Tuesday is in the books here in Indianapolis. Only five days left until the New York Giants and New England Patriots battle in the Super Bowl. Here's is today's XLVI two-minute recap from Star Tribune staff writer Dan Wiederer ...
-- My biggest lesson learned from the madness of Super Bowl Media Day: I regret taking German in high school. The number of Spanish-speaking reporters on hand at Lucas Oil Stadium earlier today was impressive. That was particularly evident at Victor Cruz's podium. The Giants receiver, who's proud of his Puerto Rican heritage, was continuously peppered with questions in Spanish and answered them without missing a beat. Cruz even honored a request from a television crew to perform his trademarked touchdown celebration salsa dance under a mini-disco ball with Puerto Rican music blaring from portable iPod speakers.

-- The Media Day absurdity is at an all-time high. Examples were everywhere. During the Giants' afternoon session, Brandon Jacobs played along with the nonsense. Hakeem Nicks would not.

The asinine questions came from all sorts of wannabe interviewers. In one instant, there was Nickelodeon's Pick Boy, decked out with superhero cape and mask, grilling Jacobs: if the Giants running back could have super power for Sunday, what would he want? About 60 yards away, a reporter from HDNet topped Pick Boy's absurdity with this gem for Nicks: "Who would win in a cage fight – Marky Mark Wahlberg, Wesley Snipes or a king cobra? And it's a fight to the death!" Jacobs' answer? "I'd wanna fly. I'd just get the ball, go up, come down in the end zone, then call it a day."Nicks, thankfully, wasn't as cooperative. "Don't know," the Giants receiver said with an uncomfortable laugh. Yep, this is Super Bowl Media Day, increasingly nonsensical with each passing year. Sure it's only two hours long and it breaks up the endless X's and O's chatter. But does anyone really find that silliness entertaining? -- While we're discussing Nicks, who has been a big-time difference maker in the postseason, Giants receivers coach Sean Ryan couldn't stop raving about Nicks' competitiveness. Which you'd never sense given his always mellow off-the-field demeanor. But don't let Nicks' chill fool you. "You can tell the bigger the stage gets, the more he's geared towards that and wants to make plays to help us win," Ryan said. "He's got that. That's built within him, that kind of inner-strength. That he's not going to get rattled. He wants the ball coming his way. And the bigger the spot the better." So how does Nicks flip the switch? "I don't know how it happens," Ryan said. "Sometimes you can see that mellowness as a [drawback]. But you never want to sell that guy short of his compeititive nature. Because it's there. And it's there all the time. It's there in practice. And when game day comes, he has a look about him that's different. It's hard to put your finger on it. You can tell when he's locked in and what he's going to do. He might just nod his head like he always does. That's when you know, we're OK. He's going to make some plays. He has a calm about him. But inside, that's as competitive of a guy as you're ever going to meet."
-- Patriots coach Bill Belichick seems to be more jovial and more engaging than normal this week. Possible explanations? Wes Welker took a crack. "I think there's a lady in his life," the New England receiver quipped. That guess took fellow receiver Deion Branch aback. "Coach told us to have fun here," Branch said. "But I don't know about having that much fun." Regardless, no one here will complain about Belichick's sudden friendly spurt.