NFL

Colts quarterback Peyton Manning has appeared in his share of television ads. Working as a pitchman for such corporations as Sprint, ESPN and MasterCard, the perennial All-Pro's likeness can be seen everywhere.

With less than a week to go until Super Bowl XLI, both the Colts and the Bears are finalizing their game plans. The Bears hope to stop Indy's passing attack by putting Charles Tillman on Marvin Harrison, an idea that has the Colts wideout pumped up.

The City of Indianapolis doesn't receive much national attention. In fact, if it weren't for the "Indiana" in "Indianapolis," most people would not know to which state it belonged. Case in point: up until the Colts reached the Super Bowl, racing fans mistakenly thought that "Indy 500" was an abbreviation for "Independent 500."

If there is one story line that has already been beat into the ground it's that Super Bowl XLI head coaches are also best friends. The Colts' Tony Dungy and Bears' Lovie Smith are so tight the two traveled to Miami together this week, leaving their teams behind.

• Peyton Manning will play game disguised by the fake mustache he wears in his Sprint commercial.

Colts fan Billy Joe Smitherson was outraged this week when he found there's no place to park his tractor in the metro Miami area where he has traveled to root on his Colts against the Bears in Sunday's Super Bowl.

Chicago's major newspapers, the Tribune and the Sun-Times, are battling to see which paper can appear the most provincial in its coverage of the Bears' upcoming appearance in Super Bowl XLI.