Take 2: Super Bowl memories – and free advice about where game should stay
The Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks will head to New Jersey for Super Bowl XLVIII. Shaw Media's Hub Arkush and Tom Musick discuss:
Musick: Hub, we'll have all kinds of time to break down the Xs and Os of the Super Bowl. For now, though, I'm more interested in hearing about the absolute circus that is Super Bowl week. You go to these games, you know about the big parties that take place leading up to the game. What's the strangest thing you've seen?
Arkush: Ah yes, the most overhyped, overdone, overrated week in sports. Don't get me wrong, Tom, I love the Super Bowl and it's a privilege to cover it. But it's almost as if you have to find a way to survive the craziness the week of just to make it to the game. I started with Super Bowl XIII in Miami, January of 1979 with the Steelers meeting the Cowboys. So a little quick math says this will be my 36th straight Super Bowl. Don't worry, I know that doesn't make me cool. Just old. But what's the strangest thing I've seen? That'd be like identifying the smallest pea in a full Green Giant can. I can tell you the most annoying waste of time annually has become media day, which takes place every year on the Tuesday before the game. That's when 1,500 or so of the total 3,500-plus credentialed media - it's actually about 300 or 400 working journalists and 1,000-plus jesters and clowns - show up at the stadium to visit for an hour with each team, all the players in uniform, as prelude to the team Super Bowl photos. Always fun to see the real media trying to work while the clowns try to annoy.
Musick: Gosh, imagine how many clowns will show up now that one of their own (Pete Carroll) will play a key role in the game. But I still think you're cool, Hub. In fact, I think you're 36 times cooler than when you went to your first Super Bowl. Through all of those years, and all of those venues, which has been the best game? The best city? The worst game? The worst city?
Arkush: Sure, 36 times cooler and 37 times balder! Let's hit the easy part first. I've written many times through the years that New Orleans should be the permanent home of the Super Bowl. Beyond being the greatest party city in the world, with the Dome and an abundance of hotels, incredible restaurants and bars all within walking distance of the French Quarter and the 'River' as central gathering points, it's the best. Almost all my favorite Super Bowls have been there. Actually, Indianapolis did a fantastic job a couple of years ago, but it got amazingly lucky with the weather that week and I don't know if you could count on that again? South Florida is always nice and San Diego is great. I was not as wild about Los Angeles, San Francisco or Phoenix as Super Cities. Jacksonville was a mess and Dallas may have been the worst Super Bowl week ever. Detroit and Minnesota pose the same issues as New York, but at least the games were indoors. Best game - can I keep my job if I don't say Da' Bears 46 - Patriots 10, in New Orleans? The worst game was also in New Orleans, 49ers 55 - Broncos 10.
Musick: Which brings us to the Big Apple. I don't know about you, but I'm rooting for snow, sleet, wind and freezing cold. Maybe throw in a polar vortex while we're at it.
Arkush: I'm with you man, this was a bad idea from the get go and I hope the guys who made this decision pay for it. We all see the downside, but what I've been trying to figure out all along is what's the upside? I hope they pay - but wait a minute, I'm going to be there. Maybe we could skip the polar vortex?
Jan. 17, 2014 - 11:15 pm
Jan. 17, 2014 - 11:14 pm
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