Super Bowl Week: Journalism and hedonism concentrated in 7 days

This is usually the week when I miss my former sports writing job the most.

From 1991 to 2002, I was a sportswriter at the now defunct San Antonio Light, the Hartford Courant, the Washington (D.C.) Times, and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. From 1995 to 1999, I was the Star-Telegram's Cowboys/NFL reporter. And just like the players from Arizona and Pittsburgh, this time of year was Super Bowl week for me as well.

I covered four Super Bowls for the Star-Telegram. (I found my Super Bowl credentials in an old box. Don't laugh at the bad mustache). It wasnt the game that was exciting. Most of the games are blowouts (though John Elway's Denver Broncos win over the Packers did come down to the last few minutes). No, the fun part about the week was the travel (My Super Bowls were in Tempe, Arizona; New Orleans; San Diego; and Miami); and meeting up with all your old sports writing friends.

Our day would start at 9 or 10 with player interviews, we'd have lunch and write our stories. And if there was a player you didnt get to interview, no worry, because someone from the NFL tape-recorded every interview. Didn't hear Troy Aikman talk about how the Cowboys planned to use Deion Sanders on offense? Didn't hear John Elway talk about his icy relationship with Dan Reeves? Just walk on over to a table where everything that was ever said during the week is on pages and pages of quote sheets.

Literally, you could cover the Super Bowl without ever leaving your hotel room.

But what fun would that be.

We'd usually arrive in town a week before the game. The newspaper you worked for picked up the entire tab. But they made sure you worked. And if the team you covered during the regular season was in the Super Bowl, that was probably the hardest week of the season. The Cowboys went to the Super Bowl one time when I was on the beat, in Jan. 1996, where they beat the Steelers in Tempe, Arizona. So I was up to my eyeballs with stories to write.

Yet I still managed to have fun, staying at the The Buttes, a very swank hotel, having the company rent me my own cell phone (Hey, it was a big deal in the mid 1990s to have one of those), driving around in a convertible Mustang, eating fancy dinners and going to one NFL/celebrity party after another.

In New Orleans for the Packers-Patriots Super Bowl, it was Bourbon Street (pre-Katrina) and one Hurricane drink after another; It was the Gas Light District in San Diego and it was Miami Beach in Miami.

Yeah, Super Bowl week was like a buffet: all the hedonism you could take.

Another writing update

Here are a few stories I've written for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram lately...

Small town politics can really be interesting, especially when everyone wants as much power as the city manager.

They won't allow newspaper racks on Main Street in this town because they are ugly.

This guy is getting his pit bulls back.

Ewwww. Exciting stuff, huh. (Said with sarcastic nod and wink)

Technically, it was an ultra-marathon, wasn't it?

My Garmin said I ran 26.75 miles during my last marathon, in December 2007. Was I zig-zagging too much, or did the White Rock Marathon people need this guy to measure the course. This is a neat little feature in the New York Times this morning about how they are measuring the Olympic marathon course. The womens marathon is Sunday, the mens is next weekend.

Writing again: It ain't Watergate, and it won't win me a Pulitzer but Thursday I wrote my first story in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram since April 2002. You can read about a canoe trail opening up on Lake Arlington here.

Tempo speed: Thursday called for 15 minutes easy, a 20 minute tempo run (10k race pace), and 25 minute cool down. The day before I'd run some intervals, so I wasn't sure how my legs would hold up.

In 20 minutes, I ran 2.82 miles, a 7:04 pace. Heart rate averaged 88 percent with a high of 92 percent. I didn't feel gassed at the end, though by the 15th minute I was ready for the run to be over.

It takes a lot of concentration to keep this kind of pace. Its not all out sprinting, but it aint a walk in the park either. Still, just by heart rate alone I know I'm getting in good shape.

On Jan. 1, I ran a 5K in about the same pace as Thursday morning. It was 40 degrees cooler and my heart rate average for the entire run was 93 percent.

Wonder how I'd do now if it was 35 degrees outside.

A sub 21-minute 5K definitely looks to be in the making for me.