Steelers WR Hines Ward (knee) participated in practice Friday for the second straight day. He is listed as probable on the injury report for Super Bowl XLIII, though coach Mike Tomlin has insisted Ward will play.

There are a lot of ifs involved in Super Bowl XLIII. But here’s one of the biggest ifs of all.

Having played mostly well in brief appearances at quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Byron Leftwich believes he has at least put himself on the radar prominently enough to perhaps join another team as a starter next season.

Tampa? Well, not so gorgeous right now. In keeping up with our theme this week … well, it ended. The blue Tampa skies disappeared today, abruptly, with dark clouds and lots of rain in stretches.

Steelers WR Hines Ward returned to practice Thursday and fully participated in his team’s Super Bowl workout after resting his sprained right knee for over a week.

Punter Mitch Berger traveled a long and winding road to his first Super Bowl. The Pittsburgh Steelers are Berger’s ninth team during 15 seasons in the NFL.

NFL.com will be chatting live from Radio Row at Super Bowl XLIII’s media center in Tampa. Some of the names scheduled on the list are Adam Schefter, Terrell Davis, Jamie Dukes, Deion Sanders … just to name a few.

Chad Pennington kicked it outside on the NFL Network set Wednesday, showing why he’s a class act.

A long conversation with former Browns GM Phil Savage brought the subject back to football.

Hall of Fame tight end Mike Ditka could probably suit up and play on Sunday, even with a slight limp. At least he looks menacing enough to play. Dressed in all black, Ditka carries a presence with him wherever he goes.

DeAngelo Williams is here in Tampa, but he’s not going to the Super Bowl. He says the sting is still on from the Panthers’ loss to the Cardinals in the second round of the playoffs.

Cardinals running back Edgerrin James is playing in his first Super Bowl and he wants to make sure he does things big.

CBS-TV employs former Steelers coach Bill Cowher and former Cardinals offensive tackle Dan Dierdorf. Each has his own perspective, outlook and thoughts on Super Bowl XLIII.

Here are some of their ideas on some of Sunday’s issues:

Unless you’re there, Media Day is difficult to comprehend. It’s basically an event within the event, the three hours of Super Bowl week where covering the “news” becomes the news.

One of the highlights from the Steelers’ session at media include LB Keyaron Fox teaching a female Telemundo reporter dressed in a tight light-blue jersey, knee pads and high heels how to be a linebacker. “I was expecting a lot more serious questions,” Fox said. “But it’s all good. I’m just having fun with it.”