Day 4 in paradise! The week seems to be flying by and I'm trying to soak it all in! It's Thursday morning, and for the last day or so I'm starting to hear from a lot of friends who are making their way here later today. The excitement has been building all week, but it's starting to seem more real.
It's sort of an interesting phenomenon that the Bears are now such a national story. We in Chicago think of them as 'our Bears'. But now that they are here in the spotlight of thousands of media people, I feel like the proud parent who has to let his offspring go off to college. The Bears have graduated to the big time, and now we can just hope they acquit themselves well in the big test on Sunday.
One of the things I haven't been able to talk about in my stories from here is the glamour aspect of the Super Bowl being here in Miami. This is probably the best city in the country to host this event. I say event, because that's really what it is. The game is almost secondary. There are so many big corporate parties going on. They use the game as an excuse to entertain their clients, and it is incredibly lavish.
The celebrities are everywhere as well. It's one of those times when everywhere you look there is someone you recognize. The other night at dinner I was sitting a table away from Saints quarterback Drew Brees. Two tables away was Mike Ditka with TV sports reporters Andrea Kramer and Jim Gray. Then we ran into two of the Bears Alex and Mike Brown wandering around. That was tuesday night. The big parties are Friday and Saturday nights. They are invitation only, so I won't be giving you updates on those.
In any case, it's been great. I got to meet Devin Hester's family for a story yesterday. They are truly nice people, and a great family. His story is really inspiring, and I hope he has a great game Sunday, for him and for the Bears.
About the only free time I've had, I've used for running. It is so nice running along the beach (as opposed to on the snow and ice in zero degrees), that I hate to turn around. You get lost in your thoughts, enjoying the sand and the breeze, and of course, the view of the ocean. Saturday morning I'm planning on a 16 mile run, and I think it might end up being one of the nices long runs I'll ever have taken... if you can describe a 16 mile run as 'nice'. But really, it's just a great place to visit. So even though we are working a lot do different stories, I won't ask for sympathy.
I know, I better stop right there. I'll try to check in again in a day or so. Til then, stay warm and Bear Down!
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