We are one week away from Super Bowl 54 in Miami. My pick for that contest is the Chiefs over the 49ers by 4. Anyway, the hoopla and hype for the big game reminds me of a memorable trip I made to a Super Bowl in Atlanta back in 2000.
It all started in November of 1999 when I was helping my mother negotiate her purchase of a new Chevy Cavalier at Roesch Chevrolet. When the trade-in of her old Grand Marquis and the final price of the new ride were settled there was dealer paperwork to finish. While waiting for that to happen, my mom filled out my name and info on an entry form from Chevrolet and Sports Radio AM 1000 to win a trip for two to the Super Bowl in January.
A month later AM1000 called to say I was one of 25 people selected to be part of a live on the air drawing at the ESPN Zone in early January. It was a ‘reverse drawing’ where if your name was picked from the box you were eliminated from the contest. I showed up and it got down to two last contestants, me and a woman about my age. With her final pick from the box she pulled out her own name and I won the trip! This was all on the air and it wasn’t lost on anyone that AM 1000 radio was giving away a free all expense paid trip to an employee of US*99 radio. It made for good laughs at the irony.
Since mom turned down my offer to go on this trip with me, I recruited my close pal and local sports talk show host/reporter Mark Vasko to be my guest. Marko once landed us 7th row tickets to see Bruce Springsteen’s solo acoustic show at the Rosemont Theater so I gladly paid my buddy a return favor.
The prize package included two airline tickets and two hotel rooms for three nights, money for a rental car and of course tickets to the Super Bowl. The game was a match-up between the St. Lous Rams’ “Greatest Show on Turf” featuring re-born quarterback Kurt Warner and the Tennessee Titans who won an early play-off game with a crazy last second pass play that was dubbed “The Music City Miracle.”
Marko and I flew out of O’Hare on Friday morning. Upon landing at Hartsfield airport we decided against renting a car since the Atlanta Metro MARTA system was guaranteed to take us everywhere we needed to go that weekend. That car rental money was used to buy weekend transit passes and some meals afterwards.
After checking in to our rooms we took MARTA to the Super Bowl media headquarters in downtown Atlanta. At that locale we saw more famous former NFL players, coaches and of course broadcasters than we could count. AM 1000 program director Mitch Rosen cordially invited us into a mobile unit where their show was going on live and we had a blast on radio row.
That night we saw the Atlanta Hawks take on the New York Knicks at the new Phillips Sports Arena. Miraculously the Hawks beat Patrick Ewing’s Knicks in overtime. We spent the bulk of the next day at the NFL Experience. That adventure is a hands-on interactive playground for football fans. We kicked field goals, hit tackling dummies and checked out more cool sights with the thousands of fans on hand for the weekend. Super Bowl weekend can be best described as Mardi Gras meets New Year’s Eve meets a championship football game. A total party atmosphere!
Saturday night Marko and I had dinner at a steakhouse in the trendy Buckhead area of Atlanta. After that, as single young men we opted to check out some live female interpretive dancing. Hailing a cab we asked our driver what was Dixie’s best gentleman’s club. (The Atlanta yellow pages lists about a hundred such places) He told us most NBA players opted for The Cheetah so off to that club we went. Let’s just say this driver knew what he was talking about! Ninety minutes and many single dollar bills later, Marko and I had enough of the naked pole & table dancers and MARTA’d back to our hotel.
The next day was the Super Bowl and the intensity of that game was like nothing I ever experienced at a sports event before. Each play’s importance was amped up 100%. Our seats were halfway up the Georgia Dome’s balcony level in the end zone but we could see all the action perfectly. The Titans made a valiant 4th quarter comeback and missed tying the game on the very last play when Steve Mc Nair’s pass got Kevin Dyson within one yard of scoring as he was tackled by Rams linebacker Mike Jones. It was a frantic, insane scene and a great game!
Our flight the day after the game didn’t leave until late in the afternoon so Marko and I toured the CNN Headquarters, Centennial Park (where that bomb went off at the ’96 Olympics) and The World of Coca Cola where we tasted many stylings and flavors of Coke. We also heard the news that Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis was with two friends who were involved in a post Super Bowl street fight where a man was stabbed to death in Buckhead. Lewis testified against those friends and took a guilty charge of obstruction that got him probation. Eventually the two men charged were acquitted as it was ruled they acted in self defense. Ray Lewis then led the Ravens to their own Super Bowl title in 2001 and while he was that game’s controversial MVP, the “I’m going to Disneyworld” commercial honors went to quarterback Trent Dilfer.
So thanks to a once in a lifetime drawing win, I got to experience a Super Bowl for very little money spent. (Save for the Cheetah Club) I love watching all Super Bowls because it is such a big deal event and one day and hope to make it to another one in person. Whether the Bears play in that ‘Big Game’ is anybody’s guess.
NEXT WEEK: A big week in Country music birthdays.