Do you have a prediction for this year’s game?
A. You know what, this might be the toughest one. Everyone likes Pittsburgh and I’d like to see Mike Tomlin win. He was with Tampa Bay when I was there my last year. But man, this Arizona team, you can’t count them out. I really think their defense will be able to shut down Pittsburgh’s offense. They’ve got good enough players that if they make a play or two they can beat. If I had to go on the record, I’d have to say Arizona’s going to win this game.

Q. You played for Al Davis for most of your career. What’s something about him that people don’t know behind the glasses?
A. He’s one of the nicest guys you’d probably ever meet. All of the good stuff he does, he doesn’t talk about all. Everyone always publicizes the bad stuff he does. But he does so much charity stuff. I heard he gives almost $1 million a year back to former players. No one really talks about that. I tell people basically that his bark is bigger than his bite, but he barks so loud that people don’t want to get close to him.

Q. You won the Heisman Trophy in 1987 at Notre Dame. Do you think they’ll ever be another multiple winner?
A. I don’t think there should be. That’s just my personal belief. There are so many dominant players that I don’t think anyone deserves to win two Heisman Trophies back-to-back. I wouldn’t vote for (Florida quarterback Tim) Tebow again. I don’t think I voted for him the first time. I like players who are doing more with the ball than just throwing it.

Q. So did you vote for this year’s winner – Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford?
A. Yeah I did.

Q. How’s your bowling game?
A. It used to be great. I used to average about 200, 210, but nowadays if I get 150 I might be happy.

-- Eduardo A. Encina, Times staff writer

Dunn a finalist for Bart Starr Award

The Bucs’ Warrick Dunn is among the three finalists for the 2009 Bart Starr Award for athletes of exemplary character, to be awarded Jan. 31 at the 22nd annual Super Bowl Breakfast at 8 a.m. Jan. 31 at the USF Sun Dome.

Dunn is nominated for his work with the Warrick Dunn Foundation, which provides homes and relief for underprivileged families. The other nominees are Cardinals QB Kurt Warner and Saints QB Drew Brees.

Derrick Brooks, John Lynch, LaDainian Tomlinson, Reggie White, Mike Singletary and Cris Carter are among the previous Bart Starr Award winners. Brooks, Lee Roy Selmon, Tony Dungy, Anthony Munoz and Starr himself are among the players scheduled to attend.

Plenty of tickets to the event are still on sale for $20, which includes a box meal. That’s a huge break for fans — in years past, tickets to the event cost $150 apiece. To purchase, click here. For more information, head to superbowlbreakfast.com.

(Times photo: Mike Pease)

Brooks & Dunn Golf Classic cancelled

Add another big Super Bowl party to the list of events cancelled due to the economy.

The Brooks & Dunn Inaugural Golf Classic, a celebrity party and golf tournament hosted by Bucs Warrick Dunn and Derrick Brooks and scheduled for Jan. 29-30 in Tampa, has been cancelled, officials with both players' charities said Monday.

Natalie Boe, executive director for the Warrick Dunn Foundation, said -- and stop us if you've heard this one before -- the dismal economy was a definite factor.

"We had been fortunate in securing just over $100,000 in sponsorships; however, we were still short of our goal of $200,000," Boe said. "Their concern was that with only six weeks to go before the event -- and two of those weeks being holiday weeks, with a lot of people not having their budgets reevaluated for January -- we were afraid we wouldn't get that commitment for the event."

Boe added that it had been difficult to line up celebrities to jump on board, which made it tough to justify the $10,000-per-foursome price tag for sponsors. She said sponsors and people who had signed up to play in the Brooks & Dunn tournament have already been notified about refunds.

Still, both Buccaneers will be visible around town at other fundraisers during Super Bowl week.

Dunn -- who famously builds homes for the underprivileged through his Warrick Dunn Foundation -- will be part of SuperBuild, an NFL-endorsed event designed to erect six Habitat for Humanity homes in the days leading up to the game. Get details on how to donate at habitatsuperbuild.com.

And Brooks will be part of the Ebony Fashion Fair, a fashion show at the Tampa Theatre that will benefit his Derrick Brooks Charities Youth Auxiliary Rites of Passage Program. Tickets to that event are $35; get more details at derrickbrookscharities.org. Brooks is also slated to attend the Athletes in Action Super Bowl Breakfast on Super Bowl Sunday at the USF Sun Dome. Tickets to that event are just $20 at superbowlbreakfast.com.

And both players are still moving ahead with their respective annual golf tournaments -- Dunn's will take place in April, and Brooks will hold his June 7-8 at Old Memorial Golf Course.