Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Not much rooting interest in Super Bowl 50 in San Francisco Bay Area unless you're Stephen Curry



The Super Bowl is coming! The Super Bowl is coming! The Super Bowl is coming to the San Francisco Bay Area!!!
Wow! You’d think this is the biggest sporting event since the sparring match between Donald Trump and Megyn Kelly.
Not really. To watch and hear the around-the-clock news in San Francisco the Super Bowl is being met here with a collective whatever. The arrival of the NFL’s God Almighty Crowning Achievement Dog and Pony Show landing here induces a familiar four-lettered word.
Yes, yawn.
This incredible mega event sounds more like a giant inconvenience. It even has soccer moms – and dads – in an uproar when the bullies at the NFL erected Super Bowl media tents on their pristine youth soccer fields next to Levi Stadium. It’s like the Indians revolting against the Pilgrims over Plymouth Rock. Note: Always side with the people holding the big guns.
Basically, a lot of people are so pissed about the Ultimate Game that some are pissing someplace else. For example, even though the Super Bowl is being played in the tucked away city of Santa Clara, “Super Bowl City” has been built Rome-like in Justin Herman Plaza off the Embarcadero 40 miles away and people there and everywhere are complaining about traffic congestion, ignoring the fact that homeless people are being displaced in the name of a fan village and free concerts by artists older than Joe Dirt.
Hence, bringing the Super Bowl to the San Francisco Bay Area means commute drivers will now sit in traffic an additional 30 minutes or so minutes with their lattes and Bluetooth and finding street parking in the City will be a needle-in-a-haystack proposition instead of a selfie-stick-in-a-haystack dilemma.
And just wait until all the Super Bowl party people arrive in town. It’s going to be the mother of all limousine gridlocks!
Indeed, you can still get there from here. I could pay for a roundtrip ferry ticket for no less than $21 and ride there, which is cheaper than driving there and paying the $7 Golden Gate Bridge toll and gambling that you will find cheap parking rates at least 10-15 blocks from Super Bowl City that is less than a deposit on college tuition.
As far as getting to the Super Bowl, forget it. The cheapest ticket is $3,400 and climbing for a nosebleed seat. The best thing to do is wait and see if El Nino rears its ugly head for Super Bowl weekend then local football fans who can afford a ticket would rather sell it than buy an umbrella or a $2 slicker at WalMart
Besides, the San Francisco Bay Area has little emotional connection to this year’s Super Bowl contestants. True the prodigal son is returning and I’m not talking about Panthers coach Ron Rivera, who played at Cal, or Broncos reserve tight end Vernon Davis, a former first-round pick by the 49ers who went from getting under Mike Singletary’s skin to the Pro Bowl under Jim Harbaugh to Jim Tomsula’s doghouse.
I’m talking about Brian Pariani, of course. Pariani is coming home. He was a three-sport star athlete at Marin Catholic High School who was an offensive coaches assistant with the 49ers THE LAST TIME THEY WON THE SUPER BOWL! Brian won two more Super Bowls as tight ends coach with the Denver Broncos before moving on to coach with the Houston Texans and Baltimore Ravens then returning to the Broncos this year to coach free agent tight end Owen Daniels whom Brian developed in Houston before he caught two touchdown passes last week in the AFC championship game!
And here is another reason to cheer the return of Brian Pariani. His brother and sister-in-law and their family live down the street from me!!!
Isn’t that exciting?
Otherwise, there is not a lot of emotional attachment to Super Bowl L (I still like the roman numerals) for football fans in the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s like a birthday party for your uncle, except the driveway is going to be bumper-to-bumper.
Warriors superstar guard Stephen Curry is best friends with Panthers quarterback Cam Newton and people here are enamored with anything Steph says or does. If the Kiss Cam smooches little Riley Curry on the championship podium on Super Bowl Sunday the Earth is going to melt.
Then again, the No. 1 Super Bowl storyline is Peyton Manning playing in and sentimentally winning his last game because it’s assumed he will retire after it and become CEO of Nationwide. However, lest we forget, before Peyton signed with the Broncos, the 49ers had an interest in signing him. Jim Harbaugh flew to North Carolina to see Manning work out while Alex Smith was still the 49ers’ starting quarterback.
That’s all in the past now which is how the San Francisco Bay Area looks at the Super Bowl. The further away the better.