Chips, Chili's, sex and ecstasy outside RayJay

TAMPA -- Those who couldn't get tickets to the Super Bowl slammed Moe's Southwest Grill, Bennigan's and Chili's, along Dale Mabry Highway. Inside Moe's, the crowd cheered loudly for both teams and lauded Bruce Springsteen's halftime performance.

One man, who carried a harmonica, even played along inside the restaurant to "Born to Run."

But Moe's closing at 9 p.m. forcing the spectators to find another TV. At nearby Chili's, an employee barred the door and turned away any more patrons because the restaurant was standing-room only already. An FWC officer stood by in support.

About 30 fans, a number that grew during the seesaw game, stood outside the restaurant and peered in at televisions showing one of the greatest Super Bowls ever played.

About midway through the fourth quarter, the employee at the front door told the FWC officer that a couple was having sex in one of the bathrooms. The officer ran in. Twenty minutes later, he exited with a Steelers fan wearing a No. 86 Hines Ward jersey and a woman. The officer sternly told the man he should take him to jail.

Word goes out: 'Final score: 27 to 23. Steelers.'

TAMPA -- Super Bowl transportation dispatcher John Gundersen flipped on the mic and called all 16 radio channels.

"Final score," he announced, "Twenty-seven to 23. Steelers."

Next channel.

"Final score," he said, "Twenty-seven to 23. Steelers."

Next channel...

Gundersen has done this for 15 Super Bowls now. He's as good at calling the game as he is communicating with lot managers, golf cart drivers and bus escorts to move masses of people at one time, his boss says.

Rebecca Catalanello, Times staff writer

 

Bears fan scores Super Bowl ticket - for free

TAMPA -- Jerry Cummins of Chicago was vacationing in Fort Myers when he decided he'd head to Raymond James Stadium and see if he could get a ticket to the big game.

The 71-year-old Chicago Bears fan stood for three hours holding a sign saying he needed one ticket.

"I never got a bite," he said.

Then, a woman walked up to him and told him they had an extra. It was his, she said, for free.

"Can you believe it?" Cummins said from his cell phone, inside Raymond James Stadium near the 30-yard-line, 24 rows up. "I can't believe it!"

On his way in, someone offered him $1,000 for his ticket. He wouldn't take it.

Apparently, Cummins has a history of showing up for games he doesn't have tickets to and scoring some for a price. And this isn't his first Super Bowl. In 2006, he scored two $400 tickets to see his beloved Bears get crushed.

This time, he feels like a winner now matter what the score.

"I'm not emotionally tied to the game," he said. "I just wanted to come and see it."

 

Rebecca Catalanello, Times staff writer

Fans try to rush stadium entrance

TAMPA --- As officials ushered busloads of half-time cast members through a Raymond James Stadium side entrance, non-performers are trying to work their way inside.

Two Hillsborough County Sheriff's deputies grabbed a man by the back of his neck and threatened him with jail time. A Florida Highway Patrolman repeatedly told Pittsburgh Steelers fans to back away from him and the entrance.

Among the crush of people was Robert Martinelli, 53, who won a spot in the half-time show through a local drawing.

"I'm very happy," said Martinelli, who lives in Lakeland. "That's the best thing that could have happened to me this year."

-Rodney Thrash, Times staff writer

Good day for $8 burrito combo, not for Obama

There is no shortage of entrepreneurial spirit among the vendors selling everything from turkey legs to Steelers tee's at the southeast corner of Raymond James Stadium.

Rod Cunningham is pushing Barack Obama posters, hats and a "Barack Star" tank top from a prime spot on Himes Avenue. But football fans just aren't that interested.

"It's mediocre," said Cunningham, 40, estimating that he and his wife, Valerie, met only a quarter of their sales goals for the day. "I don't think this was a day for Barack. Everybody's looking for Pittsburgh Steelers merchandise."

Nearby, business was so good at Moe's Southwest Grill that vendors wished they had stocked more food. The booth sold out of its $8 burrito combo a full two hours before the start of the game.

"We could have made a lot more money," said Josh Pardue, who was manning the Moe's booth, after selling out. He noted that customers were talking about the economy being tough.

Bill Varian, Times staff writer

Sellout or salesman?

TAMPA -- Game Day swag comes in all kinds today, from goofy hats made out of footballs to more popular items, like those gold "terrible towels."

And then there's the people selling it, like Mike Jones, 27, of Tucson, Ariz., who didn't let his hometown affect his salesmanship.

He was wearing a Troy Polamalu Pittsburgh Steelers jersey and selling both the towels and the ticket holders for $15 each. He hooked customers by saying his ticket holders came with a Super Bowl pin that'd cost you $20 if you bought it along inside the stadium.

Asked how he could sell Steelers merchandise when he's from Arizona, Jones said, "The black and gold's got the money."

-Bill Varian, Times staff writer

Super fun, anyway they can get it

TAMPA -- St. Petersburg resident Balint Varga found a creative way to keep himself entertained this afternoon.

He arrived at tailgating dressed in a helmet, shoulder pads and a Jerome Bettis Pittsburgh Steelers jersey.

Then he got a shopping cart and hopped in.

Varga's friends took turns racing him down West Ohio Street, dodging limousines and revelers.

"We're just trying to into anything we can get into," Varga said.

The fun lasted until K.C. Tolson decided to play strong safety and lowered a shoulder into the shopping cart, sending Varga into a parked car.

Turns out, he needed that helmet after all.

-Bill Varian, Times staff writer

Driving style that fits just right

TAMPA -- Limousines are plentiful along the side streets of West Tampa, parked besides buses, meandering down narrow one-way streets and wedged into makeshift lots.

Limo driver Tammy Smith Fieber, based out of Bradenton, was hauling a group from a law firm in a Ford Excursion extended limousine that could seat up to 16 passengers. She managed to find space along West Ohio Street early this afternoon.

Asked how difficult it is to shoe horn her way through the narrow residential streets, she said, "It's not easy."

-Bill Varian, Times staff writer

Crowds hustle, pose for YouTube

The crowd moving north on Dale Mabry Hwy to Raymond James Stadium was a kaleidoscope of humanity.

It smelled like cigar smoke, hollered like a sailor on shore leave, and as often as not wore a black and gold Steelers jersey. The main accessory was a cardboard sign that says "I need tickets" often carried by employees of ticket brokers for scalpers trying to corner the market.

North of Columbus Drive, trios of street preachers offered testimony and pamphlets of passersby. South of Columbus, commerce reigned. People sold bottled water, food, team gear, cigars out of the box and face painting. Two different guys moved up and down the sidewalk running games of three-card Monte.

Outside Longhorns Steakhouse, a young woman in black yelled, "Dollar-fifty drafts, guys, you can't find a better deal than that."

Vendors hawking everything from programs to shell games

There wouldn't be a Super Bowl without street vendors hawking everything you don't need with the fervor of carnival barkers.

There's a woman who'll give you a small box of miniature cigars as long as you stick one of them in your mouth and allow her to take your picture, presumably for the company's Web site.

There's scores of guys selling Super Bowl lanyards for $7-$10 that will protect your Super Bowl ticket around your neck.

There's the 2001 Odyssey selling their products -- gyrating women -- with loudspeakers and an emcee telling all passerby who's on stage next.

There's a man in a yellow dress shirt, and blue slacks and red-feather tipped blue hat selling Super Bowl programs for the unbeatable price of $1, claiming he "found them in a box that fell off the truck!"

There's two guys, one with a fistful of dollars, and his partner who ask people walking toward the game to stop. When they do, one of them puts down three playing cards -- part of a shell game.

For most of the day, they seem to have no takers interested in playing.

"Everything I'm selling is selling," said Zubair Abdul-Majid, 27, an electrician from Washington, D.C., whose selling $20 hats, $10 ticket holders and $20 programs. "I thought it'd be a lot better though."

He said it seems code enforcement has restricted street hawkers more than past events he's attended. He also said vendors are calling the event the "Recession Bowl" because of the slow sales.

Justin George, Times staff writer

"Ref" needs a ticket, or it's Hooters. Don't tell his wife.

Martin Stocks of Seminole wore an NFL referee's uniform and dark sunglasses, carrying a white cane with a red tip. He held up a sign at the corner of Columbus Drive and Dale Mabry Hwy: "Scam Failed: I need a ticket."

"I've got a thousand dollars. that's it," said Stocks, who so far has had no offers. "If I don't get one, I'll just go to Hooters and watch the game. Don't tell my wife that."

"If I don't make it, I don't make it. I could have bought one two weeks ago for $1,500. This is much more fun," said Stocks, 61, who is retired from Ford Motor Company.

"If I had a dollar for every one who smiled, and $5 for everyone who took a picture, I could have afforded the $2,200," he added, citing the going price for a ticket.

Richard Danielson, Times staff writer

Drinking games also "super" for tailgaters

TAMPA -- Football isn't the only game being played Sunday. Outside the stadium, fan are competing in events that require holding a beer in one hand.

There's corn hole, where pairs square off at about 30 paces or so, and try to throw a sack full of kernels into a hole in a sloped platform. Get your bag in the other team's hole, score a point.

And there's the old collegiate favorite, beer pong, where two-person teams square off on opposite sides of a ping pong table and try to land a ping pong ball in a plastic cup full of beer on the opposite end. Sink a ball, and the other team drinks.

Cardinals make it to stadium

TAMPA -- Rest assured, this game is still happening!

Two Cardinals buses just rolled into Raymond James at 3:15 p.m., shortly after the Steelers arrived.

Hillsborough Sheriff's Deputy Paul Shute helped direct two Cardinal teams buses through a traffic slow-down on Hillsborough Avenue as he sat inside the Super Bowl transportation command post, staring at a map on his computer screen.

"Ninety-seven now," Shute said into his radio as he watched the green rectangles pull into the stadium.

That's the code for "arrived."

Now the command center's interests turned to someone else.

"Ok, where is Bruce Springsteen?" Gameday Management Group VP Mike Witte joked. "He's supposed to be singing me a song."

Rebecca Catalanello, Times staff writer

Goodell has indeed made it!

TAMPA -- Has the NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell arrived?

They keep asking that question here at the Super Bowl transportation command post.

At 3:02 p.m., Mike Witte of Gameday Management Group got the answer he wanted.

"We are now opening the door of the commissioner," he communicated into his radio light-heartedly. "The commissioner is stepping foot on ground."

Rebecca Catalanello, Times staff writer

Premium prices for game-day parking

While en route to Raymond James Stadium early this afternoon on the media shuttle (and thank goodness for that mode of transportation on this day), colleague John C. Cotey and I spotted lots near the corner of Himes Avenue and Martin Luther King charging as much as $60 for parking.

And the lots appeared full. Cotey and I, who have seven kids between us, calculated those 60 bucks could buy roughly 24 Happy Meals or two nights' worth of babysitting.

Other initial game-day observations: police dogs sniffing our computer bags at the media check-in area, and a smattering of people in their seats shortly after the stadium gates opened at 2 p.m. -- more than four hours before kickoff.

JOEY KNIGHT

Partying like it's a Steelers home game

TAMPA -- The scene on Himes Avenue resembles a Pittsburgh Steelers home game.

One of the more impressive parties is raging at the corner of Himes and Leroy Street, where a group of coworkers from the Konica Minolta Danka Imaging have rented out a house. They've got Steelers theme songs playing on the loud speakers.

A defacto block party has formed outside the house with fans in face makeup waving flags and towels and taking turns stomping on a jersey of Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. Inside the yard, the coworkers are brewing brats and taking turns placing temporary Steelers patches on each other.

"We call ourselves professional tailgaters because we bring everything," said Beth Swain, 37.

"We even rented our own port-a-potty too." said Nancy Hill, 36.

Next door, an outpost of about three dozen Arizona Cardinals fans were undaunted. They gathered beneath a grove of trees north of West Dewey Street.

Steelers players are in the house

TAMPA -- The Steelers have arrived.

Two AFC teams buses made it to Raymond James Stadium at 2:51 p.m., according to information from the Super Bowl transportation command post.

"They're in," said Tampa police Officer Paul Smalley, the man charged with tracking them from their hotel to the field. From where Smalley sat, the buses looked like small red rectangles traveling on a computer screen.

One more team and we've got ourselves a game!

Rebecca Catalanello, Times staff writer

Who's the man wearing an Eagles jersey?

TAMPA -- In the sea of black and gold jerseys and crimson and white ones, 40-year-old James Stento stood out. He came to Tampa's Super Bowl wearing the jersey of the Philadelphia Eagles, the team that was one step away from the Super Bowl before losing to Arizona.

But what in the world would possess the suburban Philadelphia man to come here?

Steelers fan, in town to see Mom, hopes for a "miracle" ticket

TAMPA -- Back in December, Dave Wolfe bought a $137 round-trip ticket from Pittsburg to Florida, not knowing that his hometown Steelers would end up in the Super Bowl the same week as his mother's 80th birthday celebration.

Street preachers cheering for God outside stadium

As thousands of fans began the trek north on closed-off Dale Mabry toward Raymond James Stadium, they were bombarded by street preachers and witnessers for religions.