S John Lynch, one of the Bucs' most active players in the community, would like to rally his fellow citizens to increased volunteerism
Though it is defensive tackles Warren Sapp and Anthony McFarland who are currently grabbing some of the Super Bowl spotlight with their turns as part-time reporters, it is their Tampa Bay Buccaneers teammate, safety John Lynch, who will be part of the big game broadcast on Sunday.
The day before Sapp and McFarland made the rounds at Media Day on Tuesday, Lynch was in the same location, Reliant Stadium, to shoot a commercial that will be aired twice on Super Bowl Sunday. He and seven other NFL stars filmed a spot for the league that is designed to recognize NFL fans for their support and ask them for their help in strengthening their communities.
Lynch was joined in the shoot by Pittsburgh Steelers RB Jerome Bettis, Tennessee Titans RB Eddie George, Kansas City Chiefs TE Tony Gonzalez, Oakland Raiders WR Jerry Rice, New York Giants DE Michael Strahan, Miami Dolphins LB Zach Thomas and Chicago Bears LB Brian Urlacher.
The 30-second commercial, which will air once during the Super Bowl XXXVIII pregame show and once during the game itself, is part of a new initiative called 'Join the Team.' The piece is entitled 'Inspire' and it will show the eight NFL stars seated in the stands at Reliant Stadium, reflecting on how fans have inspired them to play. The players will in turn try to inspire fans to join together to serve their communities.
The NFL, its teams and players have a long-standing tradition of supporting communities through volunteerism. 'Join the Team' is a new call to action to inspire everyone to support the goal of strengthening communities through volunteerism, outreach, and other involvement.
Fans can learn more about this initiative by visiting www.jointheteam.com.
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To Every Corner of the World
The eyes of the world, from Antarctica to Zimbabwe, will be on Reliant Stadium on Sunday when the Carolina Panthers take on the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVIII.
A total of 47 international broadcasters will televise the game to 229 countries and territories in 21 different languages.
Fourteen television and radio stations from 10 countries will be broadcasting the game on-site, including the first-ever Chinese broadcast team, CCTV, to attend Super Bowl.
The largest single broadcast contingent will come from Japan, where rights holders NTV and NHK will send more than 50 people to work on their Super Bowl week broadcasts. NTV will feature their coverage in three separate terrestrial programs: Sports MAX, Sports Majigao and NFL Club. NHK will be producing their own high-definition broadcast of the game.
Overall, the game will be broadcast in the following languages: Arabic, Cantonese, Catalan, Danish, English, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish and Thai.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers fullback Cecil Martin is one of a group of current and former NFL players who will be calling the game for international broadcasts. While Mark Collins, a Super Bowl XXI- and XXV-winning cornerback for the New York Giants, will be the game analyst for the UK's Sky Sports, Martin will host the game from Sky's London studios.
Along with all this coverage, the U.S. military will provide live radio and television coverage of Super Bowl XXXVIII to approximately 800,000 U.S. American forces serving in 177 countries, and aboard more than 180 U.S. Navy ships at sea.
