Super Bowl Diary: Party Crashers

Dear Diary,

The boys had worked their tails off for a full week, so it was time for a little R&R on Saturday. Reimer and I piled into the trusty Nissan with his lovely wife -- a feisty little spitfire I call "Saint Mary" for the patience required to remain married to this guy -- and we headed for Tampa.

The good people at the Tampa Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau provided accredited journalists (that's us) with a slew of free passes to various Tampa-area attractions. We've been too busy to do much with them all week, but when Saint Mary found out that Busch Gardens was on the list, there was no denying her.

See, Saint Mary is an animal freak. She's studying to be a zoo animal curator -- she's going to be one of those people working with the critters when you go to your favorite zoo -- so her eyes lit up when she heard about a free trip to Busch Gardens. Reimer and I like roller coasters, so it was a good match for all of us.

As we rode the tram from the parking lot to the front gate, we noticed a bunch of "beautiful people" strolling through a back gate marked "Private Party." We thought, "Huh." I mean, this being the Super Bowl and all, it was probably somehow related.

But once we saw the animals and the rides, we put it out of our minds. We saw birds more colorful than Dennis Rodman. We saw orangutans basking in the sun like a fried tail-gaiter. We saw a baby chimpanzee that was cuter than Jason Sehorn and more cuddly than Tony Siragusa.

And we tried out each of the five roller-coasters. Our favorite was Montu, which is one of the longest and tallest inverted roller coasters in the world. If you have the chance, and you like G-force speed, I highly recommend it.

Montu was over near the private party, and we saw people walking around outside the grounds carrying black bags bearing the name of Leigh Steinberg. Of course. The biggest player agent in all of sports holds the biggest party of the year at the Super Bowl. We're talking big -- as in, Jennifer Lopez big.

We were trying to avoid the fenced-off, high-security perimeter of the bash, so we ducked through a door and started following the crowd. Reimer says, "Hey, there's Kevin Greene." The massive former NFL linebacker was mingling with the little people, huh? Then we saw Jerry O'Connell, a bit-player actor who you might have seen in "Scream 2" and "Jerry Maguire." And Detroit Lions' QB Stoney Case, who is trying to catch on as a broadcaster in the offseason.

At this point, Reimer says, "Uh, guys? I think we're in the party."

Sure enough, we had somehow slipped through an unguarded door and were now rubbing elbows with the chosen ones. The really big stars were inside the building on the grounds, but we could tell from the parade of B-list players around the crowd that we had made the scene.

It would have been great to pretend that we were on the guest list too, but we were dressed for a trip to an amusement park, not a party where, as Reimer so delicately put it, "you could smell the silicone." I'm sure half the guests there were wearing socks that were more expensive than my whole outfit.

So we wandered around for a couple of minutes, found an exit and hit the road. We headed south of Tampa to hang out with Saint Mary's friend Augie, who hooked us up with an awesome seafood dinner at Mar Vista in Longboat Key. Calamari, conch fritters, shrimp -- you name it, we tried it.

Saint Mary then capped the night by whupping Augie and Reimer in a game of cutthroat cricket. I throw darts like Tony Banks throws football -- sometimes I'm deadly, but usually I've got no chance. So I just sat back, took in the atmosphere, and thought about what a great day we'd just had.

On the drive back north, Saint Mary sat back and said, "I had a great day." And at that point I knew the Super Bowl karma was contagious.

OK, it's time to head to the stadium. Stick around and keep an eye on our site all day today, as we'll be doing our best to feed you fresh, updated stories throughout the day. At the very least, check it out Monday as we'll have a full package of stories, images and a trivia contest for you.

I am ready for some football.

Previous Diaries:
Friday, January 26 -- And On The Fifth Day?
Thursday, January 25 -- The Missing Egg
Wednesday, January 24 -- Midnite Vultures
Tuesday, January 23 -- Throng Of The South
Monday, January 22 -- And We're Off