The Super Bowl - Another Jewel in the Freeloader Crown

Needless to say the Super Bowl extravaganza was top notch. The Old Man and I crashed the Patriots hotel and for three nights we had a fabulous time.

Friday was a DirecTV client dinner not too far from our hotel. The highlight were two very well told Rupert Murdoch stories (in an Australian accent I might add). The company was great and it was a long evening but well worth it.

Saturday we played golf at Greyhawk (Phil Mickelson's home course). It proved a bit daunting for us but its hard to beat golf in the desert in February. The afternoon was a nice lazy break sorting through our free stuff and than it was off to dinner.

Dinner was a bit more formal. We sat other dealers in a sit down fashion and were treated to speech by none other than Joe Montana.

Needless to say if Joe performed on the field the way he did on the podium he wouldn't have been the Hall of Famer we came to know and love. I think I saw someone hand him a roll of stamps as he approached the podium as he was clearly ready to mail it in.

The night progressed with drinks and stories back at the hotel.

Sunday was a cloudy day and a bit cool even by Arizona standards. We headed off to a neighboring hotel for breakfast and yet another keynote speaker. We lucked out this time because the speaker was Wade Phillips. Wade clearly got the gift of gab from his old man Bum and regaled stories for about 30 minutes. It was very entertaining. The highlight being a story involving Earl Campbell.

Back in the early 80's Earl reported to camp and during the first day of drills the players were running a timed mile workout. Earl got about halfway through it and collapsed, exhausted. The press went nuts and ran over to Bum asking him repeatedly, "Bum what are you going to do? Earl can't even run a mile?" Bum's response, "well hell if its third and a mile we won't give it to him."

We boarded to bus for Glendale and out of the desert you see a large aluminum barrel that houses a football stadium. Glendale is still a town in flux because there is a working a cattle ranch right next to the stadium. However, the place itself is a palace. Never has a team been so unworthy of a facility this fantastic than the woeful Arizona Cardinals.

All that aside we headed off the bus to the NFL Tailgate. The Tailgate is a very exclusive party where everything is free, stars are plentiful and everything is free. We spent two hours drinking eating great food and spotting the likes of Roger Federer, Rupert Murdoch, Jerry Rice, Jerry Jones and a bunch more I can't remember. Willie Nelson played the main stage (we were too far way to smell the weed).

After a stop off at the scrum that was the souvenir stand we headed into the UOP Stadium. We had fantastic lower level seats in the corner of the endzone. Patriots backup QB Matt Cassell's entire family was behind us.

As you can imagine the game itself was amazing. The Giants dominated the first quarter and we started to think they could win the game. It stayed close throughout with the Pats seemingly making mistake after mistake that they never made all year. Had we known that the Pats had a former Iowa State man in the defensive backfield we would have never wavered in the Giants coming back and winning.

But we didn't and that made it all the more amazing when the Giants pulled it out. Manning pulling a Houdini and getting away from the Pats "D" and than hitting David Tyree (who was covered like a blanket by Rodney Harrison) was historic. The final TD capped an extraordinary event that will not be forgotten anytime soon.

We headed back to hotel and had a few drinks with some new friends we made. Patriot players came and went and they seemed a bit stunned by trying to enjoy themselves with their families. We retired late yet again and headed out in the AM back to MPLS. It was a time I know we won't and a memory that I know will last for our lifetimes.