Normally, on a Sunday, we'd look forward to some sexy NFL action. However, the season is over, and we're trying to hold on to the last sheds of the season that we can. Hey, Patriot fans do it! Believe it or not, u12 was actually on hand in Arizona during the Super Bowl. Thus, he did some reporting for us from Glendale. Unfortunately, his reporting is about two weeks late. Nonetheless, we didn't want good journalism to go to waste, so enjoy!
I know I know, the Super Bowl is over. Its been over for a while and now I am writing my post on it. I blew it, yeah. Well, nevertheless I hope you guys enjoy.
So Wednesday before Super Bowl Sunday I am on my way home from work and I am on the phone with a buddy of mine from college. We are shooting shit, discussing nothing important when I tell him how I really want to go on a roadtrip of some sort. Conversation ends, I go home. Within 15 minutes, I receive another phone call…”Dude, pack your bags its going down!”
"The Super Bowl party Civic!"Roughly 60 hours later, we are on the 10, passing through Palm Springs en route to Glendale, Arizona. Albeit 100 miles longer, the drive was significantly easier than the drive to the bay area. No cow poo smell, no large mountains to climb or windy 1 lane segments…just the famous Arizona hills and cactus surrounding the freeway lanes. Really, for about 200 miles of the trip you can’t tell you moved at all because the setting in the background does not change much.
"First cactus out of 232,242,123"Our first point of business was to take part in the activities at the stadium. Expecting huge buildings and attractions surrounding the stadium, we were mighty appalled by the isolation of the stadium. The only huge building worth noting was the University of Phoenix building, which offers great online degrees to you and yours! The stadium itself was quite remarkable and the festivities were also rather entertaining. I did notice that a surprisingly large number of athletes and past Super Bowl heroes did leave the stadium in S550’s; maybe that’s the car to buy after you retire who knows? There was a parade we witnessed, but that wasn’t really cool the only headline was Smokey the Bear. Numerous attempts were made to shake Smokey the Bear’s hand and take a picture with him, but the police denied our requests and Smoke pranced along. We were not pleased. Heading up north past the stadium a little bit, we found a tiny quiet little town where the inhabitants still think John Wayne and Pancho Villa are Gods. The bar was not fun, we left scared and confused.
"So this is what white people do for fun."Travelling from Glendale, through Phoenix, en route to Tempe, home of the Sun Devils and the biggest partyers in the country, we noticed how big Los Angeles really is. The entire state is comprised of 4 major cities; Tuscon, Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Tempe. All of which are relatively close to one another yet it definitely felt like we were in the desert when traveling from one city to the next.
Stopping at Mills Ave, opened our eyes to the world outside of the metropolitan Los Angeles and San Diego. Attempting to find a specific bar my friend was at, we asked random people bar hopping just like we were. The unprovoked kindness we were given while being directed to our destination was truly unforgettable. We even discussed how if this was LA, we probably would have been hit by a Gucci purse or punched by a gangster or something. Throughout the night it became more and more apparent that people in California are just meaner then people in Arizona.
"My friend had a major bladder problem."In my eyes it was split down the middle, 50-50 in terms of who people were rooting for. I saw just as many Shockey jerseys as I did Brady jerseys. The best sports article of clothing I saw were on the tops of 4 white women; with the name of Tom Brady crossed out by a big red encircled X. Take that Tom. And with as much garbage talking, and honking and hollering at people who were wearing opposing colors as you; the night was ridiculously mild and lacking tension of any sort. People were just out having a good time and enjoying the atmosphere.
Then it was gameday. Being cheap undergraduate and graduate college students, we found the 50 dollar parking 1 mile away from the stadium to be rather ridiculous. We circled the stadium a few times, saw 2 pimps in purple velvet suits walking to the stadium. We yelled and screamed at them. They nodded and shook their pimp canes at us smiling. It was a glorious Sunday afternoon. After making numerous circles and going to one empty bar after another, we found our way to Scottsdale, where ESPN was stationed, as well as the Bud Light girls, and a large population of sophisticated Arizonians. I cannot remember the name of the street we were on, but it felt just like Mills Ave next to Arizona State, except everyone had an extra 2 zeros at the end of their bank balance. Yet, this wasn’t the arrogant Hollywood crowd one might have expected. These were real fans jumping up and down, screaming, trash talking, making our Super Bowl experience worthwhile, all in a tasteful and clean manner.
"Not as sunny as I thought it would be."The predicting camel had spoken a while back suggesting the Giants would upset the Patriots. Yet, the Giants won the coin toss, suggesting that they would be like 17 of the past 21 teams and would lose the game. After the first half, who would win was inconclusive, but who was bored out of their mind was not. At this point, our 1 on 1 football game with a permanent quarterback and a cheerleader, held in the parking lot of a pizza parlor was significantly more exciting. The third quarter demonstrated only what the first and second quarter had established; and I found myself more impressed by the Italian soda my girlfriend had purchased then the game itself. The 4th quarter supplied enough excitement to make up for the first three, as well as place this game in the Super Bowl hall of fame as one of the best endings ever. Eli Manning’s courageous escape from the grasp of three defenders potentially was one of the most exciting plays in Super Bowl history. And in the end, Bill Belichick showed his poor sportsmanship and Michael Strahan showed the gigantic gap between his teeth and the biggest upset in the history of football had just unfolded. What was interesting was the reactions of the fans after the game; Patriots fans were actually showed severe disappointment. I truly expected most of the fans to not be so disheartened for they were probably band wagon fans anyway but I was really wrong. I will never forget the tears rolling down the eyes of a 70 year old man wearing an old school Patriots letterman jacket as he stands beside his wife, who was wearing the same jacket...such true fans.
Hovering around the ESPN setup where the post game show was to occur, we absorbed our last moments of the Super Bowl, hopped in the car, and set forth back to reality.
"So long Arizona." 
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