Our Hearst Newspapers office at the Main Press Center is within a few feet on Vancouver’s harbor of some absolutely breathtaking scenery — none of it, alas, visible from our cubicle. I’d rather be outside walking today than inside writing.

This will be the third time I’ve been on the road for a Winter Olympics on Super Bowl Sunday. Salt Lake City was no problem, but I skipped the game in 2006 because it aired at 2 a.m. or so Italian time.

CTV carries the game in Canada, but, horror of horrors, interposes its own commercials over the CBS commercials. I’m still trying to find a way to watch the U.S. commercials Sunday night, but it doesn’t look good.

Speaking of commercials, a subject that I cover in some detail in today’s Star section, CBS’ airing of Super Bowl’s Greatest Commercials on Wednesday night was viewed by 11.2 million viewers, which doubles the network’s normal audience for that time slot.

Bob Horowitz, executive producer of the show and president of Juma Entertainment, estimates that interest in Super Bowl commercials accounts for 30 percent of the show’s audience. And while he thinks that more ads like the Tim and Pam Tebow spot for Focus on the Family would reduce the entertainment value of Super Bowl Sunday, he doesn’t see that happening.

“I know all about the Supreme Court decision (which removed limits on corporate spending in political campaigns), and it makes all the sense in the world that we should be concerned,” Horowitz said. “If they can pluck down $3 million and get 30 seconds of exposure to 100 million people, that’s something to consider, but I don’t think that they will spend their money that way.

“What works in the Super Bowl, in the end result, is humor. I don’t think serious spots resonate. Funny spots resonate. If you’re hard-selling cars or saying my beer has fewer calories, I don’t think the ear focuses in on that.”

Sunday’s Super Bowl section will detail the pregame features on CBS, NFL Network and ESPN. As for what to expect Sunday, NFL Today analyst Shannon Sharpe thinks he has a fairly clear picture.

“If the Colts don’t turn the ball over, I don’t see how they lose this ballgame,” Sharpe said. “Peyton Manning lives in a zone 8 by 10 yards wide and 10 yards deep. If you can get him out of there, you can cause problems. If you can’t …”

Dan Marino also said the game hinges on the Saints’ ability to pressure Manning.

“You have to have that pressure on him the whole game, basically, or he’s going to tear you up,” Marino said. “You have to play a perfect game, you have to get pressure on him, and you have to find a way to limit his possessions.”

As for Sunday’s audience, Sean McManus, president of CBS Sports and News, isn’t making any predictions.

“If we get a close game, we’ll get an extraordinary rating, and if we get an OK game, we’ll get a really good rating because of the story lines,” McManus said.

McManus said this year’s extraordinary NFL ratings were the result, in part, of the Brett Favre factor, an intriguing race in the NFC East, and a tight playoff race down the stretch in the AFC.

“As people have less time to go out of their homes or some people have less money to go out, it just seems that the NFL is becoming the No. 1 attraction for more and more people,” he said.