Super Bowl

With the Super Bowl looming this upcoming weekend, there is great anticipation rolling around in my little brain.
Yep pholks, Super Bowls excite me 'cause I'm a sports “phanantic” but there is more at stake that just the biggest football game of the season and party Sunday of the year. For me, Super Bowl means Major League Baseball spring training is lurking just around the corner and the AT&T National Pro-Am pro golf tournament is about to kick off at majestic Pebble Beach.

The tournament generally is held either a week before or after the Super Bowl and is most popular golf event for spectators since it attracts dozens of non-golf world stars including movie, television, music and other entertainment mediums. Even former Presidents and other major political and business world standouts gather for the outing which began well over 50 years ago as Bing Crosby's annual clam bake party for his best buddies and best golfers. Lots of entertainment elite shoulders adorned in tweed and leather patched jackets rubbed against those who wish they could swing a three-wood as smoothly as Bing could croon. A week of afternoon and evening cocktail hours at Del Monte Lodge and environs were unmatched.

Still today, even if a person doesn't know a putter from a seven-iron or a birdie from a seagull, the chance to rub shoulders with some rather elite personalities and the best golfers on the planet with the unsurpassed Pebble Beach along 17-Mile Drive does a lot for the spirit.

Until a few years back, the Pro-Am was the only PGA event where spectators were allowed to use cameras as long as they adhered to the strict rules of silence during golf swings. Absolute silence is no more valued than during play in big bucks golf event. But since those days are gone, getting a camera on the course today is harder than sneaking a 12 ounce bottle of Vidal Sasson on a 747.

I attended about a dozen Pebble Beach events, both as a working journalist and as a spectator with a press pass, over the years prior to the outlawing of cameras and have a darned good collection of what I consider priceless photos of golf, political, film, television and other sport legends, some of which I mentioned in my “Bucket List” ramblings. Of course, if I attend future Pro-Ams as a working journalist I certainly will have a camera or two. And shampoo in my overnight luggage.

Now I look forward to the Saturday and Sunday network TV coverage of the event and, knowing the traditional camera locations, recall past close encounters at certain tee locations and greens I had with luminaries such as former Vice President Dan Quayle, former Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, actors Clint Eastwood, Don Johnson, James Garner, Jack Lemon and George C. Scott, along with Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and even Bing himself.

So pholks, I'm just about set for the Super Bowl. I want the Patriots to win a close contest, the TV commercials to be better than ever, half-time performer Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers to not have any wardrobe malfunctions and to be able enjoy some outstanding game-watching foods.

After all, the Super Bowl means the dawning of Spring Training and the only time I have something to share with some guys, and gals, who really know how to play golf the right way, even if it is only to enjoy the view on TV.
As they say, “Heads or Tails,” “Play Ball” and Fore.”

Miles can be reached at mshuper@valleyvoicenewspaper.com