I thought this article was really nice. Super Bowl journal: Life of the party by Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports January 30, 2004 HOUSTON – What the movie Barbershop 2: Back in Business has to do with the Super Bowl is still a bit of a mystery. But the good folks at MGM Studios held a premiere here on Thursday anyway, apparently seeking a buzz among the shared target audience of NFL fans and looking for a bit of publicity from the more than 3,000 media members in town. Why really isn't important because we got invited, and we are always up for a free movie and an after-party all in an effort to make sure you, the valued reader, are getting all the pertinent Super Bowl info. possible. So we attended. But not before checking out a party hosted by the tremendous sponsor partnership of Coors Original and FHM Magazine. Talk about two great tastes that go great together. Thursday was the night the Super Bowl circus finally came to town. The crowds started flowing in from around the country. Celebrities arrived. People began claiming they had seen Pam Anderson. Kid Rock and P. Diddy held a press conference. The street festival scene on Main Street downtown - where there are concert stages, tents and places to hang out - got pumping, even if it did rain intermittently. Basically you don't need to have a ticket to the actual game or even be a fan of Carolina or New England to have a great time in Houston this weekend. Part of this is the party scene, which has taken on a life of its own at the Super Bowl. The NFL itself has even rented out its own downtown bar calling it "The Point After" and hoping to become the most exclusive of all spots. They'll have to compete with some swanky places such as The Whiskey (where Nick and Jessica are supposedly hanging out), the martini bar at the Icon Hotel and other celebrity-driven spots. On Friday Maxim Magazine throws its highly anticipated party, and Saturday Playboy does the same (although Hef and the harem aren't coming. "He doesn't travel well," a publicist said). Even Paul Tagliabue holds his own Commissioner's Ball. Tickets to these events are tighter than the skirts on some of the women who attend. For the next three days Houston, generally business-minded, family-oriented Houston, is trying hard to be Hollywood. So maybe the Barbershop 2 premiere made sense after all. Here is what we can say about the movie: We laughed, we cried and it was better than "Cats." It's the feel-good movie of the winter. A winner, you'll stand up and cheer. Two thumbs up. Seriously, when it opens Feb. 6 go see it, you'll enjoy it. Cedric the Entertainer is back and watching him do just about anything for an hour and a half is worth a ticket. Eve, Queen Latifah and Ice Cube also star, and the movie is truly funny. If you were into the original, you'll love this one. The sequel fall-off quotient is fairly minimal. Meanwhile, at the party, MGM erected this giant, two-story tent and made the front look like the outside of a barbershop. Then they packed the place with four open bars, tons of food and a host of hot women hoping to meet Ice Cube. The Cube didn't show, though. But Cedric did along with The Rock, Daryl from Run DMC, Deion Sanders and Shannon Sharpe. Also one of those sort of annoying guys from the "I Know What You Did Last Summer" movies whose name we didn't know was flocked by women, anyway. The surreal highlight for us was when Daryl, after going to the bathroom, started, for no apparent reason, free-styling in the bathroom, laying down a couple-minute rhyme in a rather surreal scene. We are talking about a pioneer in hip-hop rapping inside a five-hole Port-O-John. Which is why Nic, a waiter who was there too, was left almost speechless, just mumbling, "My friends are never going to believe this." Earlier at the Coors and FHM "VIP Guys Night Out Super Bowl Party" at the trendy Red Star Night Club, they were threatening to body paint bikinis on some women, but we never saw that actually happen. Basically it was free beer and food, waitresses wearing revealing outfits, some women in very tight FHM T-shirts and a couple hundred guys trying not to get caught staring. And not doing a very good job of it. We'll let you know how the battle between competitors FHM and Maxim goes in terms of parties, but there was everything to like about this. It wasn't over the top or pretentious, just a pretty good time. Maybe that is just the vibe FHM and Coors were going for. At the Super Bowl everyone has an angle. THE BACKLASH The good thing about hosting a Super Bowl is it brings about $300 million in revenue to a metropolitan region. The bad part – at least if you are not New Orleans, Miami, Tampa or San Diego – is the unmerciful ripping you get from the national media. Houston currently is under such a barrage from columnists around the country who hate the sprawl, the lack of culture, the bizarre zoning laws (you can apparently throw an 80-story high rise up in the middle of a neighborhood and open a strip club between a couple of churches), the traffic and the sleepy nightlife. Some even ripped the town for the early week weather. Fifty degrees apparently is arctic to some of these guys. The Baltimore Sun concluded Houston was "ugly, hot, humid and (has) unpredictable weather for about six months ... (it) is a Dallas wannabe without the landscape. Yes, Houston, you have a problem." Who knew the media lived such lavish, high-rolling, lace-curtain lives that spending a week in Houston was so beneath them? Somehow we've turned into Paris Hilton. Houston is fine with me. It might try gentrifying a neighborhood rather than just abandoning and extending further into the farmland, but the people are great, the restaurants good and there is plenty to do. It's a good solid place. Which is why almost two million people call it home. I don't see how you could not have a great time downtown on Thursday night whether your interests are in free concerts, bars and parties or family events such as the NFL Experience. The city will just have to deal with the bad pub and take everyone's money. Besides, this will be nothing compared to what happens to next year's site, Jacksonville, Fla., which is a small, conservative, Southern city that should be ripped to shreds out of media boredom. Then there is the 2006 site, Detroit, which promises to get worse press than Scott Peterson.
Anyone else besides me see the "expose" that "Cold Pizza" ran this morning about how the Super Bowl is affecting the homeless and how they're getting swept under the rug of the glitz and glamour in Houston? Of all the freakin' story angles! I mean, I may not like Houston, but dammit I was raised here! I have a tad bit of civic pride.
Hell, they can come here to Austin and talk about the panhandlers and such. Every newscast and newspaper in the last week has told people in Austin to tell them NO.
