First off apologies to New Jersey for that headline. I understand this is a touchy subject here this week. I mean, just because the Super Bowl is being played in New Jersey, and just because both teams are staying in New Jersey, you want us to refer to this as a New Jersey Super Bowl. Seems reasonable enough, but if the NFL is going to give New York top billing, well then so are we.
In addition to reading a lot about the weather this week — did you hear, it might be cold at the Super Bowl this year? — you might also see a few media complaints about the logistics of a Super Bowl that covers two states and requires dealing with some of the worst traffic in the country. But you won’t find that here (at least not yet, I reserve the right to change my mind by, say, Wednesday). When you’ve ridden the media bus from Vancouver to Whistler multiple times at the Olympics, the Holland Tunnel doesn’t seem so daunting.
Besides, we’re rolling around in charter buses with police escorts here, so maybe as a group we can agree to stop complaining and instead appreciate that we’re in one the world’s most exciting cities (and New Jersey!) to cover one of the world’s biggest sporting events.
Oh, and speaking of police escorts, that leads to a pretty fun game I like to call “watch the disappointed fans when they realize who’s on the bus.” You see, when a couple of buses drive through Manhattan or pull up to a swanky hotel in Jersey City with a large police presence surrounding them, people expect something exciting.
“Maybe it’s the Seahawks coming back from practice! Quick, take a picture, better yet, film it! Look it’s … it’s … wait, who are those guys and why do they look so unkempt?”
Players, meanwhile, practiced Monday for the first time in New Jersey (see, we’re paying attention, Garden State), then get a little freedom Monday night with no practice Tuesday. Several Seahawks players used that freedom to head to a Brooklyn Nets game, and while sitting courtside Richard Sherman reportedly gave Seattle hoops legend Jason Terry a hug during a timeout. No truth, however, to the rumor that Sherman immediately described that hug as mediocre.
And one more tale from the bus before my overnight flight fully catches up to me and renders my brain useless for the night. Just about everyone in the Puget Sound area is at least vaguely familiar with Macklemore by now if not tired of hearing “Thrift Shop” or “Can’t Hold Us” every 20 minutes on the radio, right?
Well it appears there are still pockets of the country that are unfamiliar with the Seattle hip-hop sensation, who won four Grammys over weekend.
Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll was asked about Macklemore during his Monday press conference, and later on the bus ride home, an unidentified, and yes, a little older, member of the media said, “I don’t even know who Macklemore is. Is he some rock-and-roll guy?”
Close enough, I guess. If we can’t tell the difference between New York and New Jersey this week, keeping track of musical genres is probably asking too much anyway.
John Boyle, The Herald
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