The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 53

THE VANCOUVER SUN, SATURDAY. JANUARY 20. 2007 E3 IN BRIEF MIAMI NICE: COURIC OFF TO SUPER BOWL Katie Couriers going to the Super Bowl. The CBS Evening News anchor will file a feature for CBS's four-hour pre-game show on Feb. 4 and anchor the evening news from the host city, Miami.

"It makes sense for us to showcase what she does before the biggest audience of the year," said CBS Sports president Sean McManus. CBS will also send Randy Cross to Iraq to watch the game with U.S. troops. Associated Press OOPS, HAVE I SCREWED UP AGAIN? If you're Britney Spears, you know your career is in the toilet1 when your ex, the talent-challenged Kevin Federline, will 1 appear in a Super Bowl advertisement while you are rejected. According to an NFL official quoted by the New York Daily I News, Spears is just "too much of a train wreck." Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times agrees: "More to the point, a train that isn't shy about flashing her caboose." CanWest News Service 'I'll SPORTS Beating victim to get visit with Grey Cup 7 1 Saints hope to rewrite history New Orleans seeks first Super Bowl appearance BY MARY FOSTER mO vW T.

I 3 fsJ LJ an. GREG DOUGLAS VANCOUVER SUN -V JM DR. SPORT 1 CHRIS GARDNER ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Peyton Manning and his Indianapolis Colts have to overcome the 'Patriots Mystique' on Sunday, says coach Tony Dungy. All eyes on Manning afc finals i Colts QB under the gun to take his team to the big game NFL playoffs: Week 3 CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS Sunday NFC New Orleans at Chicago, Noon (FOX) AFC New England at Indianapolis, 3:30 p.m. (CBS) But the Colts' defence, which allowed 173 yards rushing per game in the regular season, by far the worst in the NFL, has allowed just one touchdown and a total of 127 yards rushing in the two games combined.

The return to health of strong safety Bob Sanders and the development of defensive tackle Anthony McFarland, acquired in October, are cited as reasons. The Patriots also have won with defence, although, as usual, they have an unexpected star wide receiver Jabar Gaffney, who has 18 receptions in the playoffs after having 11 in the regular season after being picked up off the street in October. Gaffney had 10 catches against San Diego last week, but Brady also threw three interceptions in the 27-24 win over the Chargers. Still, one of them was fumbled back on the same play by the Chargers and led to the Patriots' tying fourth-quarter touchdown. Talk about "Patriots Mystique." Still, that's in the past, as are the two playoff games won by New England over Indianapolis a 24-14 victory in the 2004 AFC title game and 20-3 two years ago in a second-round game.

Both those games were in Foxborough, as were wins by the Colts over the Patriots the last two seasons: 40-21 in 2005 and 27-20 this season, the latter giving Indy the tiebreaker for home field for this game. In fact, these teams have met seven times in the past four seasons and were division rivals who met twice a year before the league was realigned for the 2002 seasoa Associated Press BY DAVE GOLDBERG A- INDIANAPOLIS Tony Dungy calls it "the Patriots Mystique" and acknowledges it's something he and the Indianapolis Colts have to overcome to get to their first Super BowL --That has to be something Bill Belichick loves. One reason New England has won three NFL titles in the past five seasons is because it gets into the heads of opponents none moreso than Peyton Manning and the Colts. Thus the theme for Sunday's AFC championship game at the RCA Dome the Patriots, a bit undermanned compared to previous years, against the talented but frustrated Colts, who twice have been knocked out of the playoffs by Belicbick's team en route to the Super Bowl. "You have to play them and not their mystique, and that's hard to do," says Dungy, the Colts coach who has reached this point twice before without making it to the NFL's marquee game despite a regular-season record of 114-62, a winning percentage of .648.

Most of the pressure seems to be on Manning, who holds myriad passing records, including 49 touchdown passes in the 2004 season, but never has gotten to the Super Bowl and is 5-6 in playoff games. That's in stark contrast to Tom Brady of the Patriots, who has less gaudy passing stats but is 12-1 in the post-season. He owns three Super Bowl rings and two Super Bowl MVP awards for twice driving New England to the winning score on the final drive. Each time, the winning A LONG, STRANGE TRIP I NEW ORLEANS The franchise was awarded on All Saints Day 1966. It seemed like a good omen, especially the next year when New Orleans played its first NFL game.

In front of 85,000 people at old Tulane stadium, John Gilliam returned the opening kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown. "We thought we were on the way," former star Danny Abramowicz said. The Saints were, too. They were embarking on a kooky, four-decade journey that included Archie Manning, Mike Ditka and Al Hirt and also featured ostrich races, a re-enactment of the Battle of New Orleans in which a fan was injured when a cannon misfired, and a halftime-fireworks-show-gone-bad that ended up setting fire to houses in the neighbourhood. Put it this way: The Saints and Green Bay Packers are the only two NFL teams to have their own Hall of Fame museum.

The Packers' shrine is filled with trophies and symbols of greatness. The Saints? They have a paper bag in theirs. That memento came from the 1980 seasoa After a winless start, a TV sportscaster took to the air wearing a shopping bag to cover his face, saying he was embarrassed to report the latest loss. Fans followed his lead, and the Aints were born. But the crowds eventually came back, and the fervour is at an all-time high this weekend with the Saints on the brink of going to their first Super BowL "We were never very good, but it was a love affair whether we won or lost," said Tom Dempsey, who made history with a 63-yard field goal in 1970 (his shoe and the ball also are in the Saints' hall).

"We sold out the pre-sea-soa Some games there would be people sitting in the aisles it was so crowded." So it's little wonder that Sunday's NFC title game against the Chicago Bears holds a special meaning for long-suffering fans. "If the Saints beat Chicago it'll be better than Mardi Gras," Carl Leblanc said. "We get Mardi Gras every year. This has never happened before." Indeed, the early history was so bad the Saints have dropped it from their media guides. Since 2003, time begins in 1985, when car dealer Tom Benson bought the team.

The Saints have been strange from the start, beginning with the choice of a name. "Some people worried it might be considered sacrilegious," said Dave Dixon, the sports promoter who convinced the city to go after an NFL team instead of a Major League Baseball franchise. "But I asked the archbishop and he just laughed. He said the name was fine, and besides, he said he had a terrible feeling the team would need all the help it could get" Archbishop Philip Hannan's prediction was correct. The Saints lost their first seven games and were destined to log years of frustration, heartbreak and hilarity.

It took them 20 years to post a winning season and that only came after Pope John Paul II visited the Louisiana Superdome. This year, under NFL coach of the year Sean Payton, it's been different Despite the burden of the city's recovery from hurricane Katrina, the Superdome has been sold out for each home game, beginning with the emotional homecoming win in September against Atlanta. "We have a very competent football coach, a lot of talent," said Dixon, regarded as one of the Saints' founders. "We're finally having the season we always dreamed of." Associated Press SCENE HEARD: There wasn't a friendlier face on the PNE grounds than that of Tony Andreola, the parking lot attendant at Gate 6, just past the Pacific Coliseum on Renfrew Street. Nor was there a more loyal B.C.

Lions fan: He constantly chatted football with his drive-through customers. The father of two teenage daughters, he and his wife Toni were looking forward to their 20th wedding anniversary on Valentine's Day. Then their lives changed on Grey Cup weekend. On his way home from his second job stocking shelves at Costco, Andreola, 48, stopped at the Van City Credit Union ATM at Rosser Avenue and Lougheed Highway in Burna-by. It was there that he was viciously attacked by two young thugs and presumably left for dead as he lay motionless outside the credit union vestibule, obscured from the street by a concrete riser.

A passer-by spotted him at 6:15 a.m. and called 911. Police have two suspects, who were captured on a surveillance video at a nearby gas station, but no arrests have been made. Andreola, suffering severe brain damage, is at G.F. Strong rehabilitation hospital.

Today, through the efforts of the Lions' Scott Ackles and the PNE's Paul Bussanich, Andreola will be getting a surprise visit from his favourite B.C. Lion, Javier Glatt. To add to the moment, Glatt will take the Grey Cup with him. The championship trophy must be returned to CFL headquarters in Toronto Monday. "These have been terribly difficult times," Toni Andreola said on Friday.

"I know the Lions' visit will bring back a smile to Tony's face. We haven't been able to share many happy moments." HERE 'N' THERE: With tuxe-doed Mark Connelly belting out the national anthem, John Ash-bridge working the public address system, and Bernie Pas-call hosting the centre-ice ceremonies, a sold-out South Surrey Arena felt something like the site of an NHL game on Wednesday. Surrey Eagles owners Ralph Berezan and Ron Paterson were quick to acknowledge their support staff, who helped pull off both the BCHL all-star game and banquet in such big-league style. Team 1040's Barry Macdonald was on top of his game at the all-star dinner on Tuesday, as moderator of a guest panel that included former Canucks Ryan Walter, Geoff CourtnalL Stan Smyl and Kirk McLean. Besides Smyl, two other former Canuck captains were in the house: Orland Kurtenbach and Chris Oddlief-son.

They all had the same message for the BCHL kids: "Continue to work hard at getting an education through hockey scholarships, and enjoy the best of both The final score, by the way, was 9-7 for the Interior side. SHORT HOPS: Craig Nielsen has been given the familiar "We're going in another direction" line by CTV management A graduate of BCIT's broadcast journalism course, Nielsen worked at Newsll30 and Team 1040 before moving into television five years ago with Channel 9. Blake Price will be getting more air time at CTV while he juggles assignments with Team 1040 as post-game host on Canucks broadcasts. Price will have some late-night company on 1040, with the return of Bob Marjanovich, END ZONE: Lions vice-president George Chayka says 1,600 new season tickets have been sold since November. Sponsorship revenue has doubled since last year, he says, and all 35 executive suites are sold for the 2007 seasoa Greg Douglas can be heard mornings at 7:45 on NewslDO Monday through Friday.

He can be reached at drsporttehu.net field goal was kicked by Adam Vinatieri, now a Colt. The party line on Manning was best expressed this week by Colts centre Jeff Saturday largely because the Colts quarterback was kept away from the media by the team for most of the week "Peyton is a great quarterback in regular season and post-season," Saturday said. "When he plays well, he gets a great amount of credit. When he doesn't play well he gets slaughtered. That shouldn't be.

It's our team that wins or loses." Neither Manning nor Brady has played especially well this post-season, in which their teams entered the playoffs as the third- and fourth-seeded teams in the AFC with regular-season records of 12-4. Manning has thrown five interceptions and has just one touchdown pass in wins over Kansas City and Baltimore and his passer rating is 58.9, a figure that gets quarterbacks benched under normal Winner to lack Bowl experience 4 Once you get down to it, gametime we're going to kick it off and now it's just another football game. LOVIE SMITH Chicago Bears coach on Sunday's NFC championship. BY BARRY WILNER NFC FINALS I CHICAGO Two decades and forever That's the time span between trips to the Super Bowl for the Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints. While various players from each side have been to the NFL's biggest game with other teams, these are two organizations mired in, well Super droughts.

The last time the Bears played for the league title, it was in January 1986, and the stars were named Payton, Singletary, Hampton and McMahoa The defence was overwhelming and Da Coach, Mike Ditka, was overbearing. That 21-year hiatus is distressing in Chicago, but it's also 19 years shorter than the span New Orleans has gone without a Super Bowl trip. Those four decades make up merely all of the Saints' existence. Because Sunday's NFC championship game involves franchises that haven't enjoyed much success in the Super Bowl era, the celebrations might be just a bit more exuberant "Growing up watching the NFL, being such a fan of the sport and the league," said Rex Grossman, quarterback of the 13-3 Bears. "It means a great deal to be in this position.

I really respect where we are at right now as far as the history of the league. I'm approaching it with a ton of intensity and focus, but not trying to make it bigger than it is. It's still just a football game we are playing at Soldier Field against the Saints." Sure it is. But it's also the biggest game of the careers of every Bears player except five with previous Super Bowl game experience: wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad; defensive backs Ricky Manning and Dante Wesley, tackle Fred Miller, and punter Brad Maynard. Backup quarterback Bob Griese was with Denver in 1999, but didn't get on the field.

"I think experience teaches you a lot so if you have been in that situation we have a few, we don't have many," said coach Lovie Smith, the defensive co-ordi-nator for the 2001 Rams that lost to New England for the NFL title. "But yes, it has to have helped, especially if you've been there recently. "But once you get down to it gametime we're going to kick it off and now it's just another football game. You know the week leading up to it is quite a bit different But beyond that I don't see much." Beyond the second round of the playoffs is farther than the Saints ever have travelled. They've made this uplifting journey in the wake of a nomadic season where they played home games in three cities after hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans.

They went 3-13 during 2005, and Sean Payton was hired as coach. Payton's work this season, when the Saints went 10-6 and won the NFC South, earned him AP Coach of the Year honours. He and his players, from All-Pro quarterback Drew Brees to rookie stars Reggie Bush and Marques Colston to longtime Saints Joe Horn and John Carney, have been vital forces in the revival of their city's spirit Associated Press.