Being at Super Bowl 44: meeting Jennifer Lopez aka JLo
Posted by Omri on February 17th, 2010Part 1 of my adventure at Super Bowl 44: meeting Jennifer Lopez, aka JLo
Being invited to the Super Bowl is at once exhilarating and guilt-provoking. For even mild sports enthusiasts the Super Bowl is one of those things you have on your life’s master to do list. Get Married. Buy A House. Have Children. Go To The Super Bowl. Check. 
Since I’m an avid football fan, for the months leading up it felt like a fantasy – I wasn’t really going and I kept dreaming that something bad would happen and plans would fall through. Like the tickets would get lost in the mail, or CBS would only send my friend Jonathan two tickets instead of three and he’d have to choose between his father and me. New scenarios popped up almost daily, keeping my unbridled excitement in check.
At first it was exciting to post my luck on Facebook and to share the news with friends, and really anyone I could get to listen. But quickly this part turned sour as high fives and smiles turned into “You bastard!” “Why couldn’t you get another ticket?” – and worst of all: sheer silence. No replies to emails. No comments on Facebook posts. Nada. The excitement would quickly become mine and mine alone. Jonathan would call from time to time and we’d scream into the phone together: “We’re going to the f*#&$in Super Bowl!”. Then the silence would return and guilt quickly followed. Is this what survivor’s guilt is like? Why did I get to go? Why was I lucky enough? Why couldn’t I bring my friends, especially the ones that I routinely watched football with? I’d rationalize: ah well, I probably wasn’t going anyhow so nothing really to feel too bad about – friends come back!
Alright, it wasn’t that dire. And friends did share in the excitement from time to time. For those of you planning to go to the Super Bowl, try as hard as possible to go with as many friends as possible.
Jonathan and Terry on the balcony
Coming from chilly Toronto the flight to Miami was fun. There were a few football fans on the plane and definitely many warm-weather fans. Jonathan was coming in from LA and his flight landed only 30 minutes after mine. It was raining hard when I landed. Making my way from Terminal 4 to Terminal 2 was not so easy. Jonathan’s dad Terry had been circling the airport waiting for us to arrive. He pulled up in his massive v12 Mercedes sedan. I felt like a rock star getting into the back seat.
I should have contained myself because it was one order of magnitude higher to arrive at the Trump towers of North Miami Beach and to discover Terry’s apartment was a penthouse on the 52nd floor! The elevators going up don’t have buttons for each floor. Instead you swipe a fob against a reader and it magically knows your floor. I’d never exited an elevator right into someone’s apartment before. That was neat. What a view. What an apartment.
the view from the Trump tower penthouse
That night we had dinner at Morton’s Steakhouse in South Miami beach. We were seated two tables away from Evander Holyfield. And moments later Michael Clarke Duncan from the movie “The Green Mile” greeted Evander. I quickly discovered why they were there: the food, in particular the steak, was excellent. Jonathan and Terry and I discussed the next day’s activities: Celebrity Beach Bowl and Le Tub. I fell asleep full and in a giddy state of mind wondering how strange life was that 10 years prior I had walked into the demonstration suite of the very same Trump building with my now wife Sarah to check out the designs and prices. I love looking at real estate ads when on vacation, imagining what it would cost to live there. I remember the Trump condo prices seemed high, but not high enough to prevent dreaming.
Waking up to the sun and the ocean the three of us decided to start the day by going to the gym in the building. We had to look buff for Jennifer Lopez and the others at the Celebrity Beach Bowl we had VIP invites for. VIP definitely rocks. We showed up late and got priority access. All the parking spots were taken (except those for JLo and her coterie) but that didn’t phase Terry as we used valet at the W Hotel instead. As we walked the sandy path reserved for VIP I suddenly realized I’d just walked past Troy Aikman. And then only a few minutes later, as I was taking pictures of Jonathan and Terry, JLo herself walked by with some really big security guards. I was too star-struck to take a picture. Thankfully I got a second chance a little bit later.
Jennifer Lopez at Celebrity Beach Bowl, part of Super Bowl 44
The Celebrity Beach Bowl was crazy. I mean the game itself was not enjoyable at all, but seeing stars running around was fun. Made more fun by the free drinks and food, of course. Plus Evander Holyfield was here too and we got a picture with him.
Evander Holyfield with Jonathan and Terry
Once the game ended we decided to walk around South Miami Beach before heading home. Partly we decided this because we could see that traffic to South Miami was mental and would only get worse. We knew we were not likely coming back. Later we found out that the average commute time was 2 hours and that the traffic jams lasted until 3 am. It’s nuts to think that South Miami has no subway or train access — even a boat service would help the congestion. As we walked the main strip it became readily apparent that most fans were Saints fans. People kept spontaneously yelling “Who Dat?“. We found ourselves joining in the who-dattery, not even knowing exactly what it meant. Something about the Saints lack of respect by opponents, the media and fans. It was definitely Who Dat Nation in South Miami. We were told the Colts fans and players were in Ft. Lauderdale but I found it hard to believe there were as many. The closest feeling I’ve had to the atmosphere in South Miami was when the Blue Jays won in 91. The Saints fans were partying like they’d already won the Super Bowl. We never made it back to South Miami after the Saints won (the commute would have been too much) but it must have been like what I imagine Mardi-Gras is like on Bourbon St times a thousand.
While we were waiting for the valet to bring the car back a high-class hooker tried to get into the hotel. Security was better at identifying her profession than I was as they denied her access. Once my eyes were opened I quickly realized they were everywhere.
Bikini girls at South Miami Beach for Super Bowl 44
For dinner we decided to go to a place that Jonathan’s brother Phil had gone to last year: Le Tub, famous for its huge burgers. It took forever to get there, and then as we sat down they announced that they were undergoing a shift change and it would take an hour to get our food. The waitress was a real bitch as well. Finally the burgers arrived and they were in fact huge. I’d say about equivalent to three normally sized hamburgers. They were pretty tasty, I thought. Terry didn’t like them that much. At around the 1/3 left mark I started to gloss over. I looked up from behind the bun and saw that Jonathan and Terry were in the same transfixed state. We put our burgers down, stared at the monstrosity still left on the plate and slowly decided to stop eating. I don’t even remember the drive home.
a Le Tub burger almost killed me
We were too full to go to bed so instead we watched “Inglorious Basterds”. What a great movie. The opening scene still haunts my imagination. I hope the Nazi actor wins an Oscar. That scene where he’s trying to convince Brad Pitt to cut a deal and he’s practicing English expressions like “Bingo!” and then starts giggling. Wow. So unforgettable. Lying in bed I had a constant pain on the left side of my stomach. The next day Terry confessed he had the same pain. Oh Le Tub. Never again. Yet it was hard to focus on the pain. I was so excited for Sunday, February 7th to finally be here! Super Bowl 44!
Tags: football, sports, Super Bowl
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