The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 58

E4 II SPORTS BREAKING NEWS: VANC0UVERSUN.COM SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2011 WINTRY WEATHER PUTS CHILL ON FESTIVITIES Another blast of winter weather slammed Dallas with up to 1 0 centimetres of snow on Friday, making driving hazardous and forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights as tens of thousands of football fans descended on the city for the Super Bowl. The weather service issued a winter storm warning Friday for Arlington. Forecasters expect a mostly sunny Super Bowl Sunday with highs of about -1 3 C. American Airlines cancelled more than 300 flights. Love Field, home to Southwest Airlines, was closed down before dawn because of snow on the runways, but reopened flights by noon.

Associated Press KEL0WNA DEVELOPER SN0WED-IN "It looks like, 'Oh, no, I'm back in It's just pouring down snow. Are we still at home, or have we left? We didn't drink that much last night, did we?" Sammy Sandu The 32-year-old property developer from Kelowna arrived in Dallas with his father on Thursday before the latest snowfall, but other members of their party weren't so lucky. Sandu's brother was still hoping to get in from Miami, while his friend abandoned travel plans after his flight from Vancouver was cancelled. i rv Of GREEN BAY LA 1 PITTSBURGH Steel Curtain will be tough for Rodgers to penetrate 1 02 MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS Richard Lewis and Roseanne Barr perform a scene in the Snickers 'You're Not You When You're Hungry' Super Bowl commercial. SPORTS BUSINESS Local pubs cash in on ad hype Carrying U.S.

feed of Super Bowl sure to draw curious crowds will be "soft users" people who may not have seen an NFL game all season. "There's a massive soft-user group that's as interested in the commercials and the halftime show as the game itself," he said. "That's what makes it such a broad-based business event." Mayenknecht said the PackersBears and SteelersJets NFL conference finals attracted just over 50 million U.S. viewers two weeks ago, but the Super Bowl is expected to draw more than 105 million. In Canada, the Super Bowl broadcast on CTV last year outdrew the Grey Cup and the Stanley Cup playoffs with about 6.7 million Canadians catching the Super Bowl, compared with 6.1 million for the Grey Cup and between four million and five million for the Stanley Cup final.

Those numbers command sky-high advertising rates. Well-heeled advertisers such as Kia, Coca-Cola and Volkswagen will pay an estimated $2.8 million to $3 million for a 30-second TV spot during the game, compared with $2.2 million a decade ago. CTV is expected to charge BY BRUCE CONSTANTINEAU VANCOUVER SUN You know the Super Bowl attracts casual sports fans when local bars trumpet the fact they'll show the U.S. high-definition broadcast, new commercials and all. How else can you catch the debut of the latest Budweiser, GoDaddy or Snickers ad maybe even one featuring Betty White? "It's all about getting the authentic version, with the new commercials and everything," said Donnelly Group marketing director Nate Sabine.

"People love it." Canadian regulations force cable operators to carry a local signal when U.S. channels show the same program, but some Vancouver pubs have arranged to get the U.S. feed of the big game. It's a strategy that caters to the pop culture appeal of the Super Bowl. Marketing communications consultant Tom Mayenknecht estimates up to 6o per cent of the loo million-plus Super Bowl television viewers in the U.S.

and Canada this Sunday SUPER BOWL Battle-tested Packers have the edge by a nose guard THREE REASONS WHY THE PACKERS CAN WIN: I.Aaron Rodgers Down the stretch and in the post-season, he has been the NFL's best quarterback. Rodgers is excellent against the blitz, which is an essential defensive element for the aggressive Steelers. Rodgers works every day against a defence designed and coached by people who helped develop the vaunted Pittsburgh scheme; hard to see the Steelers fooling him. The Packers' receiving corps can run four and five people into patterns, and keep Pittsburgh from stacking the line against the run; Rodgers shouldn't be forced into throwing the ball 50 times. 2.

Pittsburgh might be more rested, but Green Bay is more tested Unlike the Steelers, the Packers didn't get a first-round bye. They had to win five games in a row to get here, starting with two weeks left in the regular season. Sixteen Packers are on IR, a half-dozen of them starters. This team finds a way. By comparison, Pittsburgh has rarely been pushed out of its comfort zone.

The Packers are a much better team than the fluky Arizona bunch Pittsburgh defeated in the Super Bowl two years ago; not really sure the Steelers get that. The Jets beating the Patriots in the divisional round was a huge, huge break for the Steelers. 3. BJ. Raji More likely than not, the Packers' huge, athletic nose tackle will be working against sub Pittsburgh centre Doug Legursky.

This is a crucial mismatch for a Steelers' offensive line that is just adequate. Much of the buildup here has gone to the No. 1 -ranked Steelers' defence, but the Packers' defence ranked third, and it is working against the ninth-ranked offence. Packers' offence ranked third, just like the D.The Steelers led the league with 48 sacks? Gosh, the Packers only had 47. KEY PLAYER James Starks Running back has made the team with the league's 24th-ranked rushing offence extremely balanced in the post-season.

After talking to the Steelers the past few days, I'm not sure they understand how big a shift this has been for a Green Bay offence that was one-dimensional and flawed at mid-season. Starks' 70 post-season carries for 263 yards don't completely tell the story of how he has made play-action work better for Rodgers and taken pressure off the QB. KEY MATCHUP Steelers Troy Polamalu vs. Packers LB Clay Matthews Polamalu was the NFL's defensive player of the year and nobody begrudges him that honour, but Packers linebacker Matthews would have been every bit as good a choice. Just ask Kevin Kolb.

Matthews mostly lines up on the left side, where he would work against right tackle Flozell Adams, but he often moves to the right, which would put him against unimpressive Jonathan Scott. Either one of them is going to need help. Ben Roethlisberger is renowned for being hard to tackle, but if Matthews grabs Big Ben, Big Ben is going down. Hard. McClatchy Newspapers THREE REASONS WHY THE STEELERS CAN WIN: 1.

TheWideouts Much is being made this week about the Packers' deep and talented WR corps and how they will be able to spread the Steelers out with four- and five-WR sets. But the Steelers'WR corps also is pretty good. Thirty-four-year-old Hines Ward's numbers were down this year, but he's still a very good pass-catcher, particularly on third down. Then there is the Kiddie Korps: second-year speedster Mike Wallace and rookies Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders. Wallace is a DeSean Jackson-like vertical threat.

He averaged an AFC-best21 yards per catch, had 10TD receptions and had a league-best 10 receptions of 40-plus yards. Sanders and Brown have combined for nine catches in the Steelers' two post-season wins. Brown's 14-yard reception on third-and-six against the Jets with less than two minutes left in the game clinched the victory. 2. The Steelers' pass rush Aaron Rodgers was sacked four or more times in a game just three times this season, but the Packers lost two of those three.

This will be the best pass rush he's faced all season. The Steelers had a league-best 48 sacks. Linebackers James Harrison and LaMarrWoodley combined for 20 sacks and nine forced fumbles and have notched five more in their two playoff wins over the Ravens and Jets. Harrison and Woodley will present major challenges for Packers offensive tackles Chad Clifton and Bryan Bulaga. And then there's inside linebacker James Farrior (six sacks) and safety Troy Polamalu.the league's defensive player of the year.

3. Nowhere to run After finishing 24th in the league in rushing, the Packers have received a big lift from rookie James Starks in the playoffs. Starks has rushed for 263 yards in the Packers' three postseason wins, which has been a big help to Aaron Rodgers and the passing game. But Rodgers likely will have to do it all on his own Sunday. The Steelers own the league's best run defence.

They gave up the third fewest rushing yards per game in league history this season (62.8). In four of the Packers'six losses this year, they rushed for fewer than 78 yards. KEY PLAYER Doug Legursky With rookie Pro Bowler Maurkice Pouncey not expected to play because of an ankle injury, Legursky will be the Steelers' starting centre. He'll have his hands full against Packers nose tackle BJ. Raji.

But he started four games this season, albeit at guard, and held his own in three-plus quarters of work two weeks ago against the Jets with the exception of a couple of bad snaps. He doesn't have Pouncey's natural athleticism, but is a tough guy. KEY MATCHUP Steelers OLB LaMarrWoodley vs. Packers RT Bryan Bulaga Bulaga is a still-learning-the-ropes rookie who will be primarily responsible for keeping Woodley off of Aaron Rodgers. Woodley had 9Vz sacks this season and has 1 0 in his first six playoff games.

Bulaga gave up six of the Packers' 1 2 one-on-one sacks this season, and if he struggles with Woodley, it's going to force the Packers to make protection adjustments that could affect Rodgers' ability to attack the Steelers vertically. McClatchy Newspapers K'vO about $100,000 for a 30-second ad during the Canadian Super Bowl broadcast. Mayenknecht credits the NFL's multi-network broadcast rights strategy for helping to increase the showcase game's popularity. The U.S. market features games broadcast on Fox, NBC, CBS and ESPN and the networks take turns broadcasting the Super Bowl.

"So they all have a vested interest in the success of the league, even if they don't broadcast the Super Bowl in a particular year," said Mayenknecht, a principal with Emblematica Brand Builders. The Super Bowl now attracts a global audience estimated at 150 million to 175 million, making it the world's second most popular annual sports broadcast behind only the UEFA Champions League final, which attracts more than 180 million viewers. Sabine expects the game will generate a 300 to 400 per cent revenue increase at the Donnelly Group's many Vancouver-area pubs, when compared to a typical NFL Sunday. The Donnelly Group and beer sponsors such as Labatt KARL WALTERGETTY IMAGES all those great things." The Steelers had their final full practice at TCU later Friday, and Tomlin said the players would have some free time at night to spend with family and friends. They'll have a "dress rehearsal" Saturday in their final practice, going through what Tomlin called "a mock game" before the Super Bowl at Cowboys Two-time champion has a nice ring to If Pittsburgh beats Green Bay on Sunday, Steelers' coach would join and Granville Island Brewing will hold special Super Bowl game-day parties and product giveaways at the pubs and they expect most venues will fill up by 1 p.m., 2V2 hours before kickoff.

He said it's a difficult call to decide which is a bigger event for the pubs, Super Bowl or the FIFA World Cup. "World Cup people are just so enthusiastic but it's a smaller market segment than NFL," Sabine said. "The Super Bowl is probably -a bigger party. People eat and drink early and stay late. It's just a washout.

I don't know how they make it to their jobs on Monday." Those who believe in the Super Bowl stock market predictor will be bullish on the markets this year as the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers are both original NFL teams who played in the league before the merger with the old American Football League. When an original NFL team wins the Super Bowl, markets have risen for the year nearly 80 per cent of the time. bconstantineauvancouversun.com it for Tomlin elite Super Bowl group Stadium. Tomlin said rookie Pro Bowl centre Maurkice Pouncey, dealing with a high left-ankle sprain, will be out for the Super Bowl. Doug Legursky will make his first start at centre in Pouncey's place.

Pouncey, who didn't practice all week, was injured early in the Steelers' 24-19 victory over the New York Jets in the AFC Championship Game nearly two weeks ago. The Dallas-Fort Worth area has been hit by several inches of snow and sub-freezing temperatures since the Steelers arrived, but Tomlin said it hasn't bothered the team. "We're kind of used to inclement weather," Tomlin said. "At least from my perspective, it hasn't changed how we've worked at all." In a few days, Tomlin could be back in chilly Pittsburgh with another Super Bowl trophy and smiling. "It's the pinnacle," he said of being a champion.

"Thirty-two teams start this journey with the same intentions. So, of course, you're overcome with emotions. Great feelings of satisfaction, but also humility because you realize that there are probably a lot of people that are deserving, to be quite honest with you." Associated Press BY DENNIS WASZAK JR. DALLAS Mike Tomlin stood stone-faced behind the Lom-bardi Trophy as a few dozen cameras fired away. "Smile, Mike!" one photographer yelled out.

"Nah," the Pittsburgh Steelers coach said without a hint of a grin on another cold, snowy Friday in Big D. He eventually cracked a smile, but this is serious stuff for Tomlin as the Steelers go for the seventh Super Bowl title in franchise history Sunday against the Green Bay Packers. "We're putting the finishing touches, of course, on our plan here," Tomlin said in a sparsely attended final media session that lasted barely five minutes. "It's been a good week, but of course, like the Green Bay Packers, I'm sure we're all getting a little antsy and getting ready to play." Tomlin will keep an eye on his guys during the next few days to make sure they remain even-keeled with so much at stake. But what about the 38-year-old coach who could be hoisting that trophy for the second time in his four seasons? "I'm a robot," Tomlin said.

"I'm just going to ride the wave." And it could carry him to Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin could be the 13th coach in league history to win the Super Bowl twice. a special place among NFL coaches. He would become only the 13th coach in league history to win multiple rings. "It's awesome, it really is," Tomlin said of the opportunity. "It's humbling, it's inspiring, it motivates you.

It's all those things. I think fortunately for us, we have what you can't buy, which is legacy unbelievable standard and expectation and.