Super Bowl week- should I bother

The people at the Houston Super Bowl did a super job. But you're complaining about Miami being too spread out and then praising Houston as a Super Bowl site?

 

I'm heading to town the weekend of the Super Bowl, mainly for curiosity sake, and to see a few friends coming in who don't otherwise come to town. (Most people I grew up with return for Indy 500 weekend.) Plus, it's the IUPUI-IPFW Can't Fit the School's Full Name on Twitter men's college basketball championship the day before the Super Bowl, and I can't miss that.

I should have rented my mother's house, though, because she's in Florida, and she lives only 10 minutes from one of the suburban Super Bowl shuttle stops.

Re clusterfuck: One thing I've had to plan around is that usually getting in and out of downtown Indianapolis is fairly easy, and parking isn't a problem. But with all the streets closed and garages set aside for the game (and others jacking up their rates), I'll have to rethink my strategy.

Also, and maybe this is hometown fanboi looser talking, if one cold-weather city is going to get the Super Bowl again, it'll be Indy. The downtown is built for an event like this -- everything close, within walking distance. The city has more than 30 years' experience hosting a variety of big-time sporting events. (If you included the Indy 500, more than 100 years' experience.) I'm sure there are going to be glitches, and some people will bitch, and no doubt the intensity of a Super Bowl is going to be unlike anything the city has ever seen. But Indianapolis is going to have its shit way more together than, say, Dallas, Detroit or Jacksonville.

 

The only one I've been to was Super Bowl XLI in Miami. It was spread way out (when it returned to Miami a few years later, I'm pretty sure they consolidated as much as they could in Fort Lauderdale), but in a way, it worked to prevent some of the gouging that's going to take place in Indy next week.

To wit, in Miami, you really had no choice but to be shuttle-bused to the stadium since the hotels were off-site (unless you stayed at the Miami Gardens Knights Inn and got a free crack vial with your continental breakfast). So, in theory, if you were an in-towner, you could park by the media hotel and ride the bus.

In Indy next week, as an in-towner, it's going to suck for me as the media hotels are near (but still a decent hike from) the stadium and in this "zone" they have blocked off. So I'm going to be have to be creative about not getting gouged.

But I didn't mind the experience. I wouldn't want to do it everyday, but in some ways, it was better than some other big events I've covered. I prefer it to the NCAA Tournament I covered last spring, where the NCAA treats you like you're a 5-year-old and gouges you like you're Warren Buffett.

 

You can park in mom's driveway for only $100, and I'll drive you to the shuttle bus for $15. Problem solved! No gouging here!

Actually, I hope the garages hired -- as extra attendants -- everyone who lives around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. They have experience at parking and handling large, lubed-up sporting crowds.

 

Except the yellow shirts. Fuck those guys.

 

I'd rather have Toofless Joe in his front yard handling parking. At least you can drink beer in his yard and use his fetid toilet.

 

Completely agree on Indy.... I think Chicago is set up in a way that would be pretty good for a Super Bowl and I think Denver wouldn't be bad either... That's not to say it will ever happen, but since the only time there are games in cold-weather cities is as a reward for cities that built new stadiums, I don't think we're going to see the Super Bowl in either city anytime soon or maybe ever, which I think is unfortunate.