Super Bowl Experience

[ljudge]

Well gentlemen I was lucky enough to experience the Super Bowl. I really appreciated this more than anyone else in the group of friends who were hired to work. As with all of you for the love of the game of course. Through some very lucky connections (3 degrees of separation) I, along with a group of friends got to experience Super Bowl 39. To put a face with a name here's the section I was assigned to. If you're interested you can use the arrows to look at some other pics.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/kkehna...76.jpg&.src=ph

The application process took many weeks complete with Dept. of Justice background checks etc. I think I had 3 FBI agents in my section alone but that was due in part to me being located next to a platform in the corner of the endzone.

The price gouging was unbelievable. Parking in some lots was $25 PER HOUR and $250 MAX (what a bargain) for the day. It was free for the game but on the days where it wasn't we were lucky enough to find a lot for $5 our first day and took shuttles the other days.

If any of you ever get to go I highly recommend you don't spend 4 or 5 grand like some people did unless you have money trees in your yard. ALLTEL stadium didn't do a very great job. As with officiating I took my job seriously and being an "out of towner" I learned where things were and didn't blow off the fans. But the stadium was another story. The security wasn't very good as far as local police are concerned. There was just a lack of it. Toilets backed up and people who paid $2,700 were soooo frustrated because they had shut down womens restrooms and people consumed quite a bit of alcohol. My wife's station was behind the Eagles endzone and a woman came up to her who had wet herself. Concessions ran out of food by halftime in some areas. Frankly, I don't think they were prepared and it made it a miserable experience for some fans who paid thousands.

All in all the city was pretty nice and the people were very good. It was an experience I just wanted to share. If any of you ever get the opportunity you should go if you can afford the tix. When the opportunity came up I thought "well my dream job is officating the game" but that won't happen so I took the next best thing.

Take care,
Ljuge

[Dommer1]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing.