Hyper-Jocksniffing vs. uber-cynicism?

Teams divulge secrets to broadcasters
WILLIAM HOUSTON
Globe and Mail

Long before the Super Bowl starts, CBS broadcasters Jim Nantz and Phil Simms will know in a good amount of detail each team's game plan.
In fact, it goes further than that. They could very well know what the opening set of plays will be.
This extraordinary access is the domain of the television broadcast rights holders only. While sportswriters and broadcasters assemble for prearranged sessions this week, CBS will get the real story behind closed doors.
Yesterday, Nantz and Simms described just how far inside National Football League rights holders can get.
Today and tomorrow, Nantz and Simms, along with CBS's Super Bowl director and producer will meet in a room with the coaching staff and perhaps also the quarterbacks of the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts, respectively.
Nantz described a hypothetical scene in which Colts quarterback Peyton Manning will come in and talk about a special formation he will use for throwing deep touchdown passes.
Nothing is electronically recorded, but notes are taken. And, of course, everything is confidential.
"It's a huge responsibility, because, after you walk out of the second meeting with the second team, you know what the game plan is for each side," Nantz said yesterday. "And you know if someone is prepared to counter what the other has cooked up."
Nantz noted that care has to be taken to not frame a question in a way that tips off one team about the other's strategy. "Obviously, your questioning can't be leading," he said. "You can't steer them in the direction. So, you have to be careful in that respect."
For Simms, the game analyst, the information is invaluable. He gave an example of what the Colts might tell him: "If this week, the Colts say they have a special offence, that they're going to come out with five wide receivers and no huddle and it's going to be really, really, fast — if they tell us that, we'll know why they're doing it and what they're trying to accomplish. So, we'll be ready for it, instead of guessing at what they're doing."
The co-operation of coaching staffs over the course of a season is often measured by the success of the team. But more often than not, they are surprisingly forthcoming.
"We're sometimes amazed by how long they want us to stay in the room and just chat," Nantz said. "Peyton Manning will come in and, after an hour, you want to say, 'Don't you have something else you need to be doing right now?' "
The relationship between the two sides, of course, is based on trust. If the information ever leaked, the network wouldn't get back in the room.
"If you ever go into those meetings and violate anything that's been told to you, you will never have that access again," Nantz said.