Their experience was super

Deepa Bharath

Ken Slosser and Mark Morrissey had been to the party of their lives.

It was, after all, the Super Bowl.

But the important thing was Slosser and Morrissey partied in

Houston with the people who had all the right connections: Paul

Salata, a former NFL player and creator of Irrelevant Week; his

daughter Melanie Fitch; and her husband Ed Fitch.

Slosser, a 40-year-old investment banker from Orange, bought the

ticket from the Fitches during a silent auction at a fundraiser for

Pegasus, a private school in Huntington Beach.

Morrissey, who lives in Huntington Beach, had egged him on to go

to the fundraiser because his daughter attends that school.

Slosser initially bought the tickets for himself and his business

partner, who couldn’t go because of a prior commitment.

“So he calls me three weeks before the Super Bowl and asks me if I

want to go,” said Morrissey, with a big smile. “And I was like,

‘Yeah! It’s the Super Bowl!’”

The pair spent the whole weekend with Salata and the Fitches, who

knew almost everyone at the event, from NFL Commissioner Paul

Tagliabue down to the event organizers.

Slosser and Morrissey, who are friends because their daughters are

part of the same swim team, said they ended up getting more than what

they expected.

“We were sitting at the 50-yard line with this fantastic view of

the game,” Slosser said.

It was their first-ever Super Bowl. They got their share of fun,

excitement and a giant piece of scandal as well.

“I saw [when] Jason Timberlake went rip and I saw it and I thought

it was all a fake act,” Slosser said. “It wasn’t until the next day

that I realized it was pretty real and serious.”

Salata had planned activities throughout the weekend, said

Morrissey.

“We didn’t get a moment’s rest,” he said. “We got about two hours

of sleep a night.”

Downtown Houston was like one, giant block party, Slosser said.

“We went there every night without fail,” he said. “And the crowd

got bigger and bigger by the day. The last night there were about

170,000 people packed into those 10 blocks. It was amazing.”

Salata also gave the two press passes, which got them into

players’ brunches, parties and press conferences, Morrissey said.

They met players, former players and hall-of-famers.

“I wouldn’t say I was star-struck,” he said. “But it was really

great to meet them in such a comfortable environment.”

It’s hard to put a value on that, Slosser said.

“We got a view of all the behind-the-scenes action and access to

events only a select group of people get,” he said.

Salata said he had never had anyone other than family or friends

accompany him to the Super Bowl, until now.

“But these guys were a lot of fun to hang out with,” he said.

“They were game for anything. They were happy to be led and didn’t

have any agenda of their own.”

Both Slosser and Morrissey said they felt lucky to get such

guidance.

“We got a lot more than we paid for,” Slosser said. “You can’t put

a dollar amount on that experience.”

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath@latimes.com.