Super Bowl Media Day in Detroit is starting even as I write this. We know this because it is being televised live on not one, but two networks (ESPN News and NFL Network, contact your cable operator). Our crew at the game has this well in hand, of course, but the consensus is that they and everyone else have their work cut out for them. The Steelers and Seahawks have pounded the Dangerfield theme (We Don't Get No Respect) into the ground - they should all just wear red ties to tug on and carry handkerchiefs to wipe the sweat, just to complete the image. But the problem isn't that we don't respect them. It's that we don't care about them. And guess what - we don't have to. They're not entitled to it just by having made it to the Super Bowl. It's not the inalienable right of every Super Bowl team to be treated like the old 49ers or Cowboys or Raiders or the other more-embraced or more-hated (and unquestionably more colorful) teams in the game's history.

Still, that makes for some thin material on this day. The number of angles on Jerome Bettis's return home are shrinking by the hour. But a TV reporter friend and I came up with an idea last night that could save this media day and future ones: go find Freddie Mitchell, the scourge of last year's day in Jacksonville, and bring him back. Just sit him in the stands, or set up a booth to the side. Have him talk about whatever comes to mind - the two teams, himself, the State of the Union address, Brokeback Mountain's Oscar nominations, more of himself, anything and everything. See how much of a crowd he draws. See how many of the stars of this game he outdraws. See if he says anything that ticks them off, since he's not only not playing in the game, he's not playing in the league.

It doesn't have to be FredEx. Or, even better, he can be one of many ringers. T.O. Shannon Sharpe. Keyshawn Johnson. Deion Sanders. Thomas "Hollywood'' Henderson. A couple of the Patriots, just to talk about not getting the three-peat. Brett Favre, since he's now publicly mulling retirement. Brian Billick, as long as it doesn't violate the mandates laid down by Steve Bisciotti. Scatter them throughout the two sessions today and see what happens.

Make it a Throwback Media Day. Or Classic Media Day (I've already suggested the whole Classic Press Conference idea; this would be an extension of it).

It's got to be better than what the Steelers and Seahawks are going to give us. Probably. They might surprise us. But probably not.