Andy Goes To Miami
The following is a weekly 60 Minutes commentary by CBS News correspondent Andy Rooney.
There are several things that divide us in this nation: some of us are Republicans, some of us Democrats. Some of us are Protestant, some Catholic, some Jewish, some Atheist. Some of us eat carrots, some of us hate carrots. And then some of us can't get enough football and some of us are glad when the season's over.
Well, I love football. There have been 41 Super Bowl games and I've gone to most of them. Some cities are better for the game than others. San Diego is a good Super Bowl city. Miami is okay, but it's too spread out. Every place you want to go is miles away. New Orleans may be the best Super Bowl city. The food is great and you can walk to the stadium from your hotel.
There's a lot of milling around at every Super Bowl—guys looking for tickets, people looking for something that isn't there. You see a lot of people you wouldn't want to know any better, I know that.
If you actually go to the game at the stadium, you may not be able to see it very well from your seat but you can watch it on the big screens they have at each end of the field so being at the game is almost as good as watching it at home on television.
I like being there so I can tell people I went but if you watched at home, you probably saw it better than I did. It's certainly cheaper. One ticket cost $600.
A program was $20. All I wanted was the names and numbers of the players and they give you 300 pages, mostly advertising. It's hard to find the players' names in it.
The Super Bowl is a very American event but I notice one of the two hats they gave me was made in Taiwan and the other was made in Bangladesh. The pad and the lunchbox were both made in China. I wonder where the sandwiches were made.
One problem I had this year was I didn't really care who won. It's more interesting if you hate one of the two teams or the city it comes from.
I sit in an area in front of the press box every year. They give you a cushion and a little radio so you can listen to the game while you watch it.
I talked to a lot of people in Miami Friday and Saturday and most of them asked me the same question. "Are you going to the game?"
I gave the same answer to everyone: "No." I said. "I came to Miami this weekend to visit my grandmother."
Written By Andy Rooney