Tuesday 6 February 2018 06:13, UK
Following Sunday's stunning Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles, Sky Sports' NFL Editor David Currie guides you through the madness of of the game and the week's build-up in Minneapolis…
There's nothing quite like the spectacle of the Super Bowl!
So I have been told, or at least led to believe through my 20 years watching the NFL and, in particular, its showpiece finale.
But, Sunday, was my first ever live Super Bowl experience. And, as I found out since arriving in Minneapolis a week before kick-off, the chaos, drama and excitement isn't just limited to the events inside the stadium come game day.
Straight away I'm out of my depth! 8.50am flight out of London.
As anyone who know me will testify to, I'm not much of a morning person, and so a 5.30am alarm call is not the ideal start, even for a trip of a lifetime.
Some ill-advised snoozing later and I'm the last of the Sky Sports NFL team through security. Not meaning to stray too far in my sporting analogies (but, as it's baseball, so surely acceptable as I'm in the US) - strike one!
Strike two came swiftly after, courtesy of my choice of drink during a four-hour change-over in New York's JFK airport.
Once we'd finally boarded our second flight, some Minneapolis locals kindly informed us of the freezing -7c conditions that awaited us, classing such temperatures as "normal" and "good for this time of year".
Normal it was not. A late evening arrival adding further to the Baltic conditions and we darted straight for the hotel.
Buffalo wings ordered for dinner…. Too spicy. Strike three!
This is where the true chaos of Super Bowl week commenced!
It began with a trip to pick-up our Super Bowl media credentials, and a slight scare surrounding my game-day access. It was all sorted out in the end, though no thanks to Neil Reynolds' plan not to tell me and see me suffer. Cruel.
Karma would come back around for Neil though, with a conveniently cropped photo of the 'new' Inside the Huddle team that 'somehow' made its way onto the @SkySportsNFL twitter page.
We'd arrived at 'Radio Row', where literally rows and rows of all of the global media organisations covering the week are housed under the same roof. More specifically, the same shopping mall. More specifically still, the Mall of America - the largest in the country.
This was one first that I was able to share with the more Super Bowl savvy members of the crew. Never before have the biggest names in the NFL - playing and broadcasting - been required to network within metres of an indoor theme park.
Talking of networking; the evening was reserved for Media Night. This is where anyone, literally anyone, could ask Tom Brady and co a question, literally any question - dressed as a shark, in a wedding dress - within a 60-minute countdown clock, if you can get to them through the media scrum.
I stuck instead with my roving reporter Jeff Reinebold. Perfect for the role, as 'Coach' knows everyone! We got some great access to journalists, players and coaches - past and present - for clips to push on Twitter. However, Jeff also took the 'roving' role of his job a little too literally. Don't take your eyes off him for a second, or he's gone. Another lesson learned.
Back to an increasingly-busy mall on Tuesday where, added to some more roving reporting with Jeff - IBF super-middleweight boxing champion and Minnesota native, Caleb Traux, one of his victims this time - were some more civilised press conferences with the Patriots and Eagles.
While, on Inside the Huddle, we had former NFL safety and early-season studio guest Solomon Wilcots re-join the team, as well as ex-Jacksonville Jaguar Tony Boselli - still smarting from last week's AFC Championship defeat - as well as famous 1998 draft bust, QB Ryan Leaf.
Leaf's story is a fascinating one, with his career forever compared to that of future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning's. The pair were the top two picks of that draft 20 years ago, with many observers even grading Leaf as the better prospect coming out of college.
The Indianapolis Colts ultimately made the correct call to go with Manning at No 1 - he'd have 18 years in the NFL and a staggering 539 touchdowns, compared to just three as a player for Leaf, who'd throw only 14 TDs to 36 interceptions.
In other sporting news, Richard Graves - fresh from an exclusive sit-down interview with Patriots owner Robert Kraft - put in an abysmal performance in the Sky Sports NFL basketball competition in the mall arcade, taking somewhere upwards of 50 attempts to finally get the ball in the net and win himself a much-sought-after prize.
Wednesday started with Neil conducting a one-on-one interview with Philadelphia Eagles' British-born running back Jay Ajayi.
Ajayi was born in London and, as a die-hard Arsenal fan, would no doubt have had half an eye on the transfer deadline day dealings, specifically Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's £56 million signing from Borussia Dortmund.
There had been dealings overnight in the NFL too, with Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith being traded to the Washington Redskins, netting himself a cool $23.5 million per year and $71 million in guaranteed money. Smith had been circling near our Inside the Huddle set the day before, but stopped short of giving us a scoop.
Meanwhile, Washington's outgoing QB Kirk Cousins was also spotted, in the somewhat less glamorous surroundings, queuing for his lunch in the mall like a 'normal' person. He's surely set for a big payday sometime soon too. But where? Cleveland? New York? Denver?
It's something that Jeff discussed with NFL Network draft expert, Daniel Jeremiah, as well as live on Facebook with Neil, from a Dora the Explorer Ferris Wheel. Yes, you read that right.
And, it was to get weirder! On the way to an evening meal with our friends from the Around the NFL podcast, after being dropped off by our taxi at the wrong address, the team took to some party rickshaws the rest of the way, in the snow! - the music shifting gears between Kanye West, Johnny Cash and Ed Sheeran. I guess that's just the madness of Super Bowl week.
With the wind chill creating -29c temperatures on the Thursday, the natural thing to do was to take to 100-foot high and 750-foot long Zip Line over a frozen Mississippi River!
Neil was worried about doing a 'Boris Johnson' and finding himself stuck, dangling over the river, while Jeff - kitted out more like a bank robber than a thrill seeker in such bitter conditions - was more concerned by his phone being frozen.
One of the workers on the Bold North Zip Line's beard had, in fact, frozen over in places. Not the most reassuring of images as the guys, as well as Richard filming it all for Sky Sports News - made the climb. Thankfully though, for the sake of Sunday's Super Bowl broadcast, everyone made it safely across, myself included.
Getting back to football, and Sunday's game, today was the final day the players from both teams were made available to the media, and the big draw of the day was Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski's first chat to the press, having earlier cleared the NFL's concussion protocol to play in the game, following a heavy hit in the AFC Championship game.
Meanwhile, there are some concerns in the Eagles camp, with reports emerging of numerous players suffering from flu-like symptoms just days away from the big game.
As the world's media move their attention to the U.S. Bank Stadium and Sunday's Super Bowl and, as such, the biggest names in the NFL now littered the Mall of America - Todd Gurley, Jared Goff, Cousins.
The latter we were able to pinch off the NFL Network's set for an exclusive video for the Sky Sports website. Cousins is hot property right now following his Washington Redskins' trade for Smith earlier in the week - he is now set to hit the free agent market from March 14, where he is likely to become one of the highest-paid players in the league for his new team.
Whatever the deal, and whoever the team, Cousins was keen to stress that winning is the most important factor for him. So, we can rule out the Cleveland then?! Sorry Browns fans, I couldn't resist.
On the Inside the Huddle podcast there was somewhat of a running backs special, with Green Bay Packers' Jamaal Williams and San Diego Chargers legend Ladainian Tomlinson on set - Tomlinson sounded particularly keen to come to London next season to watch his former team in action. We'll see you there!
In the afternoon, it was time to say goodbye to Radio Row for good, with the media's makeshift mall home dismantled for the weekend. It was time to get a glimpse of the Super Bowl Live event and Fan Expo.
The expo had numerous interactive games, including a precision passing drill, field goal kicking and the 40-yard dash, among others. There was also the chance for fans (and Richard) to get a picture next to the Vince Lombardi trophy. Who will get their hands round it on Sunday?
The weekend welcomed in out special studio guest for Sunday, Washington Redskins All-Pro cornerback Josh Norman, who joined Neil, Jeff and 1985 Super Bowl winning Chicago Bear Shaun Gayle on the final, Super Bowl preview, Inside the Huddle podcast.
With Radio Row no more, the setting was a more makeshift studio in a hotel hallway, complete with a piano in the corner, which Shaun showed off some surprising skills tickling the ivories before filming started.
Josh, meanwhile, seemed particularly excited for Sunday, but not just to see the Patriots and Eagles go at it. Apparently, he has a score to settle with prankster presenter Neil who, with the help of Denver Broncos receiver Emmanuel Sanders, got one over our new guest on their recent NFL UK tour.
Speaking of Sanders, we'd caught up with him earlier to get his take on the Cousins to Denver rumours, and he had an interesting take on it all - while he'd welcome the arrival of the current Redskins QB, he fears it could result in him being released to make salary space.
The afternoon was reserved for the end-of-season NFL Honours awards, where I managed to catch-up with the Watt brothers on the red carpet. I also, accidentally, often found myself in the background of the Japanese television crew next to me's shot. This happened with some regularity, so I can only imagine I'm now a household name back east.
The big news from the awards themselves, was Brady winning the Most Valuable Player award, his third. The question was, could he add a sixth Super Bowl ring to that trophy cabinet of his?
Super Bowl time!
And what a Super Bowl it was. The best ever? Quite possibly, though we have been spoiled with sensational season finales in recent years, particularly ones involving the Patriots.
Certainly it was the most offensive Super Bowl ever - a record 1,151 combined yards in the game, hardly the defensive battle many, including myself, expected.
I was only too happy to be proven wrong. As first Super Bowls go, I witnessed an OK one, I suppose. And it was a game full of firsts too, with Nick Foles becoming the first man to ever throw and catch a TD in a Super Bowl, Tom Brady the first QB in NFL history to throw for 500 yards and three TDs and lose, and with the first sack of the game proving to be a game-winning strip from Brandon Graham.
Our first-time hosts, Minneapolis, and it's U.S. Bank Stadium, served as a more than a fitting venue for the drama that played out. The noise, at times - no, in fact, throughout - was deafening, particularly from the heavily-favoured Philadelphia fans, who also got to celebrate a first - a first-ever Super Bowl win.
The enjoyment wasn't limited to the three hours or so's worth of action on the field, however. The Super Bowl experience was an all-day event - pitching up at the stadium, as we did, at midday and not leaving till gone midnight - full of colour, music (strong work at half-time, JT), and some utterly enthralling football.
To echo what I'm sure the Eagles players are thinking right now, here's to a second, next year!
