The Sportsinista's Experiences Galivanting Around Super Bowl XLVI

Super Bowl XLVI is officially in the books as the most watched TV show/event in the history of television. Kinda crazy that I had a tiny part in that. As many of you know, I had the opportunity to work at the NFL Experience for 10 days leading up to the Super Bowl. The NFL Experience is a giant NFL theme park of sorts as guests could get their picture taken with the Lombardi trophy, get autographs from current & former NFL players, and play a ton of interactive games to test their football skills. On Super Bowl Sunday, I worked the official NFL Tailgate party for 10,000 VIP's that included live performances from The Fray and Lenny Kravitz. So I basically got paid to welcome people to Tailgate and listen to these mini concerts - not too shabby. Here are some of my celeb sightings/run-ins/stories from my experience parading around Super Bowl XLVI in Indy! ***Warning: If you become easily jealous, you may want to stop reading now***

The Official Media Hotel at Super Bowl XLVI

In the celeb sighting business? Word to the wise, just hang out in the lobby of the hotel where most of them are staying. Case in point with the Super Bowl. Everyday I would literally just sit in a comfy chair in the hotel lobby of the JW Marriott (which was the media hotel for Super Bowl week) and look like I semi-belonged there. This included typing at a feverish pace on my laptop, checking Twitter from my phone or pretending to talk about certain "meetings" that needed to be rescheduled. You shouldn't dress like a slouch either. How legit would you think someone would be if you saw them in sweats and a baseball hat at a major media event? Yeah I didn't think so. No need to be in a full-out leisure suit, but dress like a real person nonetheless. Sporting official credentials doesn't hurt either, even if yours have nothing to do that area of the Super Bowl. All media personnel had a giant "M" on their credential, where I on the other hand had a good 'ol "X" for the NFL Experience. But something is better than nothing!

Now on to the good stuff. Here is a list of my celeb sightings at the JW Marriott:

Me and Willie McGinest

• Dan Patrick: My 1st celeb run-in as I entered the hotel lobby, Dan was coming out to his car and like a total dweeb, I yell out "Hey Dan! Big fan!". Luckily he ignored my total dorkdom and reached out his hand. Score.
• Coach Brian Billick: Billick was casually sitting on a bench in the lobby, I went up to him and introduced myself and said I was a fan of him all the way back in his Vikings days (aka the glory years). He was like "Wow that's going back a ways". Good guy.
• Warren Sapp: Saw him waiting for his car in the lobby. Pretty sure I sat in the seat he was sitting in after he left as the cushion was pretty flattened.
• John Clayton: On my way to work in the convention center, was chatting up a random guy. Definitely as tiny as he appears on TV.
• Mike Lupica: This NY Times writer and Best Selling Author was having breakfast in the hotel restaurant. He definitely glanced my way a few times.
• Tom Jackson
• Coach Marvin Lewis
• Sage Steele: Saw her curly hair a mile away! Sage and I have a solid relationship since meeting her a year ago. Chatted me up for about 10 minutes. Love that woman.
• Mike Ditka: As I was talking with Sage, all of the sudden she says "Oh there is one of my favorite men in the world" and before I know it, Ditka is walking by looking totally confused with his shades still on. He stops to give Sage a hug and proceeds to ask her where to get to his room when the elevators are right in front of him. Definition of hot mess.
• Tony Gonzalez
• Willie McGinest: One of my fav Patriots of all time was getting ready for his NFL Network broadcast where he is an analyst and I stopped him and asked for a picture. Was super nice and smelled amazing. Double bonus points.
• Bob Ryan (Boston Globe writer and occasional host of PTI)
• Curt Schilling: Curveball of the week.
• Doug Flutie
• Jerry Rice
• Coach Dick Vermeil: Stood behind him on the escalator.

Now if you weren't already jealous, here's a list of celebs/ESPN personalities/athletes that I saw walking around the NFL Experience, the Super Bowl Village or NFL Tailgate :)

• Merill Hoge
• Rachel Nichols
• Clay Matthews
• Adam Schefter
• Trey Wingo 
• Teddy Bruschi
• Ron Jawarski
• Greg Jennings
• Drew Rosenhaus: When we were closing the NFL Experience for the night, some dude with a leather jacket and slicked back hair asked a co-worker of mine directions to a sponsor tent. Turned out to be agent-extraordinaire, Drew Rosenhaus. A fellow manager and I (also a female) caught up with him and asked him for a picture where he proceeded to deny us saying that he was "late to pick up a client". He couldn't take 1 minute to take a picture with 2 girls and didn't even say sorry. Lived up to his dick reputation.
• Michael Strahan
• Billy Baldwin: Another hot mess.
• Alec Baldwin
• B.O.B.

My SportsNation Story

SportsNation is legitmately one of my favorite shows on TV and pretty easy to say that Michelle Beadle is one of my idols. The chick is unfiltered, hilarious, and provides commentary that I agree with 90% of the time - a rare feat in my world. Once I heard that SportsNation was going to be doing a live broadcast from Super Bowl Village all week before the big game, I knew I had to go a taping. Problem was that I worked everyday during their broadcast until Friday. My friend Liz and I stood in line beginning at 3 pm for the 5 pm broadcast and managed to score front row seats. Of course we had to be at work at 5:15, so the one time I get front row seats to anything, I had to give them up - just my luck. I just wanted to show Beadle my sign and maybe get the chance to meet her so it wasn't the end of the world.

"Beadle is my homegirl"

Let me back up a second. SportsNation is a show that encourages fans to bring signs to live tapings, so you better believe I was going to bring a sign for my girl Beadle. Here's what my sign said -->
Simple, to the point, and something I knew Beadle would appreciate.

Back to the show. Colin and Michelle came out to sign autographs 10 minutes prior to the show. Here comes my big moment. I yell out to Beadle once she comes out "Beadle is my Homegirl!". Through the fray of the whooping and hollering, Beadle heard me and looked up to see my sign and gave me the crucial head nod acknowledgment. I knew I got her attention. She makes her way down the row and finally gets to me. She stops, looks at my sign, and says "So this is awesome!" Great successsss! I told her that I tweeted a picture of the sign to her before the show so she could "be on the lookout" for it and then she said, "Oh are you Holly? Its' so nice to meet you!" SHE KNEW MY NAME!!!! I felt like the kid from Jingle All the Way when Turbo Man calls him out of the crowd by name, but I digress. So it clearly shows that she reads her tweets and listens to her fans. Her reputation as a rad chick is confirmed and my year has been made - Thanks Beads!

Me and one of my idols, Michelle Beadle

Clearly, I had an amazing time working at the Super Bowl and I applaud you if you are still reading this novel. Until next time...

The Sportsinista

Stick to Your Day Job

Yesterday, the NBA made it official that the first two weeks of the season has been canceled. Shocker. Is anyone really surprised after reports that the player’s union and the owners are millions upon millions of dollars apart in their demands. With no clear end in sight, I’m sure we’ll see players starting to make the pilgrimage to play overseas. But before we begrudgingly wish them bon voyage, let’s look back at what they’ve been up to over the last few months.

         
Summer is a time where companies are suddenly imbedded with wide-eyed, enthusiastic interns. Gofer, Professional Photocopier, and Starbucks Regular are all titles that the typical intern possesses. Well almost every intern. Those that haven’t signed multi-million dollar contracts that is. But this summer, we welcomed a new type of intern to the category: the NBA Player.

         
Yes, it’s an odd idea to think that a professional athlete could be an intern, but several players have proved that notion to be wrong. Blake Griffin has been a Video Production Intern for Funny or Die, Andre Iguodala interned for Bank of America Merrill Lynch – for a week mind you but nonetheless an internship, and Brandon Jennings was given the title “Curator of Cool” for Under Armour (got an office and everything). Now I’m all for people expanding their skill set, but let’s be real, do we seriously believe that these guys are fetching lunch for their boss? Yeah I didn’t think so either. It’s a tad laughable that they were labeled interns. I would’ve loved to see what they were doing on a daily basis, especially Brandon Jennings – I mean what does a “Curator of Cool” do anyways?

Some players missed their opportunity to grow their personal brand though. For instance, Kevin Durant would have been a perfect addition to JanSport Backpacks; I mean he is the authority on them. Chris “The Birdman” Anderson had a variety of options like interning at the Denver Zoo or LA Ink. And the most obvious one that missed the boat is Brian “The Janitor” Cardinal who could’ve been…well a janitor.

Some players have done other crazy things with their time other than interning (props to Fox Sports for the inspiration of this list)

• Roy Hibbert made a cameo on Parks & Recreation last week (great use of his time if you ask me)
• Ron Artest aka Metta World Peace had a short stint on Dancing with the Stars and did a stand-up comedy show?
• Kevin Love channeled his Chad Ochocinco by trying to become a 2-sport athlete playing in the Jose Cuervo USA Volleyball Manhattan Beach Open (which he lost his opening round match in straight sets)
• Kris Humphries...goes without saying as to what he's been up to...ugh
• John Wall and Eric Bledsoe went back to school and now are student coaches for UK. I personally would have made them student managers...
• Luke Walton as an Assistant Coach for the University of Memphis (maybe the players can teach him some things as well, just saying)
• Paul Pierce trying his hand at the World Series of Poker
• Kyle Lowry as a reporter for FOX Sports Houston

My personal advice to these players: stick to your day job.

2011 NFL QB Preview

Is is me or are people more excited for football this year? If I had to answer my own question (which would've happened inevitably anyways), the answer would be a resounding YES! This summer, people freaked out over the possibility of not having football this fall (indeed I was one of these people that were shaking in their boots). Could you imagine? No fantasy football, no excuses to veg out in front of the TV on Sundays? I think ESPN would literally have lost their mind as well and cut down SportsCenter to a mere 17 minutes. But, thankfully we don't have to think about such a nightmare anymore (at least for another 10 more years). Here are some of my opinions about the upcoming season, QB style:

• Jacksonville had a decent shot of winning the AFC South. Not anymore since the Garrard departure. Blaine Gabbert is the future, but to cut your starting QB with a week to go before the season, doesn't make sense. 
• Garrard will end up in Seattle or San Francisco (wow I wouldn't want to be a fan of the 49ers right now). And T-Jack is not the answer in the Pacific Northwest. What about the Buffalo Bills? Ryan Fitzpatrick is even less of an answer.
• Even though he's not the starter in Oakland, the Terelle Pryor Project won't last long...nor should it.
• Peyton's new neck surgery sounds serious...Anterior Fusion of the neck sounds like something out of Star Trek.
• Young QB's such as Colt McCoy, Matthew Stafford & Sam Bradford have a lot to prove this year - although not many people are talking about them.
• Tom Brady has a had a great preseason, despite not playing that much and Aaron Rodgers has too many weapons not to be in the conversation of MVP (Brady & Rodgers are my finalists).
• Michael Vick will have a solid year, not as good as last year however.
• McNabb looks like the QB of old and regains his confidence from the disastrous experiment in D.C. But the question is will that O-Line hold up for him?
• The tribe has spoken on Cam Newton and he won't be in the finals for Rookie of the Year honors.

America's Sweethearts

So I have to admit, it’s been a depressing couple of days. I’ve had to turn off SportsCenter and try my very bestest of staying off Twitter. No I didn’t get hit in the head and have a sudden change in personality, but I have been in mourning from the loss of the US in the Women’s World Cup Final against Japan.

These were my girls. I was reliving my glory years of playing soccer for the greater part of 13 years of my life. I was living vicariously through this team as they overcame all odds to make the final. I still remember watching the ’99 Final vs. China and that faithful moment where Brianna Scurry made that incredible save and the sports bra seen ‘round the world. That moment inspired me so much to try and be just like that team. That team gave little girls like me and the rest of the sold out Rose Bowl a dream to be like them.

But this ’11 team had a different dynamic to it. Sure this team had the Wambach, Rapinoe, Morgan and Solo, but they were arguably much lesser known than the “Dream Team” of women’s soccer back in the day that had Michelle Akers, Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain, Brianna Scurry and Julie Foudy. Although that fateful game went to PK’s, but they had a much easier road to the final than this current team. Resiliency is the word that comes to mind when thinking of this squad. Many people forget that they struggled to qualify for this World Cup, despite winning the gold medal in the ’08 Beijing Olympics. This team wasn’t even a glimmer on the radar of the sports world. Despite many criticisms of this team in their struggle to qualify, they hit their stride at the right time and stepped up on the world’s grandest stage. They showed resiliency with the ridiculous refereeing during the Brazil game. They showed resiliency to literally come back from the dead in the final minute. That game will forever be etched in my memory as one of the greatest sporting events I have ever seen. The drama, the passion, the determination. You just can’t make that stuff up.

Sure the ’99 World Cup team put women’s sports on the map and will forever hold a special place in my heart, but the ’11 team has launched the sport into another stratosphere. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the facts:

•    At the start of the tournament, the team had 3 print reporters and no cameras present at the USA press conference. Before the Final, this was the photo that ESPN reporter Bob Ley tweeted.
•    At the end of the Women’s World Cup Final, Twitter recorded that the match produced 7,196 tweets/second about #USWNT – a new record.
•    The team returned to thousands of supporters in NYC earlier this week and tapped segments on The Early Show, The Today Show, Good Morning America, Late Show with David Letterman, Access Hollywood, ESPN’s SportsNation and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
•    Numerous notable athletes such as Michael Strahan, Chad Ochocinco, Reggie Bush, Aaron Rodgers, LeBron James, Blake Griffin and Dirk Nowitski actively tweeted throughout the tournament showing their support.
•    Wambach & Co. won an ESPY for the year’s “Best Play” – an award voted on by the fans.

All of this while losing in the Final. Pretty impressive.

And sure there are a lot of haters out there saying that they choked in their biggest game of their lives. People who say that they choked clearly don’t know a whole lot about soccer. Penalty kicks do not define how you played in a game. Just gotta give a tip of the hat to Japan. I also thoroughly disagree that people think this will do nothing for women’s soccer in terms of growing the popularity of the sport. The result from the ’99 World Cup helped create an area for women’s professional sports and aided in the creation of the Women’s Professional Soccer league (WPS). The average sports fan probably didn’t even know this sort of thing existed. Let’s face it, the league has been on life-support for some time now, but I believe that this team’s success was the volt that this league so badly needed. The WPS regular season resumed tonight with the Western New York Flash facing MagicJack in front of a SOLD OUT crowd. Marketers will also be salivating at the chance to partner with such classy and well-spoken athletes like Rapinoe, Wambach, Solo and Captain Christie Rampone.

ESPN reporter, Stuart Scott, said it best, “@1stuartscott Womens sports haters Grow up!! Terms of pride, drama athleticsm Heart, courage, significance..USA over Brazil..BEST SPORTING EVENT ALL YEAR!”

So even though my girls came up a little short in the end, I’m proud to say that I’m a fan of this team and of their accomplishments. Cheers to the ’12 London games, we’ll be watching.

The March toward the Big Dance

March: one of the best months of the year. March marks the start of Spring, MLB Spring Training, and  Shamrock Shakes from McDonald's. Oh yeah and that little thing called College Basketball.

I was recently given an assignment for my Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics class, to describe in 500 words or less "what has transpired in the 2010-2011 NCAA Men's College Basketball season. 500 words or less? I could go on for 5,000 words about the craziness that has been college basketball this season. With countless storylines, this proved to be an oddly difficult task. But here is a glimpse of my take on the college basketball world this season:

The 2010-2011 NCAA Men’s Basketball season has been a wild one to say the least. Full of upsets, surprises and tremendous individual play, this season will go down as a one-of-a-kind season for many years to come.

There hasn’t been a clear-cut #1 for the entirety of the season. Duke, Ohio State and Kansas have been trading place all season due to major upsets like Wisconsin beating Ohio State and Duke falling to Virginia Tech. The difference between the preseason USA Today rankings and the current rankings are staggering. Ten teams who are currently ranked were not even on the preseason top 25 lists, like Brigham Young, San Diego State, St. John’s, Notre Dame and Arizona among others. Most notably absent from the current top 25 rankings are Michigan State and Kansas State, who were thought to be #2 and #3 respectively. It’s most surprising that a Tom Izzo team is 5^th in the Big Ten with a conference record of 8-8 and an over record of 16-12. Yes, the Spartans have the 5^th toughest schedule in college basketball, but they have been wildly inconsistent down the stretch. On the flip side of that spectrum how about the spectacular play of St. John’s? Basketball in New York has finally been resurrected with Steve Lavin at the helm. Lavin is a sure-fire Coach of the Year candidate as he has his squad believing that they can play with anyone in the country (that solid spread-eagle jump on the sidelines doesn't hurt his chances either). And they can! St. John’s currently has the 4^th toughest schedule and they still have beaten teams like Georgetown, Notre Dame, Duke, Pittsburgh and Connecticut. This impressive resume no doubt has made them into a formidable team and I predict this team to make some noise come in the tourny.     

Little known teams such as BYU and San Diego State are also wrecking havoc on the men’s college basketball game. San Diego State is coached by Steve Fisher, who coached Michigan’s “Fab Five”, made it to 3 Final Fours and captured 1 national championship. The Aztecs will need his leadership and experience come tournament time as SDSU has never won a game in the tournament in it’s 6 appearances. Brigham Young has also shocked the basketball world this season with the tremendous play of Jimmer Fredette (who names their kid Jimmer anyways?). The Jimmer has catapulted his team and himself onto the national scene. Fredette is leading the nation with a stellar 27.3 points per game with an ankle breaking crossover and a seemingly never-ending range. Much like Bieber Fever, Jimmer Mania is sweeping over the nation as his jerseys and other memorabilia are consistently sold out at campus bookstores. Fredette is widely being talked about as a Player of the Year candidate along with Nolan Smith, Jared Sullinger and Derrick Williams, but the national stage will make or break his chances. Could this be the year that Jimmer Fredette and BYU makes it’s first ever Final Four?

See, 500 words doesn't scratch the surface of this season (sorry Dr. Clavio, I cheated and used 507 words, that last sentence was pure money). Didn't even have space to mention the UCONN recruiting scandal and how Bruce Pearl should've been out a long time ago at Tennessee. Didn't have time to mention the superior play of the Big East and the disappointment of the ACC (does Wake Forest only have one conference win?). March Madness will be taken to a whole new level this year, so sit back and enjoy the show! Even if it is from the comfort of your desk chair at work (c'mon I know you will be watching online when suppose to be making conference calls).

Cutler the Wimp?

Jay Cutler is a name that is not popular with Chicago Bears fans this morning. Numerous #6 jerseys were burned reminiscent of the LeBron burn in Cleveland. One player is being blamed for the loss against in the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship game yesterday not because of his play on the field, but because he didn't play at all.

Jay Cutler was sidelined in the 2nd half of yesterday's epic match-up between the longtime rivals, the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears, due to an apparent knee injury. But there was no gut-wrenching play that caused this injury. Nope there was just Cutler on the sidelines appearing to stare off into space as Todd Collins and Caleb Hanie took over the helm. Twitter and Facebook status' have blown up at the lack of toughness that Cutler displayed that game. People got down right nasty about it! Hey I admit that I may have tweeted (@TheSportsinista) "And you call yourself an NFL QB Jay Cutler? You have further confirmed my opinions about your pathetic career". All I gotta say to Cutler is grow some kahonis man! This is the NFC Championship Game for crying out loud, probably the biggest game of your career. Not once did Fox show you angry or upset that you were taken out of the game. It's one thing if you are genuinely hurt and in tremendous pain and agony on the bench, but for you to be standing up no less seemed down-right wrong. Not once did we see you talking with coaches or other players to try and go over schemes or give encouragement. 


Personal opinions aside, questions of his toughness may be unfair and totally unwarranted given the fact that he fights Diabetes and has only missed one start in his career (which was for a concussion in 2010). But after all Maurice Jones Drew played on a torn MCL for 14 weeks and Philip Rivers finished a game with a torn ACL, both of which were in the regular season not the freakin' NFC Championship game. Still I would have been more understanding if he even showed a glimmer of the fact that he gave a crap.

Sure football fans everywhere may have been infuriated with Cutler's behavior yesterday, but what was really astounding was the fact that fellow NFL players were ripping on him as well! I have never seen an  athlete take as much heat as Cutler has had in the last 24 hours from his peers. Some of my favorites: 

• @Jones_Drew32 (Maurice Jones-Drew) "All I'm saying is that he can finish the game on a hurt knee... I played the whole season on one..."
• @ddockett (Darnell Docket) "If I'm on chicago team jay cutler has to wait till me and the team shower get dressed and leave before he comes in the locker room! #FACT"
• @kirkmorrison55 (Kirk Morrison) "If my knee was hurt or acl/mcl/pcl sprain, I would not be standing up on the sideline. #jaycutler"

As former Pro Bowler, Antonio Pierce, said this morning on SportsCenter, "I questioned more of the body language and demeanor rather than the injury". This is a sentiment that I think the majority of people and players for that matter have an issue with. The fact that he was hurt wasn't an issue. It was the fight that he showed on the sidelines. But should we fault somebody who doesn't wear their heart on their sleeve? Today's modern athlete is expected to leave it on the field and show that passion. This is something that we should all consider when criticizing his actions after the fact. Cutler is a very private person and not your typical NFL player. Who are we to say that he wasn't boiling inside? As it turns out, Sean Jensen of the Chicago Sun-Times reports Cutler tore his MCL during the loss to the Packers. Are we unjustified in our comments or were we unfair to jump to conclusions? Probably. But at the end of day, people want to see emotions on the sideline, not a robot.

The Dome's Demise

So the football gods must have really done a number on fickle and moody Mother Nature this week because boy was she pissed off! Lombardi must have made a fat joke or something because she wrecked havoc on the NFL in Week 14 everywhere from the Midwest to the Eastern seaboard. The east coast was dominated by rain that led to sloppy games full of turnovers (see the Dolphins/Jets game that featured 5 turnovers and 16 total points). The Chicago-land area got hit hard with snow and brutal wind chills, but Tom Brady didn't seem to mind as he only had a passer rating of 113.4, threw for 369 yards and 2 touchdowns. No biggie. I thought da bears were suppose to be accustomed to this ferocious weather? I guess not since they only managed one touchdown and let the Patriot offense walk all over them. Seems like they already went in hibernation for the season if you ask me.

However, the brunt of Mother Nature's force came to Minnesota, or I guess I should say Minnesnowta. The Land of 10,000 Frozen Lakes received over 15 inches of snow in the Twin Cities yesterday. The G-Men (the New York Giants for all you non-Chris Boomer fans) were even forced to reroute their team plane to Kansas City to wait out the storm. The original worry was that they were going to have to delay the game that was originally set for Noon to later in the day due to the stranded Giants. Leave it to the snow to put a kink into that plan. At least the game wasn't going to be outside right? Well turns out the game might have to be played half indoors and half outside. As Minnesotans were up early shoveling their driveways (snowblowers are for wimps), news broke that the fateful Metrodome's roof collapsed due to the weight of the snow. The Dome had faced 28 brutal winters and 28 summers of severe weather until today which wasn't it's finest hour. The teflon roof has had several tears before, but nothing as significant as what happened this morning. It was also rumored that Brett Favre commissioned someone to fly over and puncture a whole in the roof in order to further delay the game so he could keep his games started streak intact, but that's just a rumor. The NFL says it will investigate the issue just like the Jenn Sterger scandal, but that's another story!

But could this be the demise of the Dome as we know it!? If you saw the now famous video of the collapse from inside the facility you will see that this was no tiny tear. The Detroit Lions have offered Ford Field to have the game this Monday for the Vikings and the Superdome in New Orleans have offered their services for next week's "home" game against Chicago. Luckily, the Vikings finish out their season on the road, but what does the future hold for the iconic stadium? The Vikes have already asked for a new stadium to be built, but those projects have been denied because of the Minnesota Twins landing a new ballpark. Threats of moving the team to Los Angeles are nothing new as well. So does the Dome get demolished due to the roof woes, does it get repaired in time for next season or do they move the team? That is the large question that will be looming this off season.

Maybe the fat joke worked in Lombardi's favor after all...