When you come to Houston, be sure to come downtown to Main Street to the "Main Event." They're setting up lights and stages and all right now, and it looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. There are a lot of bars in the area, and all the places will be spilling out into the street.

I am leaving and will be arriving Friday at 9 PM. Will hit main street first.Will be eating at Vic and Anthonys Sat night. Call Steffanie for a reservation.Goode and co for lunch before the game and Brennans Monday. A lot of working out in betwwen. Wat do you think Susie?
Rick

Sounds like a good plan, citiboy! Be sure to get some pecan pie at Goode Company and to order the turtle soup (with sherry) and the bananas foster at Brennan's.

They're setting up tents right across the street from Vic & Anthony's right now, so there's something up nearby. (I can see it out my office window!) And, if you're interested, you can walk over to the green space in front of the convention center (a couple blocks away) to see ESPN broadcast live.

Have a great time and welcome to Houston!

Sounds like fun-thanx for the help LALALAND girl-Rick

If you're up for some Mexican food while in Houston, a fun place to go is Chuy's on Westheimer (near Kirby). It's very reasonably priced with great food and great frozen margaritas. Order the jalapeno dip with the chips they bring you (it's off the menu).

See you tomorrow Lalaland Women-Your advice has been great.

party on, and go 'lina, 'cause 6 tar heels are heading ns to H, fast as we can get there tonite. But what about a place to stay, looks iffy. Got a $225 bid a day on eBay for a downtown Daysinn , and we were rejected. How high should we go. we need a place between partying, any ideas?

Belichek did not look good in Cleveland. He was lucky this year.He got every break and call.I just bet Carolina plus 7.

You don't win 14 in a row by luck.You don't win Super Bowls with luck. Kiss that money goodbye.

The Packers were not the team of destiny, the Eagles were not the team of destiny - the Panthers are!

Destiny will not win the Super Bowl for the Panthers. Coaching and execution does. The Pats are a better team and have displayed that over the season. Carolina should be thankful they did not play the Packers because they would have lost that game.

It just occurred to me -- hopefully you have reservations at Vic & Anthony's for Sat. night. If not, don't bother showing up there. One block away is Minute Maid Park, where there's a big invitation-only concert going on, and I heard they gave out thousands of extra "invitations", figuring not everyone will show up. Also, I found out that the tents next to Vic & Anthony's is something called the "Super Bash," which is also drawing lots of people. And apparently, at 6 pm at Vic & Anthony's is some kind of fashion show.

If you have reservations, you should have a blast. If not, you should probably make alternate plans.

Here's the info on the fashion show at Vic & Anthony's on Saturday:
Super Celebrity Fashion Extravaganza:
Dinner and fashion show. Celebrities will model fashions by Vanesa Riley of London. Benefits Angel of Mercy Community Center. 6 p.m. Tickets: $1,000. Vic & Anthony's, 1510 Texas. 713-942-9197.

Cityboy,
You won the money but lost the game . HOW BOUT THEM PATRIOTS!
Just a sidenote, the Pats outrushed the Panthers great rushing attack.

Well, citiboy --
How was your Super Bowl experience?

I'm not citiboy, but I thought the half-time show was a bust.

How 'bout that lingerie bowl? That was top notch.

Unfortunately all I got to see was the boob tube version of the 'bowl.

Hey citiboy50 - I hope you had a great trip. Your team was great - really gave the Pats a hard time. Love to hear about your trip.

Olive Oyl - I sure hope you'll post when you get back too!

So proud of our Patriots - what a team - Adam Viniteri is amazing. But one of these days I would like a Boston team to win a championship without causing the entire state to have heart attacks.

I just got bacl to Miami.Everything including the bet was fantastic. Thank you Bellairegirl. I will write in detail later. It was the ultimate fantasy.Game, food,stars, athletes,partying, eating and of course, drinking. By the way, had reservations at Vic and Anthonys. We met Dominique Wilkins at dinner and he invited us upstairs-met Adam Sandler and Pamela Anderson. She would have been better at halftime than Janet Jackson-lol.

The people of Houston were extremely good people.The filet at Vic and Anthonys was delicious.We went to Pappas barbecue out near Bellaire dr on 59 for incredible barbecue before the game. Had Mexucan at Pappasidos and Ninfas. The 24 Hr gym near the Galleria was large and well equipped. We worked out all three mornings. The stadium was fantastic with a game to match.I was sitting 3 seats from Jessica Simpson. I am a 70s and 80s guy but enjoy booty dancing and Hip Hop because of my daughter(exposure).The halftime show was ennergetic but too short.Everybody in the stands were up dancing. Carolina fell short but I still collected on my bet.The only problem was the traffic was almost always like rush hour in Miami but we lived. If I can assist anybody with Miami or my original hometown NYC, give me a call. Thank you again Bellairegirl.Rick

Glad you had a great time! That's awesome that you saw the celebrities. The closest I came was going to a Starbuck's right after Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt left.

I can certainly understand the traffic issues; they reported that were at least 1,000 extra cars on the roads. And they showed a traffic jam downtown on the news at 4:00 in the morning!!!

We had a fabulous time too--way beyond what I'd anticipated. What a game! As a "girl of the 60's", the half time show didn't do much for me, but I enjoyed the pre-game and who couldn't enjoy our poor streaker, out there trying to do the Cotton-eyed-Joe all by himself. That's one dance that doesn't translate well to solo dancing and he barely knew how to do it to begin with. :)

Houston was a terrific venue. People were great (I'd lived in TX for a long time so knew that would be the case), but virtually everyone else we spoke with commented on the people and how friendly they were. Agreed

Space for all the functions was more than readily available in a nice compact area...Reliant Stadium is fabulous (and we Bucs are pretty proud of ours). The Convention Center was perfect for the NFL Experience--the way it was constructed, leaving the most space possible available for floor use with pillars radiating out from a base. We had a function Friday night in the Astrodome...a huge affair and that old place can still dress up. The 8th Wonder of the World, still going strong. The Tailgate Party pre-game was held in Reliant Center--great entertainment and food. LOL Part of the entertainment there was Duran Duran...one of my daughter's favorites from high school days. Made me feel like yelling up the stairs, "CLOSE YOUR DOOR"! I had to call her as they sang. Taste of NFL (or whatever it was called this year) was also in the Reliant complex Saturday night..food stations from each city in the leagues and former players available at each of those stations to autograph footballs (for sale at the door, natch), silent auction and more entertainment, all benefiting Second Harvest. Can't even begin to imagine how much money changed hands during the major 3 or 4 days of events.

Traffic...bad but not unexpected. Same problem practically sank Tampa when we hosted it. Galleria was absolutely jammed (inside)...worse than Christmas shopping, and hard to get into, as inexplicably they closed several of the entrances from the highway.

I think if we had complaints it was about signage for any events. The Reliant complex can be confusing...lots of places, all with different parking and several having events at once...all with no signs as to which was which and which parking was for which. By Saturday night roads around the stadium were being closed, further complicating the issue.

I thought it was more than a little weird that the Houston Chronicle played up the strip clubs in their Saturday Home, Garden, and Entertainment section. That was their cover story, listing clubs, top dancers, costs, locations, ambience etc etc. Goes to show I guess, who the major audience is. :) It's also telling of the audience that the bathroom lines extended out the door for men, but for a change, we all just walked into and out of the women's rooms. We couldn't help but give little smiles and waves as we went by!! Well, maybe not so little....been there done that lots of times so it was really funny to see the guys waiting for a switch.

Anyway, Houston did a terrific job--we all had a fantastic time, and now JAX has got some biiig shoes to fill!!

Oliveoyl,

Thanks for the nice report. I'm glad you had a good time. We were all talking about how weird it was that the Chronicle did a big article on strip clubs, but we figured that was for the benefit of our "guests."

I've never seen so many limousines in this city or, for that matter, in any one place in my whole life. I had no idea about all the parties and the jet set aspect to the Super Bowl.

It sure seems quiet around here now. We can't wait until the All Stars Game in July!

I went to a concert at the baseball stadium. What a fantastic stadium. I wish we had one like that for the Marlins. Maybe we will stay at Inn at the Ballpark and see the all-stars in July.