Image: Wikipedia

Zeke’s father was fortunate enough to attend the Super Bowl in 1984. He shares his experience:

The 1983-84 Redskins were one of the best Redskins teams ever. Their 38-9 loss would have been very difficult to take had I not physically been there to see it in person.

That was one of the last seasons that I worked as a gopher for my father-in-law, Buck Wright, who was head field manager for the Redskins’ pregame and halftime activities. My real title was ground crew for the Redskins’ Band. My job was to set up chairs for the band outside the corner of the end zone along the old left field baseball line at RFK Stadium, along with anything else that was needed for the show. I got to sit right on the field by the piling in the back corner of the end zone along the old left field line.

What a season. The team had a 14-2 record. I remember a damn good offense and good defense. We still had the Hogs and future Hall of Famers John Riggins, Art Monk, Darrell Green and Russ Grimm. We also had Joe Theismann, Dave Butts, Dexter Manley and Mark Moseley. I also remember my brother-in-law Mark Wright jumping onto my father-in-law when we won the NFC Championship over the 49ers.

Washington takes tremendous pride in the Redskins Band and its fight song. When we won the NFC Championship, Safeway stepped up and paid for a flight to take the band to the Super Bowl.

My father-in-law must have pulled strings to get my brother-in-law Mark Wright, who now has his father’s position with the Redskins, and I to go along. Can you imagine how excited I was? To go to the Super Bowl. It’s an event that makes many a bucket lists.

As I recall, I drove to the airport with my father-in-law. We flew coach. I remember Safeway gave us baseball caps, but I don’t remember what was on them. We took buses to Tampa Stadium. The weather wasn’t that warm for Florida. We sat in a make-shift stand erected in one of the tunnels at one end of the stadium. The view of the field was poor. To improve my vantage point I sat up on the wall of the tunnel. Unfortunately for the Redskins, the game was lost soon after it started. That made to trip home a bummer.

I am 63. I have been to a Super Bowl and an All-Star (baseball) Game. A World Series Game is on the list in the near future

Thanks, Dad

The trip to today’s Super Bowl would be a big financial undertaking so yeah, we’ll agree it’s a bucket list item (even though we don’t like that concept here at No Kids). Here’s the rundown for the average fan.

If we were to go to this year’s game at MetLife Stadium, the tickets would cost about $1,700 apiece.  The parking would cost $240 per vehicle.

A hotel like a Holiday Inn or La Quintia, in East Rutherford, New Jersey, would cost around $300 for one night.

I’m not going to get into the price of the food at the stadium or experiencing the Super Bowl with all the peripherals. At a minimum, a weekend for two at the Big Game would cost $3,840 (and that’s before you calculate airfare from Denver – $902 for two – or from Seattle – $1,799).

We plan to attend a Super Bowl someday, but the Redskins seem to understand we didn’t have that kind of money to drop on a trip this year. They were kind enough to bow out of contention early.