Finally, it's time for some football

DETROIT— Oh, yeah, football.

All the tributes to Jerome Bettis are done. The war of words between Joey Porter and Jerramy Stevens is over. The Rolling Stones and Motown greats will sing in harmony, and the purveyors of doom — dangerous streets, a bleak setting, traffic jams — have been silenced by good vibes from the locals.

Not even a winter storm warning could temper the excitement for today's Super Bowl. Now, it's time for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks to decide the NFL championship under Ford Field's steel roof.

"This has been a lot of fun," said Bettis, the Detroit native who received a key to the city, helped his parents host a team dinner and was the focal point of every Steelers news conference. "The one thing we're not losing sight of is we came here to play the Super Bowl."

In a winter wonderland, perhaps. After relatively mild weather all week, forecasters called for up to 7 inches of snow — a possibility the city planned for when it bid to bring the game to the North.

"A lot of people in Detroit are waiting for it to snow so they can show us that they really are ready," auto racing magnate Roger Penske, who spearheaded the effort, recently said.

Pittsburgh was prepared for its sixth Super Bowl but the first in a decade. And Seattle's debut, even though its coach, Mike Holmgren, has been to four — two wins as an assistant with San Francisco, 1-1 as head coach in Green Bay. He's trying to become the first head coach to win with different franchises.

Holmgren understands as well as anybody that Super Bowl week is abnormal, filled with distractions galore. He also knows that finding some normality amid the hype is essential.

So he won't be in anyone's face early today.

"They have meetings, mainly to keep them a little bit busy on Sunday morning," Holmgren said. "Otherwise, the day gets to be a little bit long.

"But really, when you get to that point, it's done. It's been my experience that players I've been around, they're kind of tired of talking to me. And I'm a little bit tired of talking to them. So the plan is let them rest, let them get ready, let them think about it without me interrupting his thoughts."

They can ponder the fact the Steelers (14-5) are the first sixth seed to make the Super Bowl, yet are four-point favorites. They've won seven in a row, including road victories in the playoffs over division winners Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Denver.