Jim Plunkett

Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XV is a spokesman for PicksPal.com at Super Bowl XL. He was was the first pick overall in the 1971 NFL draft, but turned around his career in the early 1980s, leading the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders to two Super Bowl titles.

Q: You're at Super Bowl XL to represent PicksPal.com. You ever imagine these kinds of off-the-wall picks being offered?

Plunkett: For me, when I played in Super Bowls it was all about the game and not the hype that surrounds it. It's funny, there are things like who's going to smile first -- (Seattle Seahawks coach Mike) Holmgren or (Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill) Cowher? It's a lot of fun things to add to the site itself, to make it interesting for a lot of people. Some people don't care so much about football. But they like to get involved with picking these various propositions.

Q: Will you stay in Detroit for the game?

Plunkett: They bring in most of the MVPs from previous Super Bowls. It's something they do every 10 years. So we'll be on the field for the coin toss.

Q: What is it about Stanford quarterbacks doing things to fans in Cleveland? We know about John Elway and "The Drive", but your Raiders team beat Cleveland 14-12 in the 1980 playoffs.

Plunkett: You know what? They brought it upon themselves . . . that "Ice Bowl", it was extremely cold. (Don) Cockroft had already missed two extra points on that side of the field going into the lake. They were afraid he might not make the field goal. So they went for (the touchdown) and they paid the price.

Q: Do you think we'll ever see a Super Bowl played outside in a cold-weather city?

Plunkett: It's so much of a corporate event, as well. A lot of the companies come in, bring their customers, their clients and their own people. They set up these huge, huge parties. Some of these parties are outdoors, in tents or tailgating before the game. You can't do that in cold-weather climates. It's probably the main factor -- corporate's availability to good weather for golf tournaments and things like that.

Q: You were 33 years old when you played in the Super Bowl for the first time. Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger is about 10 years younger playing in his first. Will the pressure get to him by game-time?

Plunkett: I think Ben is a wild-card. But I think pressure might get to him, where he tries to make a big play when there's no big play to be made -- especially if he runs into trouble. If they're in control of the game, I see him being calm and cool. If they get behind or if there's a lot of pressure, I look for him to make one of these early mistakes in the game.

Q: Did you feel nervous in your first Super Bowl, or had you been around long enough that you were able to keep it in a perspective of it's just another game?

Plunkett: It was a very important game for me. You have to remember -- I struggled in New England, struggled in San Francisco, got to the Raiders and sat on the bench behind Kenny Stabler. So it was more than just any game. It was a game that could turn my career back on track, and that's what it did. But I was older, much more calmer about situations. There weren't many things that I hadn't seen that they could throw at me. So, from that respect I was very calm about what was going on around me.

Q: There's been some bantering going on between Pittsburgh's Joey Porter being ticked about a so-called "guarantee" from Seattle's Jerramy Stevens. What are supposed to say when asked if your team is going to win the Super Bowl?

Plunkett: You have to say what's on your mind and how you feel. Both these teams obviously feel very confident that they can win the football game. A lot of hype has been about (Jerome) Bettis, no question about it -- coming home to Detroit, it might be his last season . . . he's a good man and people like him. But that gets old, too. I know that when I came in, the same thing happened -- the long road I had, almost being out of football at one time . . . I got tired of hearing about myself. But you know what? You have no control over it.

Q: Did you have a teammate or two that you worried might incite the other team during Super Bowl week.

A: Believe me, I had no control over my teammates -- and we had a lot of outspoken people who would say what they wanted. The motivation of being in the Super Bowl should be enough. All the trash-talking means nothing.

Q: The talk in Denver and at the Super Bowl has been about Terrell Owens. How would "T.O." have been handled by your Raiders team.

A: They would have put a handle on him. Guys like Art Shell, Gene Upshaw, Ted Hendricks . . . these are people to contend with. They would straighten him out. That's just the way it was back then. But right now, nobody can really control this guy. He wears out his welcome quickly -- both at San Francisco and obviously in Philly. But, you know, our guys -- and I might be exaggerating and I might not -- but they would have smacked him. That's just the way they did things back then. They would have tried to straighten him out and said, hey, we're here to win football games, we're here as a team. Either take it or leave it, but don't disrupt this franchise.