Adventures in Miami: Part Two

By: The Football Girl | Posted:

Sorry for the delay in the adventures – much of the past 24 hours has been spent trying to get home to Washington D.C.  Luckily I’m on a train and will assuredly make it back in time for all six hours of the CBS pregame.  Here’s a little recap of my last day and a half in lovely South Florida.

Thursday night:  When I left off, I was on my way to the EA Party at the Clevelander Hotel.  This always star-studded event did not disappoint.  Name a prominent football player and he was there.  The list of athletes playing in the Madden Bowl itself was astounding – Chris Johnson, Chad Ochocinco, Patrick Willis, and Madden Bowl winner, Maurice Jones-Drew to name a few.  The tunes were jumpin’ and the food was plentiful (highlighted by Cuban sandwiches, of course). Oh, and I did get a chance to briefly chat with Larry Fitzgerald who I still maintain looks strikingly like Isaiah Washington with the glasses and all.  Unfortunately my proof is a little blurry but you should still make him out (see below).   Good times for all.

Friday afternoon: Thanks to an invite from the great Michael Lombardi, I had the privilege of hanging out on the NFL Network set – which was perfectly situated on the beach right in front of the Versace Mansion.  (I will be doing a podcast with Michael in the next few days and for those that don’t know him wait to be blown away by his resume and knowledge).   As I entered the set, so too did the equally great Scott Hanson, the nerdy-cute host of the NFL Network’s Red Zone Channel.  I had to spill the beans about my blog post chronicling my first date with his manic station.  Anyhow, Scott was super nice and seemed to have a genuine interest in our goal of making the NFL more accessible to women.  Hope to do a podcast with him soon as well.  While I was there Donovan McNabb was the guest and his team of handlers could not have been nicer. I had dealt with his main man, Andrew before, so it was great to catch up, and Donovan’s executive assistant, Sharon was delightful.  She had the brilliant idea of getting Donovan’s mom on the site, which fingers crossed will happen.  What a great next Featured Football Girl she would be!

Friday night:  Due to my past job, I was able to snag a ticket to what was arguably considered the most prestigious party of the week at the glitziest locale of them all – the ESPN Next Party at the Fontainebleau Hotel.  And the number of security check points only added to the feeling that this was the Academy Awards and not just a Super Bowl party.  I believe there were six crazy hoops (pat downs, wands, etc.) that ALL guests needed to jump through to enter.  As Jets CB Kerry Rhodes tweeted that night,….”Had the White House had this type of security, the crashers incident never would have happened” Inside was an awesome mix of the crème de la crème from the world of sports.  Like last night every football player you would suspect was there, as well as ESPN’s most famous (Chris Berman, Stuart Scott, Scott Van Pelt and more).  I got to hang out a little bit with Chris Cooley, who did double duty this week as an OCNN reporter.  Cooley made a bold prediction: the Redskins would be playing in next year’s Super Bowl.  While a bit delusional, Cooley is a great guy who is a perfect good cop to Clinton Portis’s bad cop.   There were two best parts of this soiree for me:

1)    Seeing Ne-Yo perform.  He was UNBELIEVABLE.  Great dancer, great vocals, and Closer happens to be one of my go to running songs.  Keri Hilson was at the top of her game as well, and they both were adept at mixing a little ESPN love into their lyrics.
2)    Not confirmed, but I think I saw Matt Hartley from Ugly Betty.  I’m a sucker for the nerdy-cute, as anyone who has met my husband knows.  My first thought was “What is he doing here?” but then I realized  he’s the star of the Dollar Menu commercials, which occupy the ad space during NFL games when the networks decide the audience needs a break from the Mannings.

For the gentleman reading, let’s just say there was eye candy galore-- unless you don't like girls in minimal clothing.

Saturday was pretty much filled with dealing the travel nightmare of getting home to DC.  But after detours to Charlotte and New York City, I’m finally back and ready for the Super Bowl.

Photos from the week and predictions from the TFG are coming shortly.