For some fans, close to Super Bowl is good enough

Discussion

February 7, 2010

Anonymous The Herald Bulletin Sun Feb 07, 2010, 08:16 PM EST

By PAUL NEWBERRY,AP National Writer

MIAMI — Alvin Boseman didn't have a ticket to the big game.

Didn't really care, either.

The longtime New Orleans Saints fan got together with nine of his family and friends, rented a $400-a-day RV and made the 14-hour haul to Miami — just so he could park his house on wheels in a friend's driveway to watch the Super Bowl on a big-screen television.

Being close (about 8½ miles away from Sun Life Stadium) was good enough when you've waited 43 years for your team to make it this far.

"They can feel us," said Ronald Higgins, who also came along for the ride. "We're a spiritual team. They know we're here."

There were some 75,000 people in the stands for the game between the Saints and the Indianapolis Colts, but some of the most passionate fans for both teams gladly settled for watching on TV somewhere in the vicinity of Sun Life Stadium.

Boseman is a Saints' season-ticket holder, which gave him a shot at landing one of the limited number of Super Bowl tickets doled out to each team. But his name wasn't picked in the lottery, so he began making other plans. Everyone chipped in $500 and the party was on. They rented the RV, hired a friend known as "Goody Woody" to take care of the driving duties, and stocked every cabinet and cupboard with all the necessities: mainly, plenty of food and plenty of alcohol.

They expected some 50 people to join them for Super Sunday and a menu that included gumbo, ribs, red beans, pork chops, chicken, turkey salad and a drink — or six. There was a Saints flag flying in the front yard, turning this little patch of South Florida into Miami Gras.

"I may never see this day again," Boseman said. "Tomorrow isn't promised to you."

This group knew a thing or two about real life. The 65-year-old Boseman underwent open-heart surgery just six months ago (and he'll gladly pull up his shirt to show you a scar running from just below his neck to just above his belly button).

Higgins just lost his father, who was buried Thursday after a long battle with cancer. A few hours after the funeral, he hopped in the RV and headed for Miami.

He feels like his father came along for the ride.

"I was telling him, 'Pop, if you hang on another week, we'll bring home the trophy,'" said Higgins, sitting outside the RV wearing a black "Who Dat?" T-shirt. "He didn't quite make it, but he'll know."

The Colts also were represented on the outside.

Arjun Ishwar, who recently moved from Indianapolis to California, watched the game with about six friends from a parking lot near the stadium. They hooked up a television in the trunk of their vehicle and brought along plenty of food and booze.

"This was kind of always the plan," the 24-year-old Ishwar said. "We just wanted to be here."

But why pay to sit in a parking lot when they could have stayed at home for free?

"It's the Colts!" he shouted. "They've always been my team. Even when they were 1-15."

Then there were the fans who did get in.

Michael Bell of New Orleans said he's been a season-ticket holder since the Saints entered the NFL in 1967, After enduring so many losing seasons — after all, this team was once dubbed the "Aints" — he felt as though he had reached nirvana.

"We're finally here," he said, wearing black-and-gold beads. "If we don't win, the consolation prize: We go home to 10 days of Mardi Gras."

Added his wife, Aimee, "The party goes one whether we win or lose. We're going to win ... (but) it's OK if we don't. We love our boys."

Back on the outside, Higgins' personal loss was soothed by the Saints' run to their first Super Bowl. He was right where he wanted to be — not in the stadium, but close enough.

"Win or lose, the party's on," he said. "We love to party."

___

Associated Press writers Sarah Larimer and Lisa Orkin Emmanuel contributed to this report

Text Only

National News

Wagging tails replace sad eyes in Westminster ads
Pet lovers won't have to look away anymore when those heart-wrenching TV ads appear during the Westminster dog show — the ones with the pitiful little faces peering out from behind those rusted bars of a cage and wondering "how I ended up in here."

February 10, 2012
Stocks fall at the open as Greek deal is held up
U.S. stocks opened lower Friday after Greece's bailout deal was put on hold, a day after it seemed that the country had satisfied its creditors.

February 10, 2012
AP sources: Obama revamping birth control policy
Retreating in the face of a political uproar, President Barack Obama on Friday will announce that religious employers will not have to cover birth control for their employees after all, The Associated Press has learned. The administration instead will demand that insurance companies will be the ones directly responsible for providing free contraception.

February 10, 2012
Family plucked from Pacific after boat capsizes
Three family members attempting their first voyage across the Pacific in a sailboat were left adrift in rough seas hundreds of miles from land when their mast broke in high winds.

February 9, 2012
FBI file: Steve Jobs was considered for government post
FBI background interviews of some people who knew Apple founder Steve Jobs reveal a man so driven by power that he sometimes lost sight of honesty.

February 9, 2012 1 Photo
Florida mogul, facing trial, adopts his girlfriend
The story already had people's attention: A multimillionaire polo magnate was accused of causing a drunken-driving wreck that killed a young man. But now, with his criminal trial approaching, a strange twist has raised even more eyebrows: He has adopted his 42-year-old girlfriend.

February 9, 2012
Emergency exercise preceded Ind. fair disaster
High winds. Lightning. Hail. A severe thunderstorm warning. A huge crowd waits for country duo Sugarland to take the stage.

That exact scenario ahead of last summer's deadly stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair was eerily foreshadowed just a month earlier during an emergency exercise that involved the fair's director and numerous city and state officials.

February 9, 2012
Tribe suing beer companies for alcohol problems
An American Indian tribe sued some of the world's largest beer makers Thursday, claiming they knowingly contributed to devastating alcohol-related problems on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

February 9, 2012
LA school in sex abuse scandal reopens
Children returned Thursday to an elementary school where the entire staff was replaced after the arrests of two former teachers on charges of committing lewd acts with students in class.

February 9, 2012
Official: States get No Child Left Behind waiver
President Barack Obama on Thursday will free 10 states from the strict and sweeping requirements of the No Child Left Behind law, giving leeway to states that promise to improve how they prepare and evaluate students, The Associated Press has learned.

February 9, 2012
More National News Headlines

National News

Search Results

Discussion

For some fans, close to Super Bowl is good enough

Site Map

Contact Us