WHAT IT'S LIKE TO GO TO THE SUPERBOWL

I've been blessed to see two Super Bowls and have enjoyed each one immensely. The first time you go, you have no idea what to expect. There's a lot more to it than just the game – going to the Super Bowl is such an incredible experience, the game is the crescendo to a momentous weekend.

I went to the Superbowl in 2001, before the 9-11 attack. I waas struggling to find a flight to get to Tampa to see the Baltimore Ravens play the New York Giants. A girlfriend of mine was also a production manager for MTV and she was helping the band N'Sync because they were performing at the Halftime show. Strangely enough, their rival boy band, the Backstreet Boys, was also performing and I remember asking my manager (who had a daughter who was a bog fan at the time) at the time what the difference was, because I wasn't up on the teenybop situation.

My friend had gotten tickets for a group of us, and I was determined to hang.

I got a flight into Orlando because there were literally no flights left to Tampa. I reserved a car and drove into a Tampa that was packed tighter than a tin can. There were people everywhere, there were celebrities everywhere and each turn of the wheel revealed a new revelation. I saw movie stars – Cedic the Entertainer, I got to see N'Sync, I saw TV personalities – Greg Gumbel wasn't staying far from us. The crowd was incredible. Hotels were going for top dollar, but we had been successful in getting another friend to find us a great deal on a suite at one of the better hotels in the area. I recall that at the time there was a hotel chain that was on the boycott list because of their recent treatment of their employees and this hotel was overflowing with guests, which was aggravating. This hotel was right around the corner from where we were staying – they won that day, but the hotel eventually was bought out by another hotel chain.

Once I got to our hotel, there was a bit of pandamonium because there were so many people trying to check in. I caught up with my group. We had a great room looking over Tampa Bay, complete with dolphin sightings and a balcony to enjoy the evening sunset. But there was no time to enjoy the sunset, actually. We were too busy people watching and partying. We also had some of the best seafood in Tampa I've ever had. The food was spectacular down there, and you could tell that everyone was making money because everyone was smiling.

The game was incredible – fighter jets flying overhead, the former President doing the coin toss, and Aerosmith and N'Sync doing the Halftime show after the Bakckstreet Boys did the National Anthem. The ticket itself is a collector's item, and I keep mine locked in my safety deposit box. There are also other gifts that you can share with those than didn't get to share the experience.

If you plan on going down for one – take my advice: get your tickets from a reputable outlet, you won't be able to get one without a ticket broker, so make sure they aren't a fly by night organization. Go early – set up the hotel, the car, and the restaurant reservations at least eight months in advance. I'm sure going to see your team is what we all dream of, but just in case that doesn't happen, you'll have a better time if you lay everything out in advance and you aren't scrambling. I don't care how many hundreds you press in the matre' d's hand, you can't get a table when there are thousands clamoring for the same thing. Be prepared for the unexpected. We wound up at a Roberta Flack concert standing behind Isaac Hayes – it was once in a lifetime – and she blew the place out.