I Slept Thru Super Bowl In 1980: I Was There, With 103,985 Screaming People.
How could anyone Sleep through the entire Second Half?..Issue #67
ifOnlyi…didn’t stop off at 7 am, waiting for the Liquor store to open, and buy a case of 24 beers to start the morning's drive to Pasadena, CA, on our way to a memorable SUPER BOWL XIV.
I picked up John (my best friend) around 6:30 am. With great effort, I managed to score two tickets at face value, $75.00, to the Super Bowl in Los Angeles on January 20, 1980. This trip would not have happened if it wasn’t for the Executive Vice President of my family's company.
John C was his name, and he was hired from Walt Disney World, Florida, to be the second in command running our company. Mom was President and handled all domestic affairs; my dad was the Chairman and dealt with all International affairs, Manufacturing, and Designs.
A long-standing pattern of mine was always to pay for others to come to events or places with me so I would be in someone else’s company and not alone. This pattern had substantial negative consequences as I got older and older. Much later in life, I learned I was buying my friendships.
If they said they didn’t have the money, I would pay and even go into debt so they could go to events with me and enjoy themselves. It wasn’t anything more than me feeling guilty for having more than them.
I had some deep issues that I never understood back then, especially why I always felt I had to pay for my friends to join me at any event. For a long time, I felt guilty for my privileged life, a life many of my friends never experienced growing up, even though they lived in the same neighborhood.
Well, the drive out there was entertaining. So many cars were on the road that Sunday morning, all honking their horns. I did the driving, with John's music blazing and the sunroof open in my 67 Red VW Bug.
It would be a blast, my first Professional Football game ever. Some were drinking as well, and others were mooning as they headed to the Super Bowl game, and it was still early in the morning.
John and I were opening one beer after another at half-past seven in the morning. This was a bad start to what is a very special event. The Game kickoff wouldn’t start until 3:15 pm PST.
I knew there would be more people than I had ever seen in one place, but I had no idea that over 100,000 people were at the Game and 76 million were watching on TV. Once we got to the destination, parking was a massive issue; there was none.
We found a spot miles away, and it was not cheap either. But if we walked 2 miles, we could catch buses to the Stadium. I’ve never seen so many buses in my life. Well, maybe Disneyland graduation night was close, with 59 schools all attending and all having taken the bus to get there. WOW, that was a lot. I was more worried about how I would find my car in the underground after the Game in the dark of night in January. (Which underground did I park in? Would either of us remember?)
The roar of the crowd was exhilarating, something I had never experienced before. Both teams had dreams of winning and would battle it out. Quarterback Terry Bradshaw of the Pittsburgh Steelers was going for his fourth Super Bowl ring, something that had never been done before.
The Game was moving fast, and the First Half of the Game was over; next, the entertainment would start, and we would run to the restrooms, waiting and waiting in lines as long as the lines to get onto the bus. I felt like my blood pressure had risen from all the excitement.
We had seats way up near the top of the Stadium. Every player looked like a gopher small, and if it weren’t for the uniform colors separating the teams, I wouldn’t have known a thing.
American Football, a USA sport, was a game I went to on Friday nights during high school, but I never played it and honestly never fully understood it. My Favorite Team as a kid was the Miami Dolphins. Why, you may ask? Or why do I share loving a Team 3,000 miles away from where I lived?
It was because of their multi-colored uniforms. I followed them, and lucky enough for me, I was a fan during their best years, 1970-74. I still love them today, mostly because of the Dolphin Logo, but I don’t watch the NFL anymore. The time differences of living in Ireland make it more complicated, plus everyone is more interested in Rugby and Soccer, so there is no one to enjoy watching it with anymore.
By the time the Game was ready to start for the second half, Ollie-that’s me- was already taking a nap. My buddy John thought it would be a power nap, but little did he know I would sleep through the entire second half. I was out cold while 103,985 screamed for their favorite team to win that Game.
John told me I missed the best parts of this 1980 Super Bowl.
Despite the final score of 31-19, Super Bowl XIV was a seesaw battle for the majority of the contest. The lead changed seven times, a Super Bowl record held as of 2023.
I’m not sure I got my money’s worth. They said it was a three-plus-hour game. John woke me up with, “We need to leave now, Ollie. We have to find the car.”
Between walking, buses, a taxi, and more walking, we got there two hours after the Game and finally found it. The good part about all that was that most people were already gone or in their cars driving, so fewer cars were trying to exit, which we had to deal with, and traffic wasn’t at a total standstill on the freeway.
What a day! I had two more hours to drive back home slowly and steadily. I was still vibrating from all the energy and excitement the day offered. I even got a nap in!
By the way, a Ticket to the Last Super Bowl game, LIX, had a face value of $950.00 for the nosebleed seats. That is a big time difference from mine.
That was the First and Last time I went to a live Super Bowl game. My love for NFL sports may have waned, but certainly not for other games. I have always loved College football, and Baseball was my all-time favorite team sport from a very young age. I dreamt of playing Baseball professionally when I was a wee boy, but those dreams were quashed when my love for tennis took precedence.
#…ifOnlyi… short stories are published chronologically and follow my life growing up in California from 4 years old. If you’ve just found me, the stories will come together when you start reading from...Issue #1
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