Live from Inside the Super Bowl: A Personal Account

I am probably more infatuated with football than you are.

Agree to disagree? Let’s look at the facts.

I won’t be watching the Super Bowl commercials this year. I won’t be sitting around the television with friends, booing and applauding the teams, the players, the plays, the calls and the refs.

I won’t be leaning over to dip those amazing lime tortilla chips in salsa (when they really don’t need salsa anyway).

I won’t be singing along during the halftime performance show (OK, maybe I will.. but who could blame me? It’s Tom Petty!). 

I won’t be pacing the living room in anticipation in the fourth quarter when the Patriots keep the game too close for comfort.

Lastly, I won’t be keeping track of the score when the Giants take on the Patriots. I most likely won’t have a clue as to who is winning at the current moment in time.

So, how can I be a football fan? These statements seem ludicrous and sacrilegious to any reader, to be sure.

I’ll be at the Super Bowl.

The company that manages every Super Bowl venue and several stadiums in the U.S. hired me for the day as a temporary worker to work the Super Bowl.

My day looks a little like this: I am waking up at 4:05 a.m. (Arizona time), departing from the University of Arizona at 5:00 a.m. and checking into work at the Cardinal Stadium at 9:00 a.m. 

I then will go through a strict security process. I was informed at the Super Bowl training session last week the game will be the safest place to be come Sunday, second only to the White House in security measures.

The uniforms for employees are locked away in boxes and no one knows what color they are or what they look like. I’m not sure why this is, but my guess is either black or white polos (if the stadium people want to be boring and traditional) but I’d like to guess that the polos will be a light blue (to match the orange, maroon, and light blue of the Super Bowl XLII logo this year).

After I check in and get my official Super Bowl-employee credentials (READ: [almost] all-access pass) I will get my assignment for the day and meet my supervisor.

I don’t get some fancy job like escorting the cheerleaders or serving Roger Goodell cocktails during commercial breaks, but wherever I end up, it’s a sure cooler experience than sitting on the couch at home watching the game.

And really, those cooler jobs are waiting for me in a couple years, so I’m excited to take on my first job in the NFL.

No matter what happens, it will be an incredible experience and it’ll look amazing on a resume come grad school-application time.