Two off-the-field stories loom over Super Bowl XLV. The first is the bitter cold and snowy roads that arrived in North Texas at about the same time as the players. And the second story is the soon-to-expire collective bargaining agreement between NFL owners and players.

Joe Montana was quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers from 1979 through 1992. In that time he won four Super Bowls and was Super Bowl MVP three times. In the NFC Championship game against the Dallas Cowboys on January 10, 1982, Montana connected with Dwight Clark on third down on a play that came to be called simply, “The Catch.” That play won the NFC title and put the 49ers in Super Bowl XVI.

Three-time All Pro Dallas Cowboys wide receiver and Super Bowl champion Drew Pearson offered some very candid analysis about the long-running lack of post-season success for the Dallas Cowboys as he talked with KTBB’s Bill Coates on Radio Row at Super Bowl XLV.

Earl Campbell won the Heisman Trophy in 1977. That was only a portent of things to come. In seven seasons with the Houston Oiliers, Campbell would be named All Pro three times, would play in five Pro Bowls and would be named Offensive Player of the Year three times. Known as the “Tyler Rose,” Earl Campbell joined Bill Coates and Jamie Lent on Radio Row at Super Bowl XLV.

Nine-time Pro Bowler and two-time Super Bowl champion John Elway, former quarterback of the Denver Broncos, visited with KTBB’s Bill Coates about the Cowboys’ Tony Romo, the competitiveness of the Dallas Cowboys team and the prospects for a work stoppage in the NFL following Sunday’s Super Bowl.

The first Super Bowl in 1967 wasn’t even called the Super Bowl. But Don Crisman was there. Since then, he has attended 43 more Super Bowls and is in Dallas to be on hand for Super Bowl XLV. KTBB’s Bill Coates visited with Mr. Crisman on Radio Row.

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Miles Austin spoke with KTBB’s Bill Coates about the disappointment of the 2010 Cowboys season, the changes under new head coach Jason Garrett and the prospect of a player lockout at the end of the current collective bargaining agreement.

What was once an obligatory effort to provide the sports press with access to the players that would play in the Super Bowl has, like the game itself, become a larger-than-life event. Media Day at the Super Bowl is one part football, 99 parts hustle and hype.

He played for the Robert E. Lee Red Raiders before going to Louisiana State. He was a seventh round pick for the Green Bay Packers in 2008 and now is the backup quarterback for the NFC Champions who are playing in Super Bowl XLV. Jamie Lent spoke with Matt Flynn on the field of Cowboys Stadium at Media Day.