Suns GM Steve Kerr joined Dave Burns on the Tuesday edition of the 620 Sportsline:

* Shaq-watch Day 2 as the Big Daddy participated in his second full practice with the Phoenix Suns.  It is sounding more and more likely that O’Neal’s first game will be Thursday against the Dallas Mavericks.  Kerr warned Suns fans, “I would think early on we’ll only see him play 15 minutes.”

* Kerr discussed the team adjusting to playing without Shawn Marion, “I’m proud of our guys for getting through that stretch.”  The Suns went 2-1 and the one loss was Phoenix’s most entertaining game of the season against the New Orleans Hornets.   

* On a lighter note, Sean Marks and Brian Skinner are terrified of guarding their new teammate and it’s not because he throws elbows.  When Shaq would dunk on the practice hoops, which were hooked into the ceiling and not the ground like normal hoops, the whole roof would shake.  Kerr said Marks and Skinner came to him scared that “we could die.”

* The last roster spot for the Suns is up for grabs.  Kerr has a list of 10 players that he is looking at.  Some of them are through trades and others are free agents.  All of them play the swingman position and have the ability to guard multiple positions. 

If Shaq were healthy. If he didn’t cost $40 million dollars for the next two years after this one. If he wasn’t 35 years old playing on bad knees and an old hip. If he even remotely fit into Mike D’Antoni’s system - I would love the deal.

But he’s not, he does, he is and he doesn’t.

And I don’t like it at all.

I will admit acquiring O’Neal has its temptations. A postseason match up with the Spurs. What it would do for Amare. The fountain of youth that Shaq might discover playing for a team that actually has a chance. All of that makes this story somewhat interesting.

And just the fact the Suns are even engaged in these talks make me wonder if they recognize their system can’t win in the postseason. And if that’s the case you can’t help but to wonder about D’Antoni.

But do you want to gum up the Suns up tempo game? Do you think he can even make it, health-wise, to the postseason, let alone play next year or the year after?

It seems to me, it’s a poker game. And if Robert Sarver and Steve Kerr make this deal, it’s like going “all in” sliding $40 million dollars into the middle of the table and banking that they can make it work this year and then figure it all out after that.

File this under the I’ve-Always-Wanted-To-Do This heading.

I’ve always wanted to go to the Super Bowl and file a moment by moment account of what I saw and felt.

Yeah, I know, I’m not the most ambitious guy you’ve ever met.

So with out further delay….

11:15 a.m. - After picking up Sports 620 KTAR reporter Johnny V, we board the media bus and head to the stadium. A police escort guides the way. Because nobody demands pampered police protection like a bunch of pasty journalists.

11:50 a.m. - Arrive at University of Phoenix Stadium.

11:51 a.m. - Dog sniffs my bag. Who do you think I am, Tom Petty? Is that dog sniffing his bag? Don’t think so.

12:00 p.m. - We are told that once we check into the media compound there is no checking out. Laugh at the idea that it’s called a “compound”. Like if we, at any point, step outside of the “compound” and violate the perimeter, our media passes will explode and we’ll perish. I think there was a movie like that, Logan’s Run maybe?

12:01 p.m. - There are color coded strips of duct tape (purple, blue, yellow, green, orange and red) on the floor everywhere we walk inside the stadium designed to lead us to the exact spot we’re supposed to watch the game from. Suddenly the exploding credential theory has validity.

12:15 p.m. - Head over to the NFL Experience - yes, it’s in the “compound.”

12:35 p.m. - Run into some guy dressed up as “Captain New England.” Imagine a hybrid of Nacho Libre and Captain America and you get the picture.

12:40 p.m. - Johnny V and I are very impressed with how un-corporate the crowd is. Lots of Patriots jerseys, lots of Giants jerseys. Corporate America is under represented. We can tell almost immediately what Corporate America looks like at a football game. Designer jeans, un-tucked button up shirt and a blazer. Only Corporate America wears a blazer to a football game. Fortunately, there aren’t too many of those Corporate Jabronis running around.

12:50 p.m. - Discover a food stand that sells Indian Fry Bread Double Cheeseburgers. Holy Triple Bypass Batman! While in line, I jokingly ask for a nutritional guide so I can confirm I’m getting my weekly calorie intake in one meal.

1:03 p.m. - The Indian Fry Bread Double Cheeseburger rocks the house!

2:00 p.m. - Hit the big team shop. Johnny V and I decide whoever came up with the official slogan for Super Bowl XLII – “who wants it more”- is lame. The slogan is lame, the dude who came up with it is lame. Some Corporate Jabroni walking around the compound in a blazer we surmise.

2:20 p.m. - Team shop is picked over, go to stadium.

3:20 p.m. - An hour has passed before I can buy a t-shirt. The line is horrendously long and slow. The only thing that makes it tolerable is the cute redhead in line next to me. And, I can write that because I know for sure the Decision Maker - code name for the wife - does not read this blog.

4:12 p.m. - After entering stadium, crowd is clearly and decidedly pro-Patriots.

4:13 p.m. - Video on jumbotron shows Tom Brady, saying defiantly, “We are the Patriots.” Place goes bonkers.

4:29 p.m. - Johnny V predicts 37-14 Patriots, I say 45-20 Patriots.

4:30 p.m. - Kickoff, flashbulbs everywhere. Do those pictures ever really turn out all that well?

4:45 p.m. - 16 play drive by Giants concludes with a 31-yard field goal. Giants converted four different third downs. Brady’s “We are the patriots,” line seems like an hour ago.

5:02 p.m. - Lawrence Maroney scores to make it 7-3 Pats. Had him in the pool as the first player to score in the game. Almost made it.

5:05 p.m. -Ensuing kickoff goes out of bounds. I’ve seen head coaches cut kickers who miss field goals. If I were a coach, I’d cut the kicker who kicks the ball out of bounds.

5:12 p.m. - Eli Manning is having a hard time with the clock. Already called for a delay of game, and just missed another one. Who is calling the plays down there, Ken Whisenhunt?

5:51 p.m. - The one thing I’m noticing is when Tom Brady is under pressure, he looks shockingly average. Earlier in the quarter he was sacked on back-to-back plays, he just fumbled the football after a sack. Makes me wonder if any quarterback could do what he does if they had the time to do it like he does.

5:54 p.m. - Eli heaves a Hail Mary down field in almost the exact same spot Larry Fitzgerald caught one against the Browns this season. Falls harmlessly to the ground

6:10 p.m. - Tom Petty opens halftime show with “American Girl”. On Friday’s 620 Sportsline, a guy who was working as part of the on-field crew told me on the air Petty would open with that song. Wonder if that guy got fired?

6:17 p.m.- Crowd, as instructed, points their flashlights during “Free Fallin” (again, told to me by the on-field crewman). Very cool, the stadium looks like the inside of the spaceship from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

6:37 p.m. - Bill Belichick successfully challenges a ruling that the Giants had 12 men on the field during a punt. It gives the Pats a first down and keeps the drive alive. The 12^th man, Chase Blackberg, is standing on the sideline, with the same look on his face that Mack Brown’s stepson had on his face when he ran on the field during the Holiday Bowl against ASU. Wanna get away?

6:44 p.m. - Belichick goes for it on fourth-and-13 from the Giants 31 yard line. It would be a 48-yard field goal. Maybe that red sweatshirt is interfering with his thinking.

7:07 p.m. - Eli completes a 45 yard pass to Boss. Follows it up with a first down pass to Steve Smith to get it to the 12 yard line.

7:10 p.m. - A touchdown pass to David Tyree. Giants take the lead. I start to think that homeless people in Boston are about to receive a whole bunch of “19-0” T-shirts that were printed in vain.

7:24 p.m. - Eli misses chance to do some serious damage when he overthrows his receiver.

7:40 p.m. - Patriots drive the ball against a Giants defense that has suddenly turned to mush. Find Moss all alone in the end zone, and with 2-plus minutes left the Patriots have their 14-10 lead. Destiny is calling. The “19-0” t-shirts are being taken from the homeless and put back on the shelves.

7:53 p.m. - Eli and David Tyree combine for one of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history. I don’t know how Manning didn’t get sacked. And I don’t know how Tyree was able to catch that ball using, what appeared to be, his helmet to help him make the grab. Astounding.

7:56 p.m. - Plaxico Burress was so wide open in the end zone he could’ve built a ranch out there. A lot of space. He hauls in the touchdown to give the G-Men a lead with less than a minute to go.

8:00 p.m. -Brady is sacked again. The game is over. Homeless people in Boston rejoice while t-shirt wholesalers take a bath in red ink.