The Enquirer's Mark Curnutte reports the sights and sounds this week from Super Bowl XL in Detroit.

JANUARY IN DETROIT

Organizers of the Motown Winter Blast have been forced to make snow this year. Temperatures were in the 50s this weekend, and the only precipitation came down in the form of rain. A year ago at this time, the streets of downtown were clogged with the real stuff. The event begins Thursday, and visitors are being tempted with promises of a 200-foot snow slide and a dog sled ride. Super Bowl XL will be played indoors at Ford Field. The weather here this weekend is more pleasant than it was a year ago in Jacksonville, Fla., but that could change overnight.

STARTING EARLY

An event billed as the "Super Bowl Eve Pre Pre Party" was held Saturday evening at the Detroit Masonic Temple. It featured performances by the Four Tops, the Miracles, the Contours, the Dramatics, the Former Ladies of the Supremes, Freda Payne, Brenda Holloway, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, the Velvelettes and the Funk Brothers.

OXFORD LOVES BEN, TOO

Ed Begley, the manager of the Kroger grocery store in Oxford, is preparing a giant congratulatory card for Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger - who played at Miami University - that shoppers can sign all week in the store. Fans also can sign the card at the Miami basketball game Feb. 12 at Millett Hall. Then the card will be sent to Roethlisberger, said Miami sports information director Mike Harris.

WANNA BET?

After Pittsburgh opened as a four-point favorite, the line on Super Bowl XL hasn't moved much, according to www.Gambling911.com. "It is basically a choice between Pittsburgh minus 3½ and minus 4," said Christopher Costigan, founder and president of the Web site. "We had a handful of online sportsbooks list this one briefly at minus 4½ midweek but that's about the only variation in this line."

HERE THEY ARE

Detroit television stations showed tape on their 6 p.m. newscasts of the Seahawks' plane arriving Sunday at Detroit Metro airport in Romulus, Mich. Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, coach Mike Holmgren and Boone County's own Shaun Alexander were the three featured Seahawks shown walking down the steps from the jet.

ONE FOR THE THUMB

Pittsburgh will try to join the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys as the only franchises to win five Super Bowls. The Steelers are 4-1, having lost Super Bowl XXX 27-17 to Dallas. The Cowboys are 5-3. The 49ers are 5-0.

INFLATION

Each member of the winning team will receive a $73,000 winner's share. In Super Bowl I, won by Green Bay, it was $15,000.

STAR POWER

The appeal of the Super Bowl extends way beyond the athletic event into other areas of popular culture. The pre-game show Sunday will feature Stevie Wonder. And missing no chance to promote its good deeds, in this case the efforts to rebuild the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the NFL will haul out New Orleans natives Dr. John and Aaron Neville to sing with Aretha Franklin. The Rolling Stones will sing in the halftime slot filled last year by Paul McCartney.