Super Bowl ticket: $575; Living a dream: Priceless

It was the summer of 1990. I was a few months short of my 21st birthday, and I had just moved out on my own for the first time, renting a place with my best friend, Dave.

Dave and I were — and still are — rabid NFL fans. He is a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan, and I am a lifelong New England Patriots fan.

One late summer afternoon, we were at a local laundromat doing our laundry. We were surreptitiously sipping beers outside the establishment while we waited for our clothes.

“You know, we ought to go to the Super Bowl in January,” I blurted out. Dave, ever the agreeable personality, agreed. Super Bowl XXV was scheduled for Jan. 27, 1991, in Tampa, Florida.

From that moment on, I was like a dog with a bone, determined to make this dream trip happen.

The biggest challenge was getting our hands on tickets. One does not just order Super Bowl tickets. The demand always far exceeds supply.

This was in a time before the internet too. There was no way to just jump online and do a search.

I found, though, that the USA Today newspaper had a classified section where ticket brokers advertised tickets for various events. I made a few calls, and by mid-October, we had secured tickets for the big game for $575 each.

People thought we were crazy for spending that much money for a ticket to a football game. I always countered with, “If you could live out a lifelong dream for $575, wouldn’t you do it?”

As the football season began to wind down, the Patriots were hapless, well on their way to a 1-15 season. The Bills, however, were on a roll and dominated all season long.

Ultimately, the Bills won the AFC championship, punching their ticket to the Super Bowl to face the NFC Champion New York Giants. Not only were we going to the Super Bowl, but Dave’s favorite team would be playing.

We hit the road for Tampa the Thursday before the big game. I had arranged to have the ticket broker to FedEx our tickets to our hotel in Florida. We hoped and prayed were weren’t getting scammed.

The road trip down the east coast was an adventure in and of itself. Highlights included staying with a high school friend of mine near Philadelphia and over-celebrating his upcoming wedding, to having a gun pulled on me while I slept on the floor in a house that a college friend of Dave’s rented with a bunch of her friends in Columbia, South Carolina.

Saturday afternoon, we arrived at our Tampa-area hotel. When we opened up the back door of my car, empty beer cans just came rolling out onto the ground, like a scene from some road trip movie. The front desk handed me a FedEx envelope when we checked in, and we finally had our tickets in hand!

We arrived at the stadium on Sunday morning. We wanted to be there early so we could enjoy all the sights and sounds. We took part in various tailgate parties with other football fans, and somehow I managed to convince a street vendor to trade me a T-shirt for a couple of beers.

That afternoon, we made our way inside Tampa Stadium — the “Big Sombrero.” Whitney Houston sang the most moving rendition of the national anthem I had ever heard. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place.

It was finally game time, and we saw a classic. Football fans remember the game for Bills kicker Scott Norwood just missing what would have been the game-winning field goal wide right as time expired. For what it’s worth, the kick looked good from where we were sitting at the other end of the stadium.

Dave was obviously disappointed that his team lost, but we had seen a classic game IN PERSON!

To this day, he and I both agree that it was $575 well spent. We lived our dream.

Comments: james.jennings@southeastiowaunion.com