Reflections on the trip that got away

02-06-2005

Sure I'll tune in this evening as two teams the Steelers soundly thumped this season square off in Jacksonville's All-Tel Stadium to determine the NFL Championship.

Sure I'll feel pangs of regret, thinking about what might have been, that "one for the thumb" for which we'll now have to wait at least another year. But to tell the truth, I'm also relieved because of what wasn't.

Just after Thanksgiving my two sons and I started whispering about the possibility of an early February expedition to Jacksonville. Having recently thrashed both the Patriots and Eagles, the Steelers were serving up victories on a Roethlisberger roll that had already exceeded our wildest expectations.

Each week thereafter, as the team amazingly kept winning, the plan we were wary of discussing openly began to take shape. If part of the pleasure of travel is the anticipation of planning, we enjoyed ourselves a great deal.

Transportation wasn't going to be an issue. Forget about the expense, uncertainty and hassle of flying. My 16-year-old son, Ben, and I would drive to Washington, D.C., where we would pick up Zach, who's 26. Then we'd motor down I-95 to Jacksonville. I was looking forward to spending time with them, and Ben, who's working on his driver's license, would get plenty of practice. The three-day, 2,000-mile road trip with my sons seemed, as the MasterCard ad notes, priceless.

Because Jacksonville is the least-populated city ever to host a Super Bowl, I knew that finding a hotel room within 100 miles of the stadium would be costly. Zach solved that problem when a college friend who lives in Jacksonville offered us a place to crash at his house.

Game tickets were the major rub. Not being a season ticket holder, I anticipated having to acquire three tickets for sportsdom's biggest event on the open market. Estimating from the then going rates for the NFC Championship game, $1,000 per seat for the Super Bowl did not seem unrealistic, and perhaps even was optimistic.

The prospect of spending $4,000 or $5,000 to attend a football game certainly gave me pause. Who has that kind of disposable wealth? Is it true that more and more, the only fans who can afford to get into the big games are those who are there as someone's business guest?

At one point, I even proposed driving to Jacksonville to soak up the Super Bowl atmosphere but watching the game on a big screen somewhere. Both sons agreed I was mad. Why drive all that way just to watch the game on TV?

So, realizing how rare Steeler Super Bowl visits have been in recent decades and having convinced myself that the chance to spend so much time with my sons was a unique opportunity, I was prepared to carry out the plan, even though it requires a lot of newspaper columns to earn $4,000.

All those schemes, of course, became moot when the Steelers lost to the Patriots.

Looking back in a less frenzied light two weeks later, I am somewhat amazed I was even willing to consider spending so much money on a sports vacation. Although attending these events has become obscenely expensive in recent years, and traveling to the Super Bowl requires last-minute planning and the acceptance of extortionary prices, many fans are still willing to open their wallets wide.

Considering how many people travel to how many games over the course of all the various sports seasons, from high-school and college to professional leagues and matches, a huge number of dollars must be spent on spectator travel and team support. Yet, it's a figure I don't recall ever seeing totaled.

When asked what constituted a perfect baseball season, legendary Philadelphia Phillies manager Connie Mack said it was when his team was in the pennant hunt but in the end came up short. That way, fans' interest was maximized, but he didn't have to pay his players the premiums they'd expect for winning the World Series.

It might be something like sour grapes, but do I think a similar principle applies to traveling to these big games. The Steelers had themselves a season for the ages. The city that is capital of the Steeler Nation profited mightily from hosting two playoff games. But Steelers fans don't have to beggar themselves traveling somewhere to watch their heroes vie for the title.

Seen from this perspective, one can almost pity fans from the New England and Philadelphia nations.

At any rate, I am thankful not to be waking up this morning on a couch in Jacksonville. I'm confident that I can get a lot more vacation out of $4,000 than a three-day road trip to Florida. There's a long list of places I'd like to go.

Or maybe I'll just save that money against the eventuality of attending Super Bowl XL in Detroit next year.

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