SUPER BOWL ROUNDUP | News and notes

Van accident: NFL MVP Shaun Alexander and several other Seattle Seahawks got a jolt Monday when their van was struck by an automated parking gate. The players were jostled from their seats, but said no one was injured. Alexander, fellow Pro Bowlers Matt Hasselbeck, Steve Hutchinson and Walter Jones and Michael Boulware were on their way to a downtown news conference when the accident occurred. Alexander said the players were in the second of two vans transporting the Seahawks. He said the first van was full of team public relations personnel and cleared through the gate crossing without incident -- "of course," he joked. But the van carrying Alexander and the all-stars was struck from the side and below by automatic gates while trying to get through the entrance at the hotel complex.
In Congo: Mike Holmgren didn't even give the Super Bowl a thought last autumn when he urged his wife to sign up for a medical mission to Africa. Four months later, his Seattle Seahawks are playing for the NFL title in Detroit and his wife is packing for Congo, where she'll treat villagers and wonder about the outcome of a game a world away. "I'm very proud of her," Holmgren said. "She works very hard at a lot of things that are a lot more important than coaching a football game. Her heart's here, even though she is going to be in Africa with my daughter. She gets nervous at the games anyway. I told her she doesn't watch any of the game anyway." Kathy Holmgren started her nursing career as a missionary to Congo. One of the couple's twin daughters, Calla, is a gynecologist who signed up for a mission to Africa with Northwest Medical Teams International, Inc. When he found out that their 33-year-old daughter was going to Congo, Holmgren suggested that his wife accompany her. They'll be in a group of eight volunteers.
Too much? John Madden is worried about the new television deal that puts Thursday and Saturday games on NFL Network beginning next season. Madden, whose last game for ABC will be the Super Bowl, said the wait between weekend games is what makes the NFL special. "I just worry about overexposure," Madden said on a conference call. "No matter how much you wanted to watch the NFL, there were no more games between Monday night and the next Sunday. I don't want us to become like college basketball or college football where you have games on every night. That's the direction it's going in. I really don't know that it's a great direction." Broadcast partner Al Michaels agreed that there can be too much of a good thing. "You're going to reach a point at some point of oversaturation," Michaels said. "Is this it? I don't know. That's the danger that lurks there. If you're going to make things less and less special, at some point you're going to pay the price."
Associated Press
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