NBC2 SPORTS BLOG - South Florida goes Super
Despite lousy seasons for the Buccaneers and Dolphins... Super Bowl fever is still sweeping South Florida in advance of February 4th's Bears-Colts tilt in Miami.
As the game nears, my personal awe of the event is growing after watching the organization of the event develop, and the amount of money someone will end up seeing once the dust clears.
I can't stand when I read a media blog that consists mostly of the author complaining about how hard it is to do his or her job. I always do my best not to complain about the day-to-day rigors of covering the world of sports.
That said, from the outside looking in... it's likely people have no idea what it takes to try to cover the Super Bowl.
As you know, Super Bowl XLI is set to go down February 4th across the Alley in Miami. Since it's right in our backyard, we're planning some coverage to take viewers inside the happenings over at Dolphin Stadium. On our end, securing things like media credentials, hotels, equipment, satellite space, shooting locations (and many, many other smaller details) has turned out to be an incredible challenge.
I'm not saying all this to complain, we're confident the work we put in to cover the game will translate into some good insight for viewers who aren't able to be in Miami for all the events leading up to the big game (be sure to tune in Friday and Saturday at 6 and 11 before the game!). The point I'm making is that the NFL's Super undertaking each season is simply amazing.
We're spinning in circles just trying to get five people in two cars with two cameras and an editing system to Miami for a couple days of story gathering and live coverage. Sounds easy, but I can tell you, it isn't.
For their Championship game, the NFL has the eyes of the world focused on a single game on a single day in a single stadium. Again, sounds pretty simple, right? But when you mix in thousands of media from hundreds of outlets at scores of game-related events scattered among dozens of hotels for a single game... it's a staggering task to organize. Yet the NFL manages to do it, and do it well. It amazes me how well organized everything appears to be. I've made at least a dozen calls to different people with the NFL, the SB XLI committee or the Media Services people... and every time they were clearly busy, but were pleasant, kind and helpful. It's no wonder the NFL is the world's most popular league, and that the Super Bowl is the world's most revered event.
All that hype ... and the supposed cash influx that goes with it... are prime reasons why cities fall all over themselves to woo the NFL hoping to land a Super Bowl. With Super Bowl XLI this February, South Florida begins a run of three Super Bowls in four years. After visiting Glendale, Arizona in 2008... the Big Game returns to Florida for XLIII in Tampa in 2009, then back to Miami for XLIV in 2010.
(A few Miami SB Facts:
Super Bowl XLI will be the record-tying (New Orleans) ninth Super Bowl played in the Miami area. Super Bowl XLI will be the fourth Super Bowl played at Dolphins Stadium. The other five Miami Super Bowls were played at the Orange Bowl.)
So the big question for everyday football fans in South Florida... 'What do I get out of all this'?
Well... unless you have a business with interest in the immediate area (a bar, restaurant or hotel near the game), or have a whole lot of disposable income to spend on a couple tickets and a hotel... not much.
The Super Bowl doesn't directly feed all that money into everyday citizens pockets. At least with the Olympics, sport's other big-time cash-cow, cities and regions can get infrastructural, architectural or in some cases political improvement from serving as the host. The Super Bowl makes a lot of money for caterers, hotels, bars... anyone in the hospitality industry. There isn't much temporary work created as most of the people who work for the NFL or the Host Committee are volunteers.
As for actually getting close to Miami on Super Bowl weekend... you'd better be prepared to open your wallet. A check of three major hotel websites (Orbitz, Expedia, Hotwire) shows hotels may be the biggest winners in the Super Bowl financial derby. Every website threw up a disclaimer as soon as I entered in "Miami" saying it was Super Bowl weekend and that rooms were scarce and expensive. They said most hotels are imposing four-night minimums on guests staying that weekend... forcing you to book Thursday through Sunday nights if you want a room.
So did a search for a double room in Miami for the night before the Super Bowl. You can get a room for $99, but that's 50 miles south... way out on Key Largo. For $466 you can get a room 25 miles north in Fort Lauderdale. But if you want to spend Saturday night in Miami proper, the cheapest option I found was for $499.
...and that's the easy part, financially speaking...
I checked a pair of ticketing websites, and the costs for tickets are simply staggering. This isn't helped by the fact that you have two teams playing that aren't Super Bowl fixtures. The Bears have a huge fanbase up in the nation's third biggest city and they haven't had a Super Bowl since 1985. There are a lot of folks with a lot of money in Chicago and they're helping drive ticket prices up. That's made worse by the fact that Indianapolis is in the game as well. While Indy can't boast the same upper-income-bracket populace Chicago can, because they've never been to the game before, Colts fans may see Super Bowl XLI as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see their team in the big game.
The cheapest ticket on one site (StubHub) - in the next-to-last row of an upper level section in the corner of the stadium - is $3,194.00! There are two available, so at least you and your 3-plus-thousand-dollar spending friend can sit together.
Then again, if you want to go all out... StubHub offers a 50-person private exclusive suite on the field level behind the Bears' sideline for $558,838.00. ...and I doubt that includes parking.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Monday, January 15, 2007
NBC2 SPORTS BLOG – Good times in Gainesville
NBC2 SPORTS BLOG – Good times in Gainesville
The chant that echoes from the blue and orange clad fans at Florida Gator athletic contests declares, “It’s great to be a Florida Gator!” … and there may never have been a time where that was more true than right now.
Monday, a week to the day after the Florida football team pounded Ohio State for the NCAA Football Championship, the basketball team is back on top of the national rankings as well. Beating South Carolina Saturday allowed the then-2nd-ranked Gators to sit and watch then-top-ranked North Carolina fall to Virginia Tech. As expected, the loss to the Hokies toppled Carolina from the top slot, giving voters cause to move the Gators into the #1 slot. It’s the second time this season the Gators have been #1 after they started the season in the top slot. They remained there until their first loss of the season, an upset to Florida State nine games in. With nobody else looking like they’ve got the guns to make a push in the SEC, the Gators are in terrific shape for a successful run through the conference season and into the postseason where they figure to be near locks for at least a #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Meanwhile, a couple locker rooms over the football team has slowly seen one player after another declare for the NFL draft. The defections to the big leagues will seriously hamper any hopes the Gators might have of serving up a repeat title next season. Monday was deadline day for college juniors to declare their intentions for the NFL draft, and a total of four Gators have decided to take the leap. The latest, and probably most injurious to the Gators outlook for next season, is linebacker Brandon Siler. Siler joins All-American safety Reggie Nelson, and fellow super-juniors Jarvis Moss and Ryan Smith in leaving Gainesville early. The only junior to stay out of the five projected to be potential NFL draft picks this June is receiver Andre Caldwell. His retention is significant as the Gators move out of the Chris Leak era, turning the offensive reins over to Tim Tebow next fall.
ATTABOY GEORGE!
After demolishing the field in PGA Qualifying School - an event considered the most pressure-packed setting in all of golf - Fort Myers’ own George McNeiil showed his Q-school win was no fluke in his PGA debut last weekend.
McNeill fired four solid rounds in the Sony Open at Wailiea in Hawaii, closing out with an eagle on the 72nd hole of the tournament to finish tied for 13th. The win nets McNeil just over $89,000. In one weekend, he likely surpassed what he would have made in an entire year as an assistant course pro… the path he would have been on had he not succeeded at Q-school in his ninth try to qualify for the PGA Tour.
McNeill’s presence on the PGA Tour gives Southwest Florida a rooting interest in golf’s biggest tour for the first time since Tommy Tolles played regularly.
BLADES HIT HALFWAY
The Florida Everblades have completed the first half of the ECHL season and are off for the six-day All-Star Break. Goalie David Shantz is the only player flying to Boise, Idaho for Wednesday’s All-Star game. But he’s not alone in the traveling party: Coach Gerry Fleming and radio play-by-play man Kevin Reiter also garnered well-deserved trips to Boise for their roles with the team this season.
The Everblades hit the halfway point tied for the division lead with Gwinnett, but the Gladiators have played three more games than Florida. Western Conference leading Alaska also matches 48 point total in the standings. The thing that makes the outlook for the rest of the season so positive for the Blades the fct they’ve taken a total-team approach to winning so far. Take Reggie Berg out of the mix, as he's been an offensive wonder as one of the few 30-somethings on the team. But after Berg - Dustin Johner’s 30 points have him 50th in the league. That's the highest any Everblade sits in the league scoring record after Berg. That's an odd stat for a team tied for teh best record in the league. Credit the defense, especially the goaltending tandem of Shantz and Craig Kowalski, for serving as the backbone of the team’s solid first half.
DEVINE UPDATE
The wait is now on for a couple things relating to the college decision for North Fort Myers football star Noel Devine. With mentor and fellow North-grad Deion Sanders helping coordinate his college search, Devine will make his initial visit to LSU this weekend. The trip to Baton Rouge is the only one Devine has planned at the moment. However, he still has interest in Florida State, Florida, West Virginia and North Carolina.
The entire college search hinges on Devine’s ability to qualify or not. The combination of grades and test scores still needs to improve before he meets the NCAA standards. If he can’t get over the minimums, he will enroll at Milford Academy in New York for a year of prep school before moving on to college the following year.
The chant that echoes from the blue and orange clad fans at Florida Gator athletic contests declares, “It’s great to be a Florida Gator!” … and there may never have been a time where that was more true than right now.
Monday, a week to the day after the Florida football team pounded Ohio State for the NCAA Football Championship, the basketball team is back on top of the national rankings as well. Beating South Carolina Saturday allowed the then-2nd-ranked Gators to sit and watch then-top-ranked North Carolina fall to Virginia Tech. As expected, the loss to the Hokies toppled Carolina from the top slot, giving voters cause to move the Gators into the #1 slot. It’s the second time this season the Gators have been #1 after they started the season in the top slot. They remained there until their first loss of the season, an upset to Florida State nine games in. With nobody else looking like they’ve got the guns to make a push in the SEC, the Gators are in terrific shape for a successful run through the conference season and into the postseason where they figure to be near locks for at least a #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Meanwhile, a couple locker rooms over the football team has slowly seen one player after another declare for the NFL draft. The defections to the big leagues will seriously hamper any hopes the Gators might have of serving up a repeat title next season. Monday was deadline day for college juniors to declare their intentions for the NFL draft, and a total of four Gators have decided to take the leap. The latest, and probably most injurious to the Gators outlook for next season, is linebacker Brandon Siler. Siler joins All-American safety Reggie Nelson, and fellow super-juniors Jarvis Moss and Ryan Smith in leaving Gainesville early. The only junior to stay out of the five projected to be potential NFL draft picks this June is receiver Andre Caldwell. His retention is significant as the Gators move out of the Chris Leak era, turning the offensive reins over to Tim Tebow next fall.
ATTABOY GEORGE!
After demolishing the field in PGA Qualifying School - an event considered the most pressure-packed setting in all of golf - Fort Myers’ own George McNeiil showed his Q-school win was no fluke in his PGA debut last weekend.
McNeill fired four solid rounds in the Sony Open at Wailiea in Hawaii, closing out with an eagle on the 72nd hole of the tournament to finish tied for 13th. The win nets McNeil just over $89,000. In one weekend, he likely surpassed what he would have made in an entire year as an assistant course pro… the path he would have been on had he not succeeded at Q-school in his ninth try to qualify for the PGA Tour.
McNeill’s presence on the PGA Tour gives Southwest Florida a rooting interest in golf’s biggest tour for the first time since Tommy Tolles played regularly.
BLADES HIT HALFWAY
The Florida Everblades have completed the first half of the ECHL season and are off for the six-day All-Star Break. Goalie David Shantz is the only player flying to Boise, Idaho for Wednesday’s All-Star game. But he’s not alone in the traveling party: Coach Gerry Fleming and radio play-by-play man Kevin Reiter also garnered well-deserved trips to Boise for their roles with the team this season.
The Everblades hit the halfway point tied for the division lead with Gwinnett, but the Gladiators have played three more games than Florida. Western Conference leading Alaska also matches 48 point total in the standings. The thing that makes the outlook for the rest of the season so positive for the Blades the fct they’ve taken a total-team approach to winning so far. Take Reggie Berg out of the mix, as he's been an offensive wonder as one of the few 30-somethings on the team. But after Berg - Dustin Johner’s 30 points have him 50th in the league. That's the highest any Everblade sits in the league scoring record after Berg. That's an odd stat for a team tied for teh best record in the league. Credit the defense, especially the goaltending tandem of Shantz and Craig Kowalski, for serving as the backbone of the team’s solid first half.
DEVINE UPDATE
The wait is now on for a couple things relating to the college decision for North Fort Myers football star Noel Devine. With mentor and fellow North-grad Deion Sanders helping coordinate his college search, Devine will make his initial visit to LSU this weekend. The trip to Baton Rouge is the only one Devine has planned at the moment. However, he still has interest in Florida State, Florida, West Virginia and North Carolina.
The entire college search hinges on Devine’s ability to qualify or not. The combination of grades and test scores still needs to improve before he meets the NCAA standards. If he can’t get over the minimums, he will enroll at Milford Academy in New York for a year of prep school before moving on to college the following year.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
NBC2 SPORTS BLOG - Gators Win!
NBC2 SPORTS BLOG – GATORS (are) WIN(ning) ... This one’s all over
“The sun has gone down and the moon has come up… and long ago somebody left with the Cup” -- from Cake’s “The Distance”
As I begin to write this posting, the Florida Gators lead Ohio State 41-14 with 10:00 left in the National Championship game.
Journalistically speaking, I should probably wait until the end of the game before trying to sum things up… but this one’s in the books. The improbable run through the SEC spearheaded by a maligned QB and a coach with one year of major college football coaching experience is complete. The Florida Gators are going to be National Champions.
Argue all you want they didn’t deserve to be there in the first place… they proved on the field they most certainly did. By the way, please remind the Gator-haters that Florida was one terrible call in the Auburn game (the Leak non-fumble late in the game deep in Auburn’s end) from going undefeated.
With 10 still to go, Ohio State’s offense that averaged 410 yards this season has a total of 84. I can’t see much changing between now and the final gun to change the fact that the Florida Gators out-prepared, out-worked and out-executed Ohio State for the final 59:44 of the BCS Championship Game.
After Ohio State’s Ted Ginn knocked the Gators to the canvas by returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown, it was all Gators. Had it not been for that one glitch, Florida’s holding Ohio State to 7 points would have been considered one of the most impressive feats in Gator football history.
It did help that Ginn was injured in the first half. QB Troy Smith may have won the Heisman, but Ted Ginn was the Buckeyes offensive sparkplug. Smith appearing to be lost once Ginn left Monday’s title game proves the point. Unless he catches fire in the final minutes, the Heisman winner will end this game with no more than 5 or 6 completions. That’s unthinkable.
Florida’s glorious night will be perfectly illustrated in a photo you’ll probably see on sports pages and websites across the nation Tuesday: Florida senior LB Earl Everett sacking Smith in the 3rd quarter despite Everett having lost his helmet earlier in the play.
That one photo will symbolize how the entire night … maybe even the entire season … went for the Gators. Down… but not out. Seemingly out of contention… but charging back into the fight.
Florida becomes the first school in NCAA history to hold both the basketball and football National Championships. The block parties are going to be pretty interesting in one Gainesville neighborhood where Urban Meyer and Billy Donovan live four houses apart.
Gator fans should take a step back and give a lot of credit to UF Athletic Director Jeremy Foley. Not only is the UF Athletic Department one of the most well-run and progressive departments in college sports, it’s also one of the most successful. Foley is the man responsible for bringing Donovan and Meyer to town at points in both programs’ history where they weren’t the giants they now appear. Both had success in the past, but as Donovan and Meyer took over their respective programs, the Gators were on the downswing.
Each not only revived the program, rebuilt the recruiting pipelines and instilled a sense of pride in Gator Nation. They delivered National Championships.
Then there’s Chris Leak…
I could write an entire article on the collegiate journey of Chris Leak. Hailed as a prospect, Leak endured some major peaks-and-valleys as he made his way from his freshman season to the BCS game Monday night. Talent aside, Leak seems like a good kid. His work ethic has never been questioned and he handled the aforementioned valleys with class and character. Anything before Monday night was rendered moot after his game-of-a-lifetime performance against Ohio State. Leak was confident, precise, focused, ruthless, loose… all words you may not have hung on him in after some of his past performances.
If he’s not the MVP of this game, nobody should be. Leak may not go on to make much noise in the NFL, but he stepped up in heroic fashion in what may end up being the biggest game of his life.
Looking ahead, Leak’s graduation hardly leaves the cupboards bare. Tim Tebow and 12 other true freshmen return next year to try to add a third title to the Gator football trophy case. Gator fans should celebrate tonight not just for the win that the team is about to earn… but for the white-hot future they seem destined to have in front of them. Here’s hoping Southwest Florida’s own Markihe Anderson, Chevon Walker and Wondy Pierre-Louis, all non-playing members of this title-winning team, find their way into the spotlight down the road.
As I glance up from the computer screen - Urban Meyer just took the Gatorade shower, Chris Leak just knelt on the ball and the Gators are flooding the field as National Champions for the second time.
Streamers and confetti rain down on the Gators, and they’ll have their hands on the crystal football in just a few minutes.
The Florida Gators are the National Champions.
Honestly, who really thought thought this was possible?
At the start of the season, few thought any team would survive the tough SEC without too much damage to crack the polls and computer rankings. Even after Florida passed the conference trial, few thought they’d have the poll and computer pull to make it into the title game. Heck, even once they got there, fewer still thought they’d be able to beat Ohio State. In fact, that last hurdle - beating the mighty Buckeyes - might have been viewed as the toughest to clear of them all.
So much for that… they did it in a blowout.
I can’t think of anybody who could possibly have thought 41-14 Gators was the way it would wrap up. Then again… Earl Everett, Chris Leak, Urban Meyer and Jeremy Foley might have thought it was possible. They just needed the chance to prove it to everyone.
Done and done.
CLICK HERE for the boxscore of the BCS Championship Game
“The sun has gone down and the moon has come up… and long ago somebody left with the Cup” -- from Cake’s “The Distance”
As I begin to write this posting, the Florida Gators lead Ohio State 41-14 with 10:00 left in the National Championship game.
Journalistically speaking, I should probably wait until the end of the game before trying to sum things up… but this one’s in the books. The improbable run through the SEC spearheaded by a maligned QB and a coach with one year of major college football coaching experience is complete. The Florida Gators are going to be National Champions.
Argue all you want they didn’t deserve to be there in the first place… they proved on the field they most certainly did. By the way, please remind the Gator-haters that Florida was one terrible call in the Auburn game (the Leak non-fumble late in the game deep in Auburn’s end) from going undefeated.
With 10 still to go, Ohio State’s offense that averaged 410 yards this season has a total of 84. I can’t see much changing between now and the final gun to change the fact that the Florida Gators out-prepared, out-worked and out-executed Ohio State for the final 59:44 of the BCS Championship Game.
After Ohio State’s Ted Ginn knocked the Gators to the canvas by returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown, it was all Gators. Had it not been for that one glitch, Florida’s holding Ohio State to 7 points would have been considered one of the most impressive feats in Gator football history.
It did help that Ginn was injured in the first half. QB Troy Smith may have won the Heisman, but Ted Ginn was the Buckeyes offensive sparkplug. Smith appearing to be lost once Ginn left Monday’s title game proves the point. Unless he catches fire in the final minutes, the Heisman winner will end this game with no more than 5 or 6 completions. That’s unthinkable.
Florida’s glorious night will be perfectly illustrated in a photo you’ll probably see on sports pages and websites across the nation Tuesday: Florida senior LB Earl Everett sacking Smith in the 3rd quarter despite Everett having lost his helmet earlier in the play.
That one photo will symbolize how the entire night … maybe even the entire season … went for the Gators. Down… but not out. Seemingly out of contention… but charging back into the fight.
Florida becomes the first school in NCAA history to hold both the basketball and football National Championships. The block parties are going to be pretty interesting in one Gainesville neighborhood where Urban Meyer and Billy Donovan live four houses apart.
Gator fans should take a step back and give a lot of credit to UF Athletic Director Jeremy Foley. Not only is the UF Athletic Department one of the most well-run and progressive departments in college sports, it’s also one of the most successful. Foley is the man responsible for bringing Donovan and Meyer to town at points in both programs’ history where they weren’t the giants they now appear. Both had success in the past, but as Donovan and Meyer took over their respective programs, the Gators were on the downswing.
Each not only revived the program, rebuilt the recruiting pipelines and instilled a sense of pride in Gator Nation. They delivered National Championships.
Then there’s Chris Leak…
I could write an entire article on the collegiate journey of Chris Leak. Hailed as a prospect, Leak endured some major peaks-and-valleys as he made his way from his freshman season to the BCS game Monday night. Talent aside, Leak seems like a good kid. His work ethic has never been questioned and he handled the aforementioned valleys with class and character. Anything before Monday night was rendered moot after his game-of-a-lifetime performance against Ohio State. Leak was confident, precise, focused, ruthless, loose… all words you may not have hung on him in after some of his past performances.
If he’s not the MVP of this game, nobody should be. Leak may not go on to make much noise in the NFL, but he stepped up in heroic fashion in what may end up being the biggest game of his life.
Looking ahead, Leak’s graduation hardly leaves the cupboards bare. Tim Tebow and 12 other true freshmen return next year to try to add a third title to the Gator football trophy case. Gator fans should celebrate tonight not just for the win that the team is about to earn… but for the white-hot future they seem destined to have in front of them. Here’s hoping Southwest Florida’s own Markihe Anderson, Chevon Walker and Wondy Pierre-Louis, all non-playing members of this title-winning team, find their way into the spotlight down the road.
As I glance up from the computer screen - Urban Meyer just took the Gatorade shower, Chris Leak just knelt on the ball and the Gators are flooding the field as National Champions for the second time.
Streamers and confetti rain down on the Gators, and they’ll have their hands on the crystal football in just a few minutes.
The Florida Gators are the National Champions.
Honestly, who really thought thought this was possible?
At the start of the season, few thought any team would survive the tough SEC without too much damage to crack the polls and computer rankings. Even after Florida passed the conference trial, few thought they’d have the poll and computer pull to make it into the title game. Heck, even once they got there, fewer still thought they’d be able to beat Ohio State. In fact, that last hurdle - beating the mighty Buckeyes - might have been viewed as the toughest to clear of them all.
So much for that… they did it in a blowout.
I can’t think of anybody who could possibly have thought 41-14 Gators was the way it would wrap up. Then again… Earl Everett, Chris Leak, Urban Meyer and Jeremy Foley might have thought it was possible. They just needed the chance to prove it to everyone.
Done and done.
CLICK HERE for the boxscore of the BCS Championship Game
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