Jan 28: Bowled Over

If you read my last blog, you won't believe this. I'm going to the Pro Bowl on Sunday. How cool is that? And if you didn't see the previous blog, you may want to check it out for grins. If nothing else it shows that surprising, good things sometimes happen when you least expect them. I won't bore you with the details about my two free tickets except to say that I won them through a very cool lady I'm lucky enough to know. And that I'm grateful for the chance to go. So yes, all this means that I'm rounding up a friend and heading off to the big South Florida game late Sunday afternoon.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 so I figure a good time to drive south to Sun Life Stadium might be 5:30 or so. That should allow plenty of breathing room to find parking and enjoy the pre-game hoopla. I read that the Super Bowl quarterbacks will both be there watching the game and plan to wave hello to the crowd - obviously, they can't risk injury with the Super Bowl just one week away. But it'll be cool to see them anyway.

As you may know, this is the first time the Pro Bowl has been played before the Super Bowl. And it's also the first time since 1979 that the NFL all-star game has taken place outside Honolulu. I think it's great that they picked South Florida for the big experiment. It seems to be working, at least in one way. I saw online that they're expecting a sellout crowd of more than 70,000 fans. That would be the largest turnout for a Pro Bowl since the 1959 game in Los Angeles. I'm bracing for the packed house, which will make the parking lot challenging but the game itself a blast. This is my first opportunity to see some terrific players in person, including 11-time Pro Bowler Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens. He was quoted as saying, "It's one of the greatest accomplishments you can have outside of the Super Bowl. Whether it's your first time or your 11^th time, it's the same reward." That's a lot of enthusiasm from someone with so much Pro Bowl experience. As for me, I have no Pro Bowl experience. Of any kind. But in just a few days, that'll change. And I can't wait.