Getting Tickets to the Game Was Child’s Play for Some

This story is in the category of: There is a God.

There were people lined everywhere along the route to the game Sunday, holding up the inevitable I NEED TICKETS signs. It is likely that 99% of those “needs” went unfulfilled. In fact, this might have been one of the first major sporting events anywhere, any time, where nobody--literally nobody--had a sign saying: GOT TICKETS.

Well, one person got tickets. He was perhaps 8 years old, and, as it turned out, he was considerably smarter than the veterans with the cellular phones and the wads of cash and the NEED TICKETS signs. His sign said: “I had a dream that me and my dad got tickets.”

Other than the grammar, it was perfect. And it worked. Just before game time, an executive from Coca-Cola and his wife walked by, saw the youngster and handed him two tickets.

Sometimes, things just do go better.

HE ALREADY USED HIS BIRTHDAY WISH

Veteran guard Mark Schlereth had a special day, and not just because he was part of a Bronco offensive line that simply outdid itself all afternoon. Turns out that Sunday was his birthday.

“I knew, back in February, when I had some injury problems and I was thinking about this season, that this was going to be our year,” he said. “I saw the Super Bowl was scheduled on Jan. 25th. And it was going to be Super Bowl 32. Today, I’m 32 on the 25th. Can’t get much better than that.”

TRYING TO WRITE A FEW WRONGS

For the record, so that corporate America doesn’t steal all the thunder, the Super Bowl that was played at Qualcomm Stadium was played at a place that used to be called Jack Murphy Stadium. The late Jack Murphy was a sportswriter in San Diego, and when the guys with the fat checkbooks came around a year or so ago, helping pay for the refurbishing of the stadium so that it would be up to Super Bowl standards--which it clearly was--old Jack’s namesake became a huge ad for cell phones. But somebody had the sense to keep Murphy around in some form. So the official name of the place became Jack Murphy Field at Qualcomm Stadium.

It’s a stretch, sure, but the ink-stained wretches will take whatever we can get.