i ... is for Insider ( Butch Alsandor Gives Us the Play by Play )
i ... is for Insider ( Butch Alsandor Gives Us the Play by Play )
My first memory of the Super Bowl was from my mom ’ s living room back in 1971 . It was my birthday , January 17 , and my brother and I were watching the Cowboys battle the Colts in the Orange Bowl . Since he was pulling for Dallas , naturally I had to be for Baltimore . I can still see him praying for Jim O ’ Brien to miss the game-winning field goal , but O ’ Brien drilled it and the Colts won ! At that time I could not imagine ever going to a Super Bowl , let alone covering six as a journalist .
For me , my most loved and hated event at the Super Bowl is Media Day . The NFL ® has re-branded it . So now it ’ s called Super Bowl Opening Night ! It has morphed into a primetime event full of celebrity interviews , kid reporters and publicity stunts . But , they used to just open the doors on Tuesday morning and hundreds of media members would just sprint to the podium of the players they were trying to interview . It was survival of the fittest ! You had to use brains and brawn to get the story . I can still see one Houston media member crawling on his hands and knees underneath the masses to stick his mic in on an interview with STEVE YOUNG at Super Bowl XXIX in Miami .
When you think of actually going to the Super Bowl , you think of some of the great warm-climate venues like New Orleans , Miami , L . A ., Atlanta or Houston . No , my first Super Bowl experience was in Minneapolis , in January ! The Redskins beat the Bills 37 – 24 . The city tried to embrace the weather but having Olympic figure skaters performing at halftime was not the best idea . I mean , who would you rather see , BRUNO MARS or BRIAN
BOITANO ?
For Super Bowl XXXVIII in Houston in 2004 , Carolina vs . New England , I was embedded with the Panthers for two weeks . This turned out to be a really lucky break for me . Panthers quarterback JAKE DELHOMME played his college football at UL – Lafayette . I played college football right down the road at McNeese State , and Jake ’ s older brother Jeff also played at McNeese . It turned out to be a good connection to have . Not only did we get a one-on-one with Jake , but we also did a feature story with members of the Delhomme family at Fanfest . Super Bowl XXXVIII will live in infamy for the JANET JACKSON wardrobe malfunction , which I totally missed by the way , because I worried the late ANDY ROONEY was about to fall out of his seat at any minute . We were way up and Rooney was not very sturdy at that time .
The Super Bowl is no longer just a game . It is a week-long event that the world will be watching , and on February 5 , the world will be watching Houston . I ’ ll be right there with them .
By Butch Alsandor | Photography courtesy of Butch Alsandor
44 LOCAL | january 17