It’s not everyday that the Super Bowl is less than three hours away from home. How many times will you not have to pay for outrageously expensive flights and hotels just to even get to the Super Bowl city? There was no chance my mom, my oldest brother Alan, and I would pass up going to Super Bowl LI in Houston, so we did everything we could to make it.
On Friday afternoon, I got picked up from school and took off right away on I-10. There was little to no traffic, which in itself is a miracle. After a stop at Buc-ee’s, we made it to Houston at around 8:00 pm where we met my brother Adrian at his duplex near Rice. Though it was late and chilly outside, Adrian took us downtown to eat at Biggio’s, named after the Astros legend, inside the brand new Marriott Marquis. We couldn’t have picked a better place to eat. Up on the second floor, we enjoyed an overtime Rockets game, an incredible atmosphere right next to Discovery Green in the heart of downtown, and a spectacular fireworks show to close out the night. This was only the beginning.
After a late night, there was no time to rest. Adrian had to volunteer at 8:30 am and so my mom and I went with him to downtown to take advantage of every moment we had. After dropping Adrian off, my mom and I hung out in the lobby of the Marriott Marquis, the official Super Bowl hotel. At one point, I was ready to take a walk to the Hilton to see what was going on there, but thankfully my mom is like she is, and she stopped a random lady to compliment her on her dress. I was literally already outside, but I came back in to see where my mom was. It turns out that lady wore that dress for the Bart Starr Awards, which were being held right inside the Marriott, and she told us it was over soon but she left early to not get caught in the rush of the crowd. All my mom and I heard was BART STARR AWARDS, meaning there surely were players and reporters waiting to walk out any second. Thanks to my mom, we ended up staying at the Marriott, and boy was that a great decision.
As we sat waiting, I saw a black Cadillac pull up in the front, and then I saw none other than Carolina Panthers tight end Greg Olsen walk out of the car. My heart started racing. I didn’t know what to do. Before I could think, my mom was already talking to him. Being the shy person I am, I didn’t want to invade his space, but Olsen was really nice and even asked me to walk with him so he could take a picture. I couldn’t believe it.
I tried to calm down after meeting my fantasy football hero, but barely ten minutes went by before Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots, walked in and took selfies with some fans. My mom took a picture of him, but let’s just say I didn’t make a huge effort to talk to him. Apart from Kraft, Tony Dungy, James Brown, and plenty of reporters also walked by us. Alan, after an Uber mishap, finally caught up with us, and Adrian also ended his volunteer shift. As we greeted them, I heard a huge commotion. I turned around to see what’s up and to my surprise I found Patriots superstar Rob Gronkowski hightailing it to the elevator, not stopping for anyone. Are you kidding?! Rob Gronkowski just ran right past us! Staying in this lobby was the best idea!
Once we got our fair share of star watching, Alan, my mom and I went in to NFL Live at Discovery Green, the free Super Bowl festival. I have never seen more people in a single place in my life. Thousands upon thousands filled downtown Houston. Every line for food trucks or activities went at least 30 minutes long. Some highlights of our about seven hour, four mile walk were seeing the FOX pregame show guys like Michael Strahan and Terry Bradshaw, saying hello to Rockets rookie Sam Dekker, watching the Puppy Bowl, and eating some quality Mexican food. There was so much to see and so much to do, and believe me we tried to see everything, but even we get tired eventually, so at around 6:30 pm we made our way out of NFL Live, only to find out the fire Marshall was closing the gates due to too many people being there at one time. I think we got out at the right time, as things were about to get crazy at a free ZZ Top concert and UFC fights across the street at Toyota Center.
Adrian rounded out his Saturday by having an amazing night meeting superstars at the NFL Honors Awards, and when we picked him up from there he told us all about his encounters with the likes of Head Coach of the Year Jason Garrett and Rookie of the Year Dak Prescott of the Cowboys.
On Sunday, our last stop was at NRG Stadium, where the Super Bowl was held. Driving around about six hours before the big game, we saw $200 parking, tons of tailgates, and a distinct buzz could be felt in the air. I still couldn’t believe we were right where the biggest sporting event in the country and arguably the world was being played at. After a couple of circles around the stadium, it was time to head back to San Antonio to actually watch the game. We said thank you to Adrian and goodbye to Houston and Super Bowl LI. Maybe next year we’ll make it inside the stadium, but I wouldn’t trade this weekend for anything.
Muy buen artículo Brian! Fue un gran fin de semana!!