a convention, oh, say in Maui. And they were all introduced one at a time, from Mike Moncrief of Forth Worth to Dallas mayor pro tem Dr. Alba Garcia to Dr. Robert Cluck of Arlington to even Dianne Costa of tiny Highland Village.
This made you understand truly what a regional effort this Super Bowl is, because as Moncrief said when we were walking out to the parking lot afterward, "There really are no boundaries" in this region, pointing out how so many people live in one city and work in another, likely commuting through maybe two to three others just to get there.
And if seeing all the mayors of so many cities involved didn't, then the introduction of the main Super Bowl venues certainly did, stretching from downtown Dallas to the east to Fort Worth to the west; from Arlington midway in between to Irving to the north. As expected, the NFC champs will be housed at the Omni Mandalay in Las Colinas (Irving) and are scheduled to use the Cowboys facility at The Ranch for practice. The AFC champs are staying in downtown Fort Worth at the Omni that is opening this year and will practice at TCU.
And the NFL headquarters, media center and NFL Experience will be in Dallas, with the headquarters at the Hilton Anatole just outside of downtown, the NFL Experience at the Dallas Convention Center and the Media Center at the Sheraton
Dallas in downtown.
"The thing that we all want to see, we want to see a uniting of the region with Fort Worth and Dallas, and I think Bill said it very eloquently," Aikman said, referring to Bill Lively, chairman of the Super Bowl Host Committee, "this is an opportunity for relationships to be established, friendships will be made. For someone who wasn't around when maybe some of the things that have taken place in the past that created this competition between the various cities, this is a chance to transcend all that. I'm hopeful when it's all over with we've accomplished something from that standpoint and continue to work together as a region."
The two major obstacles for this Super Bowl will be the possibility of bad weather and lack of proximity, the main venues spread out over 30 miles, with the new Cowboys stadium the epicenter. And there is little the host committee can do about either.
But as we've seen at various other Super Bowls challenged by lack of ideal weather or a central gathering area, there always seemed to be one factor to lessen those potential inconveniences.
"I think in a nutshell, I think it's the North Texas hospitality that will sell this Super Bowl and make it what it should be," Aikman said.
In other words, the people of this region.
Who got off to a good start on Tuesday.
