Super Bowl opening night a tame affair

Associated Press

HOUSTON

A man traipsing around Monday’s Super Bowl opening night in a full-length gown declaring himself “The Empress of Austria, Elizabeth I” was the most outrageous guest at what was a rather tame media night compared to the circus this event has been in the past.

The Empress, otherwise known as Julian Kurzwernhart, who said he’d been covering the Super Bowl for a television station in Austria for the past six years, spent more time being interviewed in his crazy getup than actually conducting interviews with the players from the Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots.

“Why outfits? Oh yeah, that’s funny questions because we want to spread some Austrian flavor every year here and spread some Austrian charm and you guys have something to love,” he said. “It’s a crazy event and you have to dress up.”

The event, which is the first availability with the teams during Super Bowl week, was held at Minute Maid Park, where the Houston Astros play.

While media mingled with players on the field, 10,204 fans filled the stands to get a glimpse of their favorite players.

There were a handful of other strange getups, such as a man from a television station who wore a long blonde wig and a jersey which was half that of Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan and half New England tight end Rob Gronkowski.

A reporter from a local television station sported an oversized red foam cowboy hat and asked everyone who spoke to him if they’d like to try on the matching blue one he held.

He handed the hat to Atlanta receiver Julio Jones who thanked him and placed it beside him on the podium next to his seat.

When the reporter informed him that he wanted him to try it on and not keep it and then tried to ask another question Jones jokingly snapped at him.

“Next question, I ain’t messing with you,” he said before cracking up.

Jones embraced the silliness of the night and said he couldn’t think of a question he wouldn’t answer.

“We have a lot of fans from everywhere, Australia, Mexico ... and everyone wants answers and I’m going to answer them to the best of my ability,” he said. “It hasn’t been too crazy for me.”

Guillermo Rodriguez, a talk show personality on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live”, asked the players sign what he called a football, which was actually a soccer ball.

He asked questions like: “Do you think Nick will find love on ‘The Bachelor’?,” to Atlanta coach Dan Quinn and “What do you like pizza or pineapple?,” to Falcons running back Devonta Freeman.

His fun didn’t stop with the Falcons and he was even able to get a smile out of notoriously gruff New England coach Bill Belichick.