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Tags: Super Bowl Travel / Events / New Orleans Travel / Football Travel / Football / → All Tags
There's A Little Bit Of A Parade In New Orleans This Afternoon
The New Orleans Saints are wasting no time in getting the party started. Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees has already done his thing at Walt Disney World, and now the team is ready to celebrate with their fans back in The Big Easy. The biggest party to ever hit New Orleans is set to kick off at the Superdome at about 5pm local time this afternoon.
It might not be the traditional ticker tape parade, but the residents of New Orleans are planning to put their own spin on the entire celebration. There’s going to be at least 12 marching bands, 10 different Mardi Gras floats, and plenty of people looking for a party in the streets. Things are expected to be totally nuts throughout the city, and it’s even causing other sports teams to rearrange their travel schedules. The NBA’s Boston Celtics are flying into town early today to avoid the congestion, or maybe they're just making an excuse to join in on the fun.
Tags: World Cup / 2010 World Cup / Soccer / Football / Sports / Sports Travel / Sporting Events / → All Tags
U.S. Earns 2010 World Cup Berth. Games Now 37% More Interesting
I'm an enthusiastic supporter of the U.S. World Cup soccer team because: A. It's my country after all, my homies; and B. It's always fun to root for the underdog. The U.S. dominates in so many sports, but in world soccer it has almost no impact at all. That gives the current squad - which qualified for a 2010 World Cup berth on Saturday - an aura of rebellion, like they've got the potential to upset the natural order of things. I like that.
Tags: Sports Travel / Football / London Travel / Sports / → All Tags
Believe It Or Not: American Football Is Twice As Nice Overseas
The professional football season kicks off tonight, if you’re looking for a little more excitement than an evening planted on the couch, you might want to consider a fall football getaway. For the third consecutive year American footballers are going to cross the pond to play a game at London’s Wembley Stadium. This year it’s the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New England Patriots battling it out and Virgin Vacations wants to help you get there.
If you’ve got some extra coin hanging around, this package is an excellent way to get rid of it. Packages start at $1899 and include round trip flights on Virgin Atlantic, transfers from the airport, and four nights of hotel fun in London. Of course you’ll also get two tickets to the big game on October 25 as well as access to some NFL fan festival thing. If price isn’t a problem, they’ll gladly upgrade you to the Diamond Package, where you’ll be rubbing elbows with the players’ wives on the 50 yard line.
Tags: Celebs Who Twitter / Twitter / Sports Travel / Contests / Football / → All Tags
NFL Player Ochocinco Needs Your Help Twittering The Season
The NFL season is just around the corner, and what better way to enjoy a game than getting the opportunity to check it out in person. If you’re a fan of the Cincinnati Bengals, and we feel for you if you are, you might just get a free trip thanks to Chad Ochocinco—yes that's his name, as he changed it to match his number.
Number 85 is good at running his Twitter account, he’s got like 7,000 updates, but he needs a little help to keep the momentum during the regular season. Too bad the league frowns upon cell phones on the bench. Thus, a contest has bloomed ...
Tags: Sports Travel / Miami Dolphins / Jimmy Buffett / Football / Stadiums / → All Tags
Jimmy Buffet Gets Drunk on the Miami Dolphins
We knew Floridians had an extra special place in their hearts for Jimmy Buffett's beach bum tunes, but this is taking it to the extreme. To honor LandShark Lager, a beer produced by Buffet's Margaritaville brand, the Miami Dolphins football team has just renamed their home field LandShark Stadium.
Reportedly, Buffett will help finance the deal by performing at the stadium for little or no cost. At a kickoff concert this weekend, Buffet unveiled "FINS," a song he wrote for the Dolphins—no word on whether that was part of the contract.
This brings a whole new chapter to the saga of building naming rights. It looks like the once highly-debated rights are not the hot commodity they once were. We all still remember a couple years ago when Citigroup shelled out $400 million for naming rights on the Mets' new stadium and now the going price on a stadium is a few free Buffet tickets. What's next? Will we be heading to games at Jessica Simpson Field at Cowboys Stadium? In any case, you can now sing "Cheeseburger in Paradise" loud and strong while in the concessions line at the Dolphins stadium.
Related Stories:
· New name for home of Dolphins and UM: LandShark Stadium? [Sun Sentinel]
· Buffett rocks Dolphins’ LandShark Stadium [Yahoo]
· Jimmy Buffett Busted For X in France [Jaunted]
[Photo: LandShark Stadium]
Tags: NFL Draft / Mark Sanchez / New York Jets / Football / Sports / → All Tags
Where to Find Mark Sanchez Now That He's a Jet
When you're a jet, you're a jet all the way....
Talk about hitting the jackpot. USC's Mark Sanchez entered Saturday's NFL Draft as one of the obvious best quarterbacks in the lot, which meant he was virtually assured to land with a struggling team in an overlooked market like Cleveland or Cincinnati. But the not-so-awful Jets made a gutsy move, traded up for the #5 pick, and now Sanchez is headed to New York (well, the Meadowlands…but close enough).
As is often the case with good-looking young QBs, the New York media will be following his every move and of course, every girl he dates. Indeed, we suspect Julia Allison is already plotting her strategy. So where will Mark be spotted upon arrival in the tri-state area? Here are our best bets:
Tags: Super Bowl XLIII / Super Bowl Travel / Sports Travel / Football / Parades / Phoenix Sky Harbor / → All Tags
Another Super Bowl and Another Parade for Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh is getting used to this winning thing. Now that the low-key rioting has settled down, the Iron City will honor the Super Bowl champion Steelers with a parade through downtown this afternoon.
The Steelers' second Super Bowl championship parade in four years will follow the usual route of the city's St. Patrick's Day parade, starting at noon near Mellon Arena, winding through Downtown and ending at Gateway Center. 250,000 fans braved the cold to cheer on the Steelers after they last took home the trophy in 2006, and a similar crowd is expected today.
Meanwhile 4,000 forgiving fans welcomed home the NFC champion Cardinals at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport yesterday, but Phoenix and Glendale officials said they won't be throwing a consolation parade for the Super Bowl runner-ups.
· Pittsburgh Fans Celebrate But Don't Call It a Riot [Jaunted]
· Steelers Victory Parade To Be Held [KDKA]
· More than 4,000 welcome home Cardinals at airport [AZ Central]
· Super Bowl XLIII coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: AxsDeny]
Tags: Super Bowl XLIII / Super Bowl Travel / Sports Travel / Football / → All Tags
Pittsburgh Fans Celebrate But Don't Call It a Riot
The Pittsburgh Steelers won their sixth Super Bowl title in a nail-biter late Sunday night, and the 20-degree weather didn't stop Pitt fans from filling their hometown streets all night.
The city's Oakland section, near the University of Pittsburgh, was ground zero for post-game revelry, where thousands flooded the streets, waving the yellow and gold and lighting what they could on fire. Police, who has barricaded several streets so that fans could celebrate without jumping on cars, reported no major incidents, just a few good-natured couch fires.
Down in Tampa, the Super Bowl itself went off with minimal bad behavior, as less than 30 fans were arrested, including two who tried to snatch someone else's tickets and sneak their way into the big game, and one particularly drunk driver who somehow managed to drive her way into a police horse.
Ah, the Super Bowl, gotta love a night that includes couch fires, driving into a horse, and dozens of arrests, but is considered surprisingly orderly.
· Que Crawl [Canadian Press]
· Most Super Bowl fans well behaved [ABC]
· Super Bowl XLIII coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: jdebner]
Tags: Super Bowl XLIII / Super Bowl Travel / Sports Travel / Football / → All Tags
How to Get to Raymond James Stadium for the Big Game
Despite the canceled parties and record $1,000 ticket prices, the NFL still estimates 100,000 gridiron fans will make their way to Tampa Bay this Sunday to attend Super Bowl XLIII. So you can bet traffic on the roads and security checkpoints will be a super nightmare.
The good news is you can drive in and park next to the Super Bowl stadium aka Raymond James Stadium, which is a few miles outside downtown and is right next to Tampa International Airport. But, as you can probably guess, it'll cost you. Parking permits, which must be purchased beforehand, cost $60 for a regular-sized car, and the parking lot opens for tailgating at 9 a.m. Sunday morning (officially there's no tailgating allowed of course, but we'll believe that when we see it). Taxis, which normally cost about $25, will also be allowed to drop off across the street from the stadium.
Otherwise you can take the public HART bus, which will be running to the stadium every half-hour starting at 12:35 p.m., picking up at several stops throughout downtown. But check out the detour routes on HART's website, because getting from some hotels to downtown looks like it could end up being a doozy.
· Super Bowl XLIII - Transportation [Official Site]
· Super Bowl XLIII Parking [Official Site]
· Big Plans for the Big Game [HART]
· The Super Bowl Party Scene: Now With Fewer Parties [Jaunted]
Tags: Super Bowl XLIII / Travel / Super Bowl Parties / Football / Bruce Springsteen / → All Tags
The Super Bowl Party Scene: Now With Fewer Parties
Even the Super Bowl—one of America's greatest standard bearers of extravagance and over-the-top commercialism—isn't immune from the recession blues.
No, they're not having any trouble selling those $3 million commercial slots, but it's looking like the week-long party in Tampa Bay is going to be a little less super than usual this year, with more than a few of the glitziest party planners giving it a pass.
The Washington Post reports Playboy and Sports Illustrated have both canceled their annual Super Bowl bashes while several talent agencies have done the same, and a celebrity golf tournament organized by two Tampa Bay Buccaneers players was canceled because of a lack of sponsors.
The NFL still expects 100,000 gridiron fans to make the trek to Tampa for Sunday's big game between Pittsburgh and Arizona. But don't expect any Britney/Justin bubble-era pop music at halftime—this year's show features the appropriately recession-friendly sounds of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
Are you headed to the Super Bowl? Let us know how you're getting there or how you're celebrating.
· Economy Has NFL Feeling Less Than Super [WaPo]
· Super Bowl travel coverage [Jaunted]
Photo: [NFL]
Tags: Sports Travel / Football / Germany Travel / → All Tags
Sports Travel: It's The Stadium, Stupid
American football isn't the only sport in which teams use their old stadiums as scapegoats. In Cologne, Germany, the stadium in question was just renovated three years ago--but it's already jinxed, according to football club FC Köln's head coach Christoph Daum, who blames the RheinEnergieStadion for his team's woes.
Daum promised to take FC Köln into Europe's top division when he was hired last year, but not getting there isn't his fault: "This isn't a football stadium, it's a torture chamber," he told reporters of the team's home, first built in 1923. "There are things that happen here that you can't explain." Spooky, or kooky? Maybe Daum could ask the World Cup teams who played and lost there last year for some back-up; speak up, Sweden, Switzerland, and Togo!
Related Stories:
· Coach blames stadium for poor record [Reuters/Yahoo!]
· Cologne Travel coverage [Jaunted]
· Sports Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: tannij77]
Tags: Sports / Football / Drugs / Airport Security / Celeb Travel / Michael Vick / → All Tags
Falcons QB Michael Vick Cleared
Our good friend Michael Vick, QB for the Atlanta Falcons, got himself in a bind last week when he was stopped at airport security. Like the rest of us, today's Kip Hawleyisms irked Vick, who was none to pleased to turn over his more than 3 ounces of water. Now, the only thing that reaction stirs in us is a sense of sincere brotherhood, but security at MIA felt differently, and they investigated. They thought they found a little weed in Vick's bottle, or as various reports put it, a "particulate" with an "odor consistent with marijuana." Hee.
You might be happy to hear that Vick was cleared, and it turns out the substance was a whole lot of nothing, or at least not enough of anything to bust our dear QB. What was that particulate, then? The case is closed, but unfortunately for Vick, he's still in hot water with the Falcons. Snoop Dogg is going to be pissed that no one's ready to challenge him in the airport arrest races.
Related Stories:
· Report: Police erased airport video of Vick ditching bottle [ANG]
· Snoop Dogg enters 'not guilty' plea [NME]
· Falcons QB Michael Vick: Tokin' Through Airport Security? [Jaunted]
