everyone registered the two days before the game and was given gifts (hooded sweatshirts; official superbowl merchandise!). they also had a brunch on saturday and sunday mornings from 9:00 to 1:00 back in one of the big meeting rooms. i went to it sunday morning and there were only about 40 people in a room for about 300, but i was also there in the last half hour. the food was okay enough, nothing special. the party itself was held in the rio convention center and i would estimate around 1,200 in attendance (150 tables counted seating 10 each, some full, some not). there were 10 big screens set up around the perimeter of the room, each one about half the size of a movie screen (very good pictures!). there were four food stations set up, one at each corner of the room. they had coleslaw, potato salad, chicken wings, sandwiches, hot dogs, sausages, and a taco/nacho station. there were two desert stations set up in between the food stations, serving rice krispy things, chocolate cake, brownies and ice cream. in the middle of it all was a big bar, serving any kind of drink you wanted (the start of my heineken binge!). it was definitely a heart attack waiting to happen!

as previouly stated, i did indeed put a dime ($1000) down on the bucs at +4. i also put $500 on the over (44 1/2) for the game. at halftime, with the bucs kicking ass 20-3, i ran out and put another $500 on the halftime line of bucs +3 1/2. there were a few scares regarding the second half score. but in the end everything came through for kevin! the game started my big sunday comeback that enabled me to end up on the plus side of the ledger for the trip.