ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 13, 1996 TAG: 9601150040
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: ON THE AIR
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
The "real'' Super Bowl was supposed to be played this weekend.
It was going to be San Francisco-Dallas for the NFC championship for the fourth straight season, then that Roman-numeraled scrimmage against an AFC team in two weeks.
Instead, what pro football viewers will be looking at Sunday is twice the intrigue in NFL conference championship games with historical reminders - 11 Super titles among them - and implications.
The 49ers are history, for this season. NFC title foes Green Bay and Dallas (4 p.m., WJPR/WFXR) have Super Bowl resumes, as do AFC championship players Indianapolis - as Colts of another city - and Pittsburgh (12:30 p.m., WSLS).
Paul Maguire and Phil Simms will work with Dick Enberg on Sunday's AFC title telecast from Three Rivers Stadium before the entertaining NBC trio heads for a Super Bowl XXX assignment on Jan.28. The two analysts may come from different sides of the football and different eras, but they agree on one thing.
"I'm not just saying this,'' Maguire said two days ago from his suburban Buffalo home. "This probably is the AFC's best year for a chance in the Super Bowl in who knows how long.''
Simms found himself on too many airplanes this week, trying to return to snowbound New York from last week's Indianapolis-Kansas City game. Fellow travelers called out pretty much the same audible to the ex-quarterback during his air time.
"Everyone was asking, `Do the Colts have a chance?''' Simms said after finally returning to Big Apple environs. "I think they do, a legitimate chance.
"And I think the AFC has a chance in the Super Bowl, and it doesn't matter which team wins either game. I didn't think at the beginning of the year that this would be a year you could say that.
"I would have thought the NFC team was going to be a big-time favorite, whether it was Dallas or San Francisco. Well, it's not that way. There's no big-play, dynamic team there, and both AFC teams have very good defenses.''
Maguire picked the Steelers to win the AFC in preseason, but he's hedging on the home team this weekend after seeing two Indy wins in the first two playoff rounds.
"I have no idea on this one,'' Maguire said when asked whether the Colts can reach their first Super Bowl since 1971. "You'd figure they'd have no chance against Kansas City, and they hold the Chiefs to one touchdown.
"The thing about the Colts is they don't care about anything. They're 10-point underdogs? They don't care. No respect? They don't care. They just play.
"They have nothing to lose. Even if they win and shock most everybody again, maybe they still get no respect. Probably not, because they're the AFC team. But I tell you what, the last two weeks, Indianapolis has the best defense I've seen so far this year.''
Simms said in another fashion, the Steelers are as surprising as the Colts, although Pittsburgh is playing at home for the AFC title for a second straight year.
"That team is so vastly different than last year's Pittsburgh team,'' said the ex-Giants quarterback who was a Super Bowl MVP nine years ago. "It was a running, grind-it team, playing great defense, trying just to force a turnover and keeping the ball.
"They've changed things drastically. Now, they're throwing the ball downfield, running reverses. On defense, they're different, and not just because they lost [injured All-Pro cornerback] Rod Woodson.
"One thing I think that's maybe been overlooked is that Dom Capers [the former Pittsburgh defensive coordinator] left to become Carolina's head coach. Anytime you lose someone like that, although a team may be using the same scheme, some intricate things can go with him.''
Maguire said the lopsided recent history of the Super Bowl - 11 consecutive Lombardi Trophies for the NFC - will have most armchair quarterbacks rooting for a different kind of turnover Sunday.
"I guarantee you the public, most of the public, will be rooting for somebody new,'' said the former punter and linebacker of 11 AFL seasons. "They want Green Bay and Indianapolis to win.
"Dallas can call itself `America's Team' all it wants, but it isn't. Buffalo got in there four times [in a row], and people wanted somebody different. Maybe it will happen.''
GOODBYE: With NBC having the Super Bowl telecast, Fox Sports' third NFL season ends today at Texas Stadium, along with the broadcasting career of Jimmy Johnson.
The new Miami coach will work Fox's studio show with James Brown, Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long from the NFC championship site, then head for Mobile, Ala., and Senior Bowl week scouting.
Fox officials are feeling some jabs from critics about Johnson's presence after his acceptance of the Dolphins' job on Thursday, but what's to criticize?
Johnson won't be any different than a guest coach brought in for a studio shot. ABC had Dave Wannstedt of the Chicago Bears in its studio during its NFL wildcard telecast day. What's the difference?
However, viewers are expecting Brown and sidekicks to do more than joke with Johnson about his new job. It's a real opportunity for the network to get some news and views from the new Dolphins' boss.
NEW WORLD: The 35th year of ``ABC's Wide World of Sports'' makes its debut today (4:30 p.m., WSET), and viewers will notice something new besides the format.
Robin Roberts, most familiar for her anchor work on ESPN, becomes the fourth WWS studio host, following Jim McKay, Frank Gifford and Julie Moran.
Roberts will continue to work for ESPN while adding Wide World and other ABC duties in a sharing situation between the Capital Cities networks. Her presence on Wide World figures to bring a harder news edge to the show, too.
Most weeks, Roberts will anchor from a New York studio. However, she also will do news and feature pieces during the week for airing on some shows.
Next Saturday, when ABC airs Wide World in afternoon and prime-time slots from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, Roberts will anchor from the site.
Roberts' solid work won praise when she stepped in on the NFL wildcard day two weeks ago to pinch-hit in the ABC studio for John Saunders, who had an illness in his family.
LENGTH: Long : 113 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: headshot of Maguireby CNB