Longtime Detroit sports writer Jerry Green has been with the Detroit News since 1963. He has been covering the National Football League since the merger in 1966. Therefore, he has never missed a Super Bowl and is the only reporter to hold such a feat. This year, he will have a different view of the game. He will be watching the game on his TV in his assisted living room. He said he plans on enjoying it and still taking notes. It's a view that is somewhat bittersweet for Green, but one that he says it's about time for.
Spent some time with Jerry Green this afternoon, who will be watching the Super Bowl on TV for the first time ever.
— Jeanna Trotman (@JeannaTrotmanTV) February 10, 2023
He has covered 56 straight Super Bowls, t only reporter to cover every single one. He said he considers himself privileged & he’s at peace with his streak ending. pic.twitter.com/vLvMff42dx
"The number 56 is magic to me," said Green. "A baseball player named Joe Dimaggio had a 56-game hitting streak which is a baseball record that likely will never be matched or beaten."
Just like Green's record of reporting at the first 56-years of the Super Bowl. Since it's inception in 1967, Jerry Green was there writing and reporting.
"I love doing it, but it was not easy."
Due to the 94-year-old's declining health, he will be missing the game due to the travel and difficulty of covering such an event. He said the NFL has been very supportive of him and his needs over the last few years, but it has just gotten too difficult.
Jeanna Trotman asked Green if he was at peace being done covering the big game.
"I'm at peace, yes, I didn't think it would be this good," said Green.
His favorite interview goes back to Super Bowl III in 1969 in Florida. Joe Namath, Super Bowl MVP, wouldn't talk to the media. It was then, at the hotel, Green looked out his window, saw Namath in a bathing suit walking by the pool, and went down to see what his chances could be. It turned out Namath agreed to talk to only a handful of reporters and Green was one of them.
"He was very, very charming and friendly," said Green, of the conversation they had about whiskey, football, and family.
From one great in Joe Namath to another in Tom Brady, Green's favorite game was Super Bowl LI and the improbable comeback by the Patriots against the Falcons.
"The poor Atlanta Falcons who had been ahead by 25 points lost the game."
Green said he feels privileged for having covered the world's biggest game in the world's biggest sport for 56 long years.
"I feel very fortunate," said Green. "I love sports, I love writing, I did what I wanted to do. I think this job was very fun, I still think it is."
56 Super Bowls in a row, a streak no one has in the world, other than Detroit's Jerry Green.
"56 was a magic number to me and I set it as a target goal basically," said Green.
And 56 years Jerry Green went.
"I made it," said Green.
As for Sunday, Green said that he believes Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are the slightly better team. However, as Super Bowl LI proved to the world, the better team doesn't always necessarily win.
