Andy Rooney: My Super Weekend

Written by Andy Rooney

I imagine you were all disappointed because you couldn't watch "60 Minutes" last Sunday. I wasn't, because the broadcast was preempted by the Super Bowl in Miami and I've been going to the Super Bowl for 40 years now.

Depending on where you sat in the stadium, a ticket cost between $800 and $1,000.

There were lots of souvenirs at the game. They don't want you to forget it and I got a few of those for myself.

All you really want is the names and numbers of the players but they give you booklets with pages and pages of stuff about South Florida that was put together months before anyone even knew who was going to be in the Super Bowl.

The commissioner of football had a press conference and I sat there with 200 other reporters listening to what he had to say just to make my trip legitimate.

I walked around the Ft. Lauderdale Convention Center and then I went over to the beach - you go to the beach when you're in Florida.

I wasn't allowed to take a camera into the stadium with me, but CBS was broadcasting the game and they took a shot of me. I'm the one there in the hat. I sat next to my friend Steve Cohen, a producer on the "CBS Early Show." We didn't have the best seats in the house and I couldn't wait to get back to the hotel room and watch the game on tape to see what really happened.

Ordinarily, the round trip fare from New York to Ft. Lauderdale is $270 but Delta had a special on last weekend: $929.70. I stayed in a good hotel in Ft. Lauderdale $260 a night and they had a four night minimum, too.

The total cost of my trip was $1968.46. The Super Bowl isn't for kids, I had a great time though and it was worth every nickel of it because by doing this lame piece about the game I can put it on my expense account.

There were a few incidentals of course: newspapers, tips and cab rides, so why don't I just call it "One Super Bowl - $2000."

Written by Andy Rooney