The 'Aints No More

What a week!  What a Super Bowl!!  The past week has been absolutely amazing for the Brown family.  Mack, dad, and I all flew into Miami on Thursday night and checked into our hotel around midnight. 

 

The boats outside our hotel

 On Friday morning we grabbed a cab and headed to South Beach while we waited for Mom to fly in.  South Beach was incredible.  The city closed off Ocean Drive to traffic and since Ocean Dr. runs right along the beach that is where all the Super Bowl entertainment took place.  I was shocked to see some many Saints fans already in town and they were everywhere.  There were high fives from a ton of strangers and every 30 seconds someone yelled "Who Dat?" followed by a chorus of strangers shouting back "Who Dat?".  Hotels along the beach hung "Who Dat?" banners from their balconies and everywhere we went it was black and gold.

 

A beach front hotel

 
 

Mack and Dad on the NFL Network

We ate lunch around noon (10am Colorado time) and had the biggest margaritas ever.  We said "it's 5:00 o'clock somewhere" and enjoyed every last drop. 

 

Mack and Margaritas 

The boys and I spent a lot of time walking the beach,  checking out all the stores and searching for celebrities.  We saw several celebrities throughout the weekend but the coolest was seeing Spike Lee standing in line in front of me.  He was dressed in very plain clothes and was actually shorter than me (I'm 5'6) so I didn't recognize him until he turned around.  Unfortunately he's pretty fast and he escaped before anyone could take his picture or get an autograph.  (Mack was also mistaken for Eli Manning once and I laughed so hard because I have been saying Mack and Eli look alike for years now but Mack hates it when I say that)

 

South Beach

 

We also got to see Wynonna Judd do a sound check for Good Morning America.  We could hear someone singing in the distance so we decided to see who it was.  As we walked up dad said, "I think that's Wynonna".  I looked and said, "OH MY GOD, that's Wynonna" and then Mack said, "Whose Wynonnoa"?  I almost died.  After a quick explanation on who the Judds were Mack and I went closer to enjoy the free concert.  After her song "No One Else on Earth" Mack and I started cheering and she looked over and joked with us for a second.  It was so awesome!!   Before we left South Beach I was able to find the famous Kardashian store called Dash in Miami. Unfortunately none of the Kardashian sisters were there but it was still fun to see.

 

Wynonna Judd

Mom arrived in Miami around 9pm on Friday and we met Coach Gregg and the rest of the family for dinner.  We had a lot of fun at dinner catching up with everyone and it was nice to spend some time with Coach Gregg before the game.  I was extra excited because Miami has fresh seafood so I chowed down on all the shrimp I could.  It was heavenly!

On Saturday we woke up early and headed for South Beach again.  This time we showed mom around and bought some surveniors.  If we thought South Beach was crazy on Friday it didn't even come close to Saturday.  It seemed like the whole town of New Orleans came to Miami.  The streets were wall to wall Saints fans and there was music and parties going on everywhere.  I will say this for Saints fans...they definitely know how to party and have a good time and they all want you to join them in their fun.  Mardi Gras beads were passed out like candy and everywhere you went Saints fans were dancing in the streets.  On Saturday night the Saints coaches had a get together for family and friends so we were able to spend some more time with Coach Gregg and his family again.

 

Ocean Drive, South Beach

 

 South Beach

 

Go Saints

 

The walk to the hotel

Sunday was the day that we had all been waiting for.  SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!!  Everyone was so excited for the game and you could feel the energy in the air.  After getting all our Saints gear and beads on we made our way to the stadium.  It's hard to describe the atmosphere except to say it was insane!  It seemed like every section was overflowed with black and gold and you could literally feel the excitement in the air.  There were a million things going on all at once and the most surprising part to me was how many people are actually on the sideline.  It looked like there were hundreds of people (not including each team) on the sidelines with cameras and notebooks.  I even saw a few nuns there too.

 

Super Bowl Trophy

 

Inside the stadium

 

  

  

  

  

  

 Fly over...it was so loud and so fast!

  

  

 

 

Halftime Show, The Who

We definitely had our ups and down during the game and our nerves were about shot when it was all said and done.  Reggie Bush is a fan favorite for the Saints and there were several times when the entire stadium was chanting "REGGIE, REGGIE".  It was incredible to hear and see.  But when the Saints defense scored the touchdown to put us ahead by 2 tds the stadium went crazy.  When the clock finally ran out the stadium exploded into cheers, chants, and grown men crying like babies.  The town of New Orleans has waited 40+ years for this and the Saints didn't disappoint.  It was an incredible game and the most watched event EVER in television HISTORY!  Len Dawson delivered the Super Bowl trophy to podium and it was history in the making from there.  Unfortunately at this point I had pretty much lost most of my voice so whenever I cheered you could only hear "GO SA........"


After the game we went down to South Beach and I imagine that is what it is like in New Orleans during Mardi Gras.  Everyone was celebrating and having a great time.  It was absolutely amazing and I know I have never experienced anything like that before.  When we got back on Tuesday my friend Jimmy Gillispie, who writes for the the Baldwin City Signal, asked if he could interview Mack and do a story on him going to the Super Bowl.  It was a really great article and we even got our picture on the front page of the sports section.  Click here to see the article. The Kansas City Star also wrote a really good article about Coach Gregg.  Click here for the KC Star article.

All in all it was an amazing trip and it definitely turned out better than the 2000 Super Bowl we went to last time.  We are so proud of Coach Gregg and Blake and they definitely deserve it.  The defense has looked incredible all year long but they really stepped up on Sunday and helped win the game in a big way!