Sunday, February 7, 2010

Semi-Stranded in South Beach Paradise


Greetings from Bokamper’s Sports Bar here in Plantation Florida.

Yeah, that Bokamper. Kim. Dolphins LB. Same guy who got the ball bitch slapped out of his hands for seven by Theismann back in SBXVII, thank God!

Very nice sports bar, crystal clear HD screens everywhere. Outside deck area is rockin’ for the Super Bowl, and – of course – the fucking sound is so low, and the drunks so loud, that I can’t hear shit.

(UPDATE: Sound fixed after first 3 minutes.)

This is the perennial curse of watching the big game in public, and the very reason that Andy Pollin did not make this little trip with me and Thom Loverro of ESPN980’s “The Sports Fix” and super producer Chuck Sapienza.

Andy, is back at our hotel, in his shorts and t-shirt in his room, watching in silence and solitude.

In crummy STANDARD DEFINITION on a 19 inch bulging tube TV!!

Greeted me at 10 a.m. with big smile in lobby. “Just walked about 2 miles to grocery store. Got my Super Bowl spread all ready. Sub sandwich, popcorn, and fresh tangerines.”

Pure Andy.

It was this, that made me flee to the local watering hole.

Well, that, and the fact that my radio overlords made the worst call since Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan.

Normally, I am home tucked into the 5-Hour Energy Dome for this game. Not this year, thanks to the snow. See, I made the suggestion to management that we depart Miami on Thursday, in advance of Snowzilla that has crushed our nation’s capital and snagged air travel like a bad cast in weeds.



Nope. Gotta stay, they said. Something about “we paid a lot for this trip.”

Ohhhhkayyy, I said. No skin off my ass. I’ll hang here in warm FLA until we get a flight home.



NOTE: Peter King would call this his “Annoying/Enjoyable Travel Note Of the Week” in his column. My JetBlue flight on Sunday from FLL to IAD was cancelled. Duh. I planned on that. But instead of waiting for Dulles/Reagan/BWI to shovel out and get their landings un-tangled, me and Chuck will be flying to Richmond (love ya, 804!) and renting a car for the final 2 hours home on land. I’ll let you know if I made it safely tomorrow.



All that said, I did enjoy watching the game with a very live room full of fans. Informal jersey count and noise estimates said it was 75% Saints fans. I’ve got the game plus all 6 hours of pre-game on TWO of my DTV-DVR’s at home.

And you can bet I’m going to watch it all again.

Sadly, we are now an agonizing 161 days away from the next official professional tackle football game in America.

Lord Football, you have once again been magnificient. Rest well, my liege, rest well.

5 comments:

  1. czabe, i work by the airport in the 804, screw driving up to dc in this crap, i'll take you guys out on the town tonight! (see 804 golf club emails for contact info)

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  2. God it sucks this morning NOT being able to hear you and the crew break down the game!! Can't wait for the express!

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  3. So that being said what happened to The First Team Express pre-Super Bowl prediction podcast you teased at the end of Thursday's 'cast?

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  4. Hey -- now we can all play "Where in the USA is Steve Czaban"!

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