I’ve seen most of the Super Bowls. From the day the Dolphins beat the Redskins in 72 or 73, I’ve a memory of all of them. Except one.
The night before the Super Bowl of 1987, the phone rang in my trailer.
“Is Mike there?” his girlfriend asked.
“No, I haven’t seen him,” I replied. Just then the door opened and in walked Mike with another girl. Now, I was only 19 at the time, but I wasn’t stupid. Well, I was discreet, anyway. I stayed silent.
“Well, if you see him, let me know…I think he is out with another girl,” she said with a hint of panic in her voice.
“Well, I haven’t seen him,” I quickly lied and hung up.
After a few minutes of conversation, Mike and his replacement girlfriend for the evening left to go out. It was about 2 am. I noticed it had started snowing before I fell asleep on the couch.
That next morning, I had an early shift at the radio station (it was Sunday) and on my way in to town, the streets were deserted and covered with snow. About six blocks from the trailer, I saw a car that looked like Mike’s in the ditch.
I got to the station, put on the Sunday Morning programming (reel to reel) and laid down on the floor to get some sleep.
(On Sunday, I always brought a blanket, a pillow, and an alarm clock to wake me up for each half hour commercial break. To stay awake ALL THE TIME, I needed more than $3.25 an hour)
About 7:15 am, the phone rang at the station and woke me up. This time it was the police. They got to the point rather quickly.
“We have Mike ________ in our custody. He has been booked for driving under the influence of alcohol. Are you willing to insure that he will appear in court to answer the charges?”
Mike had gotten only five minutes into his plan to cheat on his girlfriend when he slid into the ditch. The cops stopped by to help and discovered a drunken Mike. Alone. Evidently, his clandestine date judged men based on their driving skills and had abandoned him.
Now, of course, Mike feels bad. And when his girlfriend picks him up at the jail, he spills the beans. Everything. Even the part about me knowing where he was and who he was with…
Now she is mad at me and unbelievably, he is too. I should have stopped him from driving drunk and whatever else he had planned.
(This was BEFORE the “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk or Cheat on Their Girlfriends” campaign…how was I to know?)
I’d been awake for about 40 of the last 44 hours when the Super Bowl came on. I fell asleep during the introductions and woke up the next morning. It’s possible the pitcher of Kamikazes I drank had something to do with it too, but I’m not sure. I also ate 8 hard boiled eggs. This is the subject of another miracle that I don’t think I need to explain.
Giants 39, Broncos 20...I think.
