Joe Flacco’s victory tour Monday included a stop in New York to appear on CBS’ “Late Show” with David Letterman.
Flacco is about to become a free agent and Letterman asked the Super Bowl MVP if he had spoken to Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti about a new contract.
“… Before the New England game, you know, he just came up to me and said, ‘Listen, this is our time, and go get ’em. We have all the faith in you, and this is going to be your team for a long time,’ ” Flacco said.
Flacco said he turned down an extension offer from the Ravens last year.
“When I wasn’t signing what they wanted me to sign, (Bisciotti) said, ‘Listen, when the time comes, I mean, you come and beat on my desk,’ and I said, ‘All right, I’ll take you up on that,’ and I think the time has come.”
FANS WAGER $98.9 MILLION
Sports fans bet a record $98.9 million at Nevada casinos on the Super Bowl, the Nevada Gaming Control Board said Monday.
Unaudited tallies show 183 sports books made $7.2 million on the football action. The San Francisco 49ers started out as 5-point favorites but the Baltimore Ravens won, 34-31.
Oddsmakers say California fans drove the unprecedented handle, flooding Las Vegas and the Lake Tahoe area with wagers on the hometown team, which hadn’t been in the Super Bowl since 1995.
“Northern Nevada gets swamped with 49er money,” LVH book director Jay Kornegay said.
Bookmakers speculated that the popularity of 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who played his college football at Nevada, drove some of the betting among locals.
The previous record was set in 2006, when gamblers wagered $94.5 million on the Super Bowl between the Seattle Seahawks and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh won, 21-10, as a 4-point favorite.
Bookmakers said they took a beating this year on proposition bets, including a long shot on whether there would be a safety. Ravens punter Sam Koch took a safety for the final score with 4 seconds remaining.
WALT SWEENEY DEAD AT 71
Walt Sweeney, a standout offensive lineman for the San Diego Chargers in the 1960s and 1970s, has died at 71.
The Chargers website says Sweeney died of pancreatic cancer on Saturday.
Sweeney was a second-round pick out of Syracuse in the 1963 AFL draft, and stayed with the Chargers through the 1970 NFL merger. He was later named to the team’s Hall of Fame.
Sweeney played in either the AFL All-Star Game or the Pro Bowl nine seasons in a row, and played in 181 consecutive games.
He spent 11 seasons with San Diego and two with the Washington Redskins.
SUPER BUST IN CANADA
Police in Ontario, Canada, say they busted a multimillion-dollar gambling operation when they raided an invitation-only Super Bowl event.
Six men have been arrested and face illegal gambling-related charges following the Sunday night raid at a packed hall in Markham, north of Toronto. More than 2,300 people were said to be there.
EXTRA POINTS
Rookie linebacker Brandon Joiner, who was indicted in 2008 for robbery, has been activated by the Bengals after completing his term in a Texas prison. … The Cowboys reassigned receivers and assistant head coach Jimmy Robinson to be a senior coaching consultant to clear the way to hire former University of Tennessee coach Derek Dooley. … The Lions released wide receiver Titus Young, who was drafted out of Boise State in 2001. … An attorney for the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission says it is unlikely it will use the Rams’ $750 million plan for the Edward Jones Dome.
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