SAN JOSE, Calif. — Thirty years ago, when Carolina Coach Ron Rivera played in the Super Bowl, his coach was Mike Ditka, a man known as Iron Mike. Rivera was a linebacker, and today he remains a large, imposing man with an aura of steely authority.
When it came time for Rivera to impose a team rule on something as traditionally symbolic as his players’ curfew during Super Bowl week, 30 years of history might have suggested that Rivera would be strict.
Instead, Rivera has instituted what amounts to a nighttime sign-in sheet at the team’s hotel, as if the players were checking into an office building, a library or a doctor’s office.