Let the madness begin.

The week leading to the Super Bowl is the most overhyped of any sporting championship and rightly so. But the excess can be overwhelming.

The NFL Network alone has been touting more than 100 hours of coverage leading up to Super Bowl XLIII.

I guess it all started just before noon Monday when we were shown live coverage of the Steelers getting off their plane. I could hardly contain myself.

Then, at about 3 p.m., the Arizona Cardinals got off their plane. As a trio of announcers were talking about what each team had to do to stop the other, one of the three interrupted to announce that, yes, Arizona running back Edgerrin James was just now leaving the plane.

And this is the first few minutes of coverage. Think of all the wonderful things we get to look forward to this week.

As you read this Tuesday, the always fun Media Day will have taken place. It's a one-day blitz of interviews, many coming from "journalists" who shouldn't be there. Comedic radio stations and television shows will be there to make a mockery of what already has become a mockery.

I understand all the questions being asked, many the same ones over and over again, but ones like the "reporter" who asked New England quarterback Tom Brady some too-personal questions shouldn't be allowed access.

The NFL should clamp down on those, knowing that they're actually the butt of the joke. To the NFL, Media Day is one big day to get as many interviews out of the way so players can get back to preparing for the game.

In the first Super Bowl Jan. 15, 1967, the game was broadcast simultaneously on two networks and was the only one that wasn't a sellout. The $12 ticket price seemed to be high and TV spots for a full minute was anywhere between $75,000 to $85,000, as opposed to the close to $3 million for a 30-second spot today.

I'm sure interviews weren't much a problem then. At the time, it was technically the AFL-NFLChampionship Game, not Super Bowl I as it came to be known later.

For the rest of the week, expect analysis from any football player, coach or media type — including us — to harp on the game.

Some networks will take things to the extreme. ESPN will have hundreds of people weighing in on the topic, including predictions, some even coming from farm animals or blindfolded pets whose owners claim the animal has a perfect record in such matters.

It's so overwhelming that by the time the game rolls around, you're already looking for it to stop and hope you get a good game out of it. Overhyping a product usually leads to a letdown, although last year's 17-14 win by the New York Giants over the undefeated New England Patriots was among the greatest

The best advice I can give this week is pick your spots. Tune in once in a while to see if anything important has happened, then go about your daily routine. Forget the four- or five-hour pregame shows. Tune in about an hour before the game for background noise, then relax and enjoy the game.

That way, you won't feel so full.