Laticia and I went to the festivities surrounding one of the most popular events in sports history. We decided that since we couldn’t go to the actual game, we might as well take in the sights and participate in some of the activities at Super Bowl Boulevard. What an exciting day we had!!!
We took a train bound for the city and we couldn’t wait to get there. On the train ride, we decided to attend the festivities as fans of the opposing teams. Laticia was to go and see things through the eyes of a Seahawks fan, and I was going to see things in the eyes of a Broncos fan. I noticed a consistent flow of both types of fans, paying in particular attention to the Broncos fans. There were some with normal gear, some with crazy furry Mohawk hats, face paint, eye black, etc. Laticia felt that there were more Seahawks fans….maybe they were just more obvious? We struck up conversations with some of the people we encountered today….what a great unifying event! It was refreshing to see people coming together despite their backgrounds or preferences in teams to enjoy the super-charged environment for a historical sports event that may not happen for a REALLY REALLY long time to come!
NYC was such a melting pot of football fans and we saw jerseys of all kinds there. Some people even took to the streets wearing paraphernalia from other sports from the NY Mets to the NY Yankees to the NY Knicks.
Once we got there, we started our day off by going to one of the attractions known as the “Roman Numerals”….there was a stage where fans could go and see the festivities from a different point of view and to take pictures. We immediately got our GMC (the primary sponsor) Super Bowl Blvd passes and got in line. We finally got up there and took our pics and some videos. Afterwards, we continued walking to the next attraction….
…the Vince Lombardi trophy was present for photo ops, but believe me when I say that the line was so long, we would have frozen to death just waiting there…and it wasn’t as cold as it has been in recent weeks! We took pics of the outside, and proceeded to another activity….
…we decided the next activity we wanted to try was the infamous Toboggan Run. The line was long and when we finally got to the entrance gate for the big slide, we found out from event staff that tickets were sold out as of 12:30 PM. Yes, it was 5:30 PM and they were sold out of tickets FIVE HOURS prior! That was amazing, considering the tickets kiosks only opened at 11 AM…to be sold out only an hour and a half later only goes to show how many people wanted to participate in one of the most fun attractions at the Blvd. Oh well, that wasn’t going to get us down!
Off we were to the NFL Rush Zone and Play 60, not to participate but to check it out. As we were walking, we saw the Empire State Building done in the colors of both teams: blue and orange on one side, lime green and blue on the other side – certainly a great way for one of the most iconic NYC buildings to participate! Along the way, we encountered many of the corporate sponsors with tents of their own. Papa John’s was one of them, and they were giving out a free slice of pizza….the only catch? If you thought the line for taking pictures with the trophy was long, this was about 10 times worse! It wrapped all the way around the tents and then some! There was even a vintage car under one of the Papa John’s tents – I was going to take a picture, but it was EXTREMELY crowded and I couldn’t sneak in a pic like I was fortunate to do so at other stops along the Blvd!
Walking along, we reached the Bridgestone tent. They had quite a few activities under one tent. One activity had a bit of a line. Two reps from Bridgestone were throwing footballs to each other. Once a person got up to the front of the line, one rep would throw the football, and that person would make a diving catch into a ‘pool’ of red foam blocks, all the while having their picture taken. It was hilarious to see some people and their efforts – some people even needed help getting out of the ‘pool’! Laticia and I decided to try the photo booth where you could make a video or take a still photo. Unfortunately, I think they disabled the video portion – probably since there were so many people and taking a video would take too long. We took our pic and we were on our way….
The Rush Zone and Play 60 were closing up shop so we proceeded towards the Macy’s area since there was supposedly a virtual theater. We took a pit stop to take pictures as football players. Macy’s had displays of half mannequins donning football gear and you could stand behind it and out your head where the player’s head would be. We took pics…oddly the Giants mannequin had a pro photographer (the other ones didn’t) and that’s where we got a card to pick up our photo inside the NFL Shop in Macy’s. We decided to check out how much it would be so we went into Macy’s…
…Macy’s was done up quite nicely, and it was crawling with wall-to-wall people. We finally made our way to the NFL Shop which was an absolute madhouse. We passed on our photos because there was so much else to take in and besides, we got a lot of pics already. We decided to grab a bite before heading home to recap the day’s events. That, in and of itself, was quite an experience….we ate at Jimmy’s Pizza located right inside Macy’s on the 4th floor, next to an Auntie Anne’s and a Ben & Jerry’s. After fueling up, we decided it was time to head home so we can share our journey with you…
…As we were leaving, we saw some of the videos on the façade of Macys – very cool stuff. Well, we proceeded to our train and it felt good to be off our feet and in the warmth of a train car recounting how the day went…our energy levels are certainly up and the excitement hasn’t worn off….I don’t think it will until after the game tomorrow night….can’t wait! SUPER excited! Ok, that’s it for now…I have to get some sleep for tomorrow’s big day….I’ll talk to y’all soon! Leave me a comment and tell me who you are rooting for in the Super bowl. GOOOOOO Broncos!
Let me know what you think – hope to hear from you soon!
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