Super Bowl, super time

SIKESTON -- For the ultimate football fan, a dream come true would be able to attend a Super Bowl, preferably with your favorite team playing and preferably for them to come out as Super Bowl champions.

For Dennis Ziegenhorn of Sikeston, "two out of three ain't bad."

He and his son, Dez Ziegenhorn, attended Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans, La., last year when the St. Louis Rams played the New England Patriots. Although the Rams didn't win, Ziegenhorn said it was an awesome experience.

"The excitement is unbelievable," Ziegenhorn pointed out. "It was really neat. It's not because it was on Bourbon Street."

And it wasn't because they had great seats, either.

"We were so high up in the stadium, the pigeons were sitting below us," Ziegenhorn joked. "The players looked like ants out there."

Dez Ziegenhorn said they were lucky because a lot of Rams fans and even Patriots fans were sitting in their section so the atmosphere was like a playoff game.

"It was so amazing -- not just to go to the Super Bowl, but to have my favorite team go -- and to go with my dad was so much fun. The only bad thing is the Rams lost," Dez Ziegenhorn said.

The NFL exhibit on display at the Super Bowl was a big highlight for Dennis Ziegenhorn. He said the exhibit was about three times the size of the Sikeston Field House. "There was room for people to run and pass," Dennis Ziegenhorn said. "There was a place where you could throw footballs through tires. You could buy any team's jersey you wanted."

It was also an emotional event since Sept. 11 was still fresh on everyone's minds. A lot of security was present at last year's Super Bowl, Dennis Ziegenhorn said.

Last year the Super Bowl site included armored military trucks and camouflaged soldiers. The federal government designated the game a National Special Security Event, a status normally reserved for presidential and papal visits. The Secret Service coordinated security.

Never once did Dennis Ziegenhorn not feel safe, he said, adding that he felt as safe as he would if he were in his own home.

"The hype is as exciting as anything I've ever done. It's a shame that the Super Bowl's gotten so theatric though," Dennis Ziegenhorn said.

He is referring to the fact that most Super Bowl tickets do end up in the hands of corporate sponsors, the major networks, luxury box holders, team employees and family members, players' friends, the media and whoever else is deemed worthy by the NFL and its 32 teams.

All of the Super Bowl tickets should be divided 50-50 between the two teams' fans, Dennis Ziegenhorn said. "I wish every fan could attend their favorite team's Super Bowl," he said. "Fans really help a team."

A small percentage of people in attendance are actually fans of the teams playing, Ziegenhorn noted. "It's been turned into to such a corporation weekend. It should be for the fans other than the celebrities and people who could care less about the teams playing."

Only about 13,000 seats (or 20 percent) at the game will be occupied by die-hard Raiders' and Bucs' fans, according to Qualcomm officials. Capacity at Qualcomm Stadium is 67,000 for the Super Bowl.

"There's this guy in town who has four Tampa Bay flags on his truck. I mean he's a true fan -- and he's in Rams Country toting Tampa Bay," Ziegenhorn said. "It's people like him who should be at Sunday's game."

And what was the famous halftime show like?

"I think we were so stunned by the score of the game at halftime that we didn't even pay much attention to it," Dennis Ziegenhorn said.

Dez Ziegenhorn said his trip home to Kansas City was miserable. "I was just thinking this week that the same time last year I was there," he said. "I never thought in my wildest dreams that the Rams would lose. I'm still not over it."

Dennis Ziegenhorn said his son, who sleeps, eats and breathes football couldn't watch a replay of the game for a long time. "Going to the Super Bowl is something that I've dreamed about my whole life, but to be able to take my son, well that just topped it off," Dennis Ziegenhorn said. (He offered his other son, Bart, his ticket, but he turned it down.)

Both Dennis and Dez Ziegenhorn know they were fortunate to see their favorite team play in the Super Bowl and remind other football fans not to give up on seeing their team play in the Super Bowl.

Don't give up, Dennis Ziegenhorn said. He was 54 years old before he saw his first Super Bowl, and he thinks the Rams will be back.

Dez Ziegenhorn thinks the same. "The Rams went to Super Bowl XXXIV and XXXVI. Maybe it's an every other year thing. Maybe they'll be back next year. They did beat the Raiders this season . . .."

Don't miss Super Bowl XXXVII, Tampa Bay Buccaneers versus Oakland Raiders. Kickoff is at 5:18 p.m. today on ABC.