Super Bowl XXXVII
January 26, 2003--San Diego, CA
Meet Matt "The Deek" O'Neill, an old buddy
of mine from St. Louis. Having seen him all
of once in the twelve years since I left the
Gateway City, it made perfect sense that he'd
invite me to the Super Bowl.  I guess all
those Christmas cards finally paid off.
The Lombardi Trophy and Bucs inflatables hover
ominously over the Raiders, who at this point
innocently don't realize they're also full of hot air.
Parella, Jordan, Woodson, Brown, Rice and
Kennedy meet McCardell, Christy, Lynch and
Brooks, plus some 72 Dolphins at the coin toss.
The national anthem featured several different
color guards and Celine Dione, who is getting
ready to belt out the anthem with her chorus.
Here's a full stadium view of the anthem in
progress.  Qualcomm looks a whole lot better
when it's all spiffed up for global television.
Finally all the festivities were complete and it was
time for some football action.  Here's Janikowski,
as he nears the start of Super Bowl XXXVII.
After a quick interception, the seemingly
high-powered Raiders line up in Bucs territory for
what would soon lead to the games first score.
Deek, looking extremely excited I might
add, along with his good buddies Al and
Tom. Apparently they were under the
impression that the Super Bowl had a
strict dress code of khaki pants and
white golf shirts.  Actually, they had just
finished up 18 at one of San Diego's
nicest golf courses--The Meadows Del
Mar.  If you ever go there, please be
sure to tell Heather we said hi.
The halftime show was actually pretty cool.  
Leading things off was Shania Twain who belted
out her own special brand of country funk.
No, this is not an Al-Qeada attack--just an
example of the countless pyrotechnic hijinx that
accompany the playing of this great game.
Here's Sting in action singing in front of about
10,000 kids that paraded onto the field just to
dance around like fools for the halftime show.
Here's a cool shot of Sting up on the jumbotron.  
Sting performed after No Doubt and then did a
duet with Gwen Stefani--not a bad choice, Sting.
This is where the flood gates officially opened,
as Mike Alstott busted into the endzone late in
the 2nd quarter, giving the Bucs a solid 13-3 lead.
And here's a close up of the end of
that play, as Brad Johnson begins
to smell the scent of Raider blood.
When it was all over, the Bucs had literally
destroyed the Raiders in a surprising 48-21
decision.  Here are the fireworks and confetti.
Soon after the game was over, a giant Lombardi
Trophy, victory stage and Jon Bon Jovi came
flying onto the field for the post game festivities.
And there you have it.  Snapshots of a
game that I'd never seen live before and
may never see again (the guys in the row
in front of us shelled out $3500 each to
see their Raider stink up the place).  But if
you ever get an opportunity to check out a
Super Bowl, I highly recommend it.  But
you're either going to have to have a lot of
extra cash laying around or a good friend
like Deek O'Neill.  Excuse me, I have to
start working on my Christmas cards.