On the NFL Web site promoting the game, the NFL boasts, "Last year the NFL began a new tradition: producing a football and music festival to kick off the season and to celebrate the resilient and indomitable spirit of America." What it should have said is, "Last year the NFL began a new tradition: producing a nauseating concotion of good football and bad music to get people named Cookie and Steve-O to watch the same thing and complain about Britney not singing enough or streamers left on the field in the way of the true players."

We NFL fans have gritted our teeth through enough preseason injuries to send our blood pressure soaring, and those who long ago secured their spot for the game shouldn't have to wonder if their favorite players are going to slip on a streamer left on the field from an overdone concert and light show.

After suffering through an episode of four men on "Around the Horn" stumbling over Spears' would-be "comeback concert," I've concluded that until players request to hold tackling practice at concerts or a fashion show, pop princesses should stay off the 50-yard line — even on "NFL Kickoff Live 2003."