Saturday Night At The Super Bowl

Our group with Matt Hasselbeck, my new favorite former BC athlete.

Much of the atmosphere of Super Bowl weekend comes from all the crazy parties that Playboy, Maxim, and every other male-oriented brand throws. Pat managed to get us four tickets to a concert party at the Bud Light Hotel, and a quick count of the number of neck tattoos in line told me that this wasn't the most exclusive of parties. However, the hour we spent in line was well worth it when we got inside. Some highlights of the night included:

- Lil Jon pausing Get Low (one of my favorite songs of all time) to point out to us which side of the tent was the window, and which was the wall. I want him at my wedding.

After seeing Get Low live, I am officially crushing my bucket list this weekend.

- Nelly casually walking out not to perform, but just because he was hanging out backstage. The amount of celebrities at the Super Bowl is obscene.

- Colin mercilessly ripping into Pitbull, whose lackluster performance did kill the vibe in the concert.

- 50 Cent's entire band performing in Giants jerseys. The crowd was overwhelmingly in favor of New York, as I think it will be in Lucas Oil Stadium tonight.

50 Cent, a proud New Yorker.

As Floyd Mayweather walked out during one of 50 Cent's songs to pull stacks of dollar bills from his diamond-studded backpack, I couldn't help but think of how far the Super Bowl has come from January 15th, 1967, when Vince Lombardi's Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs and the league had to push fans towards the 50 yard line to hide all the empty seats from the cameras. Four and a half decades ago, Al Davis' renegade tactics pressured Pete Rozelle into an AFL-NFL merger and an inter-league championship game. Lamar Hunt coined it the Super Bowl, and now it's an annual phenomenon.

I doubt Floyd Mayweather's blinged-out backpack was in Pete Rozelle's vision for the NFL's future, but this is how far the Super Bowl has come.

When we got back to our hotel, we ran into fellow Boston College alum Matt Hasselbeck. He isn't talked about as much as other BC ambassadors like Doug Flutie and Matt Ryan, but I think Hasselbeck is one of the best athletes to come out of my alma mater. Having seen his affable demeanor on screen, it was no surprise to me that he was a down to earth, friendly guy.  There were about five separate times he bid us farewell and then came back into the conversation to chat more about BC football and his thoughts on tonight's game. This weekend's brought a lot of great memories, and a 3:00am conversation with Matt Hasselbeck is definitely near the top of that list.