Coach's daughter, wife to miss game

DETROIT - Mike Holmgren didn't even give the Super Bowl a thought last autumn when he urged his wife to sign up for a medical mission to Africa.

Four months later, his Seattle Seahawks are playing for the title in Detroit, and his wife is packing for Congo, where she'll treat villagers and wonder about the outcome of a game a world away.

"I'm very proud of her," Holmgren said. "She works very hard at a lot of things that are a lot more important than coaching a football game. Her heart's here, even though she is going to be in Africa with my daughter.

"She gets nervous at the games anyway. I told her she doesn't watch any of the game anyway."

Kathy Holmgren started her nursing career as a missionary to Congo. One of the couple's twin daughters, Calla, is a gynecologist who signed up for a mission to Africa with Northwest Medical Teams International, Inc.

When he found out that their 33-year-old daughter was going to Congo, Holmgren suggested that his wife accompany her. They'll be in a group of eight volunteers.

"I'll let her know who wins when she gets back," Holmgren said.

GATE CRASHERS: NFL MVP Shaun Alexander and several other Seattle Seahawks got a jolt when their van was struck by a mechanical security fence. The players were jostled from their seats, but said no one was injured.

Alexander, Matt Hasselbeck, Steve Hutchinson, Walter Jones and Michael Boulware were on their way to a downtown news conference when the accident occurred.

Alexander said the players were in the second of two vans transporting the Seahawks. He said the first van was full of team public relations personnel and cleared through the gate crossing without incident - "of course," he joked.

But the van carrying Alexander and the all-stars was struck from the side and below by automatic gates while trying to get through the entrance at the hotel complex.

"It was crazy," Alexander said. "We all got tossed around a bit inside. But we're all OK."

Alexander said he saw Pittsburgh running back Jerome Bettis coming out of the hotel.

"I said to him, 'Do you have one of those automatic things to push the gates down?'

He said, 'No, it wasn't me,'" Alexander said.