I had the privilege and fortune of capturing and creating content for NFL Canada at Super Bowl LVII last Sunday. It was a bucket list dream to someday cover the Super Bowl and the experience was better than I ever could have imagined.
And yet, I was thiiiiiis close to becoming a cautionary tale.
I arrived in Phoenix Thursday and immediately picked up my credentials for the week. I asked if the piece of plastic handed to me with my grinning mug on it was all I needed for the week, and they said yes. Beautiful, let's cover some football.
Friday, all good. Saturday, all good. Sunday, oh no.
When I arrived at State Farm Stadium Sunday morning on the first media bus, I smiled and skipped my way to the media entrance. Made small talk as I went through security and felt a wave of pride come over me as I went to scan my credential into the building. They're on the stoplight system: green scan means go, red can means stop.
I heard a loud noise as if I had answered wrong on Jeopardy as the screen went red. I was led to the head credential honcho who was quick to inform me I did not have the correct credential. I needed a Game Day credential.
Oh no, oh no, oh no no no no no.
As I guided myself through some Wim Hof breathing to keep from crying, I focused on the fact that I had three hours until kick off and I wasn't going down without a fight.
I checked my email and there it was: precise instructions on when, where and how to pick up my Game Day credential, which was to be done by 5 pm the day before. "There is no credential pick up at the stadium on Super Bowl Sunday."
Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.
An hour of panicked phone calls, frantic emails and unhinged text messages later and I was in an Uber headed 20 minutes east to a place where the pass should be, and thank Vince Lombardi it was.
A quick ride back to the stadium and the moment of truth was upon me - would the pass scan green? As I approached the scanner, every security guard and employee who knew my sob story gathered around. The joyous cheers that rang out when the machine made a happy DING! sound and went green rivalled those of Kansas City Chiefs fans that night.
I was in and I was reminded of an important lesson: proper preparation prevents poor performance. In the spirit of that, below are four pieces of content from The Coaches Site to ensure you're as prepared as possible with your team.
As always, thanks for reading!
Derek Jory
Director of Content