All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

Three million bucks for 30 seconds. That sounds steep, even for a spot in TV's most-watched event, the Super Bowl. Still, advertisers are buying. Just not necessarily the usual suspects.

That old Chevy song "Like a Rock" became almost Pavlovian. From the first bars you knew it was game time. Well, you won't see that ad, or any ad for an American car company. Bloomberg reports that for the first time in a decade, none of the Big Three bought one.

You will see an ad for Denny's, and a series of one-second commercials for Miller High Life. Both brands will be emphasizing value and savings - two qualities that are sure to be eye-catching in a recession.

Creativity doesn't decline with the Dow, so we'll likely still get a laugh or two from a "whassup!" or an almost-not-safe-for-work Go Daddy ad.

But for now, the longtime MVP's of sports advertising - the U.S. Automakers -will spend the game benched on the sidelines.

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Jill Jackson is a Capitol Hill field producer for CBS News.

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It's just two days before Superbowl Sunday, but Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Arlen Specter held a press conference today to rail against National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell. Specter is criticizing the NFL's investigation of the New England Patriots after it was discovered early this season that they'd taped the Jets' defensive signals during games.

Goodell did force the Patriots to hand over all their tapes and fined the Patriots $750,000. The number one team also lost a first round draft pick.

But that's not enough for Specter.

The senator's sent two letters to the NFL commissioner since the story broke. The first on November 15th asked if the NFL's investigation of the Patriots stealing Jets' defensive signals revealed whether the team had also done so in the 2005 Super Bowl when the Patriots beat the Philadelphia Eagles.

His second letter to Goodell was sent December 19, 2007. Specter was outraged over reports in The New York Times that the NFL had destroyed the Patriot's spying tapes and asked if there were still any copies.

Goodell finally wrote Specter back yesterday and said that was the first day he'd seen the senator's letters. The commissioner says the NFL found no evidence of spying at the 2005 Patriots-Eagle Super Bowl and that the tapes were destroyed to make sure no one could gain a competitive advantage in the future with those tapes.

But Specter's not buying any of it. At the press conference, Specter was skeptical that yesterday was really the first time Goodell saw those letters.

The senator is pushing for a meeting with Goodell soon to discuss the destroyed tapes and possibly notes. He also wants the names of individuals who did the taping at those games. Specter says at this point there is no need for a hearing, but would not rule out that possibility in the future.

And instead of watching the Super Bowl on Sunday, Specter says he might just play squash.

There's been lots of analysis this week about the Super Bowl – everything from the Colts' championship defense to the rainy weather, to whether those much-hyped ads were effective.

But what really struck me was how rare the whole Super Bowl experience is. There are so few times when we all gather together at the same moment, on the same day, to do to the same thing.

I was lucky to be at the game in Miami -- rainy Miami, that is. Watching and imagining so many people glued to their TVs at home reminded me of what a wonderful communal experience this event provides. We have too few of these shared experiences these days, when you can now pick and choose exactly when and how you want to watch your favorite television program, or which songs you want to hear on your iPod, and in what order.

This was my first time seeing the game up close. So much is invested in this day for the athletes and their families, the sponsors, the fans, and the host city. It was such an exciting, spirited atmosphere from the moment of kickoff.

It was also fun seeing the game through my daughter's eyes, though her eyes were more focused on celebrities who were there -- like Justin Timberlake and Scarlett Johanssan -- than on the actual game. But who can blame her? It was hard not to be star-struck in Miami. Jim Carrey, LL Cool J, and John Mellencamp were just some of the people I bumped into. I also was lucky to spend some time with Colts star Peyton Manning's proud brother and mother.

It's too bad there aren't more events that celebrate how much we all have in common, instead of what separates us.

There was something wonderfully liberating this past week about not caring who was in the Super Bowl, much less who won.

I heard of the Chicago Bears from those skits on Saturday Night Live. But I didn’t know the Colts had moved to Indianapolis. When did that happen? Didn’t they used to be in another city?

I knew the Super Bowl was scheduled for last evening, but I never paid attention when they talked about it on radio and TV. I don't read the Sports section of the paper. And I speed-click past all the ESPN channels on my way to Turner Classic Movies.

I’ve never been a sports fan. As a kid growing up in Brooklyn, my friends and I played punchball, stickball and stoopball back on East 22nd Street. And I was more interested in Boy Scouts and slot-car racing, than in baseball or football.

I recall getting taken to a few baseball and football games as a youngster, but I didn’t enjoy the experience. It was crowded and noisy and some guy in the row behind me always spilled beer, or mustard or peanut shells on me.

I vaguely remember buying baseball cards, but I wasn’t a collector, at least not for the athletes pictured on them. As kids, we used to flip baseball cards for distance or matching heads and tails. And my dentist got rich filling the cavities from the bubble gum in each pack. It was hard, flat and brittle – but it had a different taste than regular Bazooka.

So last evening, while the rest of America settled in front of their TV sets to watch the big game, I went grocery shopping...

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Hi, everyone,

When the Super Bowl kicks off on Sunday, coach Tony Dungy of the Colts and the Bears' Lovie Smith will face each other on the sidelines -- and make history. For the first time, the head coaches will both be African American.

It's a real milestone. In the NFL, where 70 percent of the players are black, just under 19 percent -- or six out of 32 head coaches -- are African American.

Floyd Keith, executive director of the Black Coaches Association, said he hopes African American kids watching the Super Bowl "will now say, 'I can be the coach one day, too.'"

Still, there's more progress to be made. The first African American General Manager in pro-football was named just FOUR years ago.

Of course, when Dungy and Smith step on to the field, the only color on their minds will likely be that silver Vince Lombardi trophy.

As Dungy said, "I'm very proud to represent African-American coaches, but more than that, it's about the Indianapolis Colts."

That's a page from my Notebook.