"Shelby Strother, the late, great Detroit News columnist, once wrote about a leper colony while covering Super Bowl week in New Orleans in 1990.

I wonder if there are any leper colonies in Indianapolis.

Strother was a remarkable writer and one of the all-time characters our business has ever known. He was also a mentor to many of us veterans who are still around. He has been on my mind plenty as I try to muster some enthusiasm for the week ahead in Indy.

Strother hated pack journalism back then; I can't imagine the depths of his loathing now, with what Super Bowl week has become. The game is still a week away and already every major angle has been dissected and inspected for a full week.

Not just in newspapers but on 24-hour sports networks (ESPN, NBC, NFL Network), their accompanying websites and all the various social media sites. You'd have to be holed up in a cave to escape the coverage."