By IRA KAUFMAN

ikaufman@tampatrib.com

TAMPA - Media Day came and went Tuesday and the NFL's annual 120-minute salute to excess seemed relatively subdued.

Nobody issued a marriage proposal to Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, but a local ballroom dancer did hook up with members of the Steelers and Cardinals for an impromptu rumba session as former Bucs defensive tackle Warren Sapp graded the participants.

A male TV reporter sporting a blond wig and a red boa strolled the sidelines at Raymond James Stadium, and a woman from Telemundo TV wearing a cheerleader skirt and a halter top asked Pittsburgh linebacker Lawrence Timmons for advice in hiking a Football.

By Media Day standards, this was tame stuff.

Typically, this surreal occasion attracts enough oddball characters to cast a Fellini movie.

There are 4,589 members of the media credentialed for Sunday's Super Bowl and 28 countries have dispatched representatives to cover America's biggest sports event.

"The first six years I went to the Super Bowl, we used to go to players' rooms to get our interviews," said Jerry Izenberg of the Newark Star-Ledger, one of only three daily newspaper columnists who have covered each of the previous 42 Super Bowls. "Now, they let in strippers. I see a lot of people walking around here today that have no business being here."

Photo credit: Tribune photo by CLIFF McBRIDE

Photo: Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner is surrounded by a crush of media members - and personalities of all types - during Tuesday's festivities at Raymond James Stadium. This is Warner's third Super Bowl.

Photo credit: Tribune photo by MICHAEL SPOONEYBARGER

Photo: Receiver Hines Ward, the MVP of the Steelers' Super Bowl XL win against the Seahawks, took part in his second Media Day in four years.

Copyright ? 2009, The Tampa Tribune and may not be republished without permission. E-mail library@tampatrib.com