Super Bowl XXV

Super Bowl XXV was played at Tampa Stadium in Florida on January 27th, 1991. Thirty years ago. Two NY teams played an exciting game that ended in the only Super Bowl that was decided by one point.

Buffalo Bills placekicker, Scott Norwood, with just eight seconds left on the clock, with a chance to win the game, missed a 47 yard field goal.
WIDE RIGHT!

Final score: NY Giants 20, Buffalo Bills 19.

The Giants defensive coach was Bill Belichick and their wide receivers coach was Tom Coughlin.

The game was played during the height of the Gulf War and a very rousing National Anthem was sung beautifully by Whitney Houston. Nicknamed The Big Sombrero, it was a large open-air stadium that sat 74,000 fans.

It opened in 1967 and later expanded in 1974. It was eventually demolished in 1999. In addition to the Super Bowl in 1991, Tampa Stadium hosted the big game in 1984.

This year’s Super Bowl, held at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium is the third time at the newer venue. And the very first time in NFL history that a team will be playing the Super Bowl in their home stadium.

A couple of months before the 1991 Super Bowl game, I was working in Tampa doing stand-up at the Comedy Corner. It was a classic comedy club with a great staff. I stayed at the Comedy Condo which happened to be across the street from Tampa Stadium.

The stadium was the home of the very mediocre Tampa Bay Buccaneer football team with Vinny Testaverde at quarterback. They finished at 6-10 and wore pinkish, puke colored uniforms.

The Buccaneers happened to have a home game that very Sunday against the Chicago Bears. I called the box office to check on tickets and they told me the Central Division rivalry was sold out. My only choice was to scalp a ticket on Sunday.

I was somewhat worried because I had read in the local paper that the security was going to be tight for the game. Knowing that the Super Bowl would be played at this venue, and with the war escalating, there was a concern about safety.

The local and federal police were going to use this game to practice their security tactics for the upcoming Super Bowl. I also wondered if they would be clamping down on scalpers. On Game Day, I grabbed a few bucks and walked across the street and started looking for any rogue ticket sellers. I noticed lots of police and didn’t see many people hawking ducats. I looked around and finally spotted some guy showing off tickets to a group of people. I walked towards him, past a fenced-in area, to ask if he had one ticket for sale.

When I got closer to the gentleman, I realized that he was not a scalper. He was showing his family the tickets that he had gotten and passed them out to each member. I was disappointed. Then I came to another realization. The gate I went through was not locked and here I was, inside the stadium. It was Gate-gate! I couldn’t believe it. The security was obviously less than heightened.

I got in the stadium absolutely free, yet since the game was sold out, I figured I’d probably have to play musical chairs until I found an empty seat to watch the game. I felt lucky, so I just went to the fifty yard line and picked a seat in the middle of the fifth row and sat down. There were two empty seats and I grabbed one of them.

Well wouldn’t you know, no one came at all to claim those seats and I got to watch the Bears manhandle the Buccaneers 26-6.

No tickey.

No security.

No problem.