Joe V’s Super Bowl Blog

Super Bowl Fever has taken over New Jersey! It's Super Bowl week and I'll be covering the sights and sounds all week, keeping up to date with the latest events in and around the Garden State. You can follow my latest happenings in the blog below.

Super Bowl Celebrations in Hoboken [1/30]

I found a couple of young fans, Tyler and Victor, who are looking forward to the Super Bowl being in New Jersey. They're looking forward to cheering for their favorite player, Peyton Manning. Listen to what they had to say below.

Here are a few photos of the Super Bowl scene in Hoboken.

Hoboken has a curling station set up in case you want to get in the Olympic spirit and play some outdoor sports.

The Super Bowl shops have something for everyone even if you're not rooting for the Broncos or Seahawks, you can still show your Jersey pride!

Super Bowl Interest Heating Up [1/29]

Times Square has some life after all as kickoff to Super Bowl XLVIII inches closer and closer. I was starting to wonder if someone was playing an elaborate prank on me. The celebrations that were promised in New York City seemed like the most overrated hype ever. It was dead earlier in the week. It picked up during morning and afternoon rush hours just like any other day, but that was about it.

Wednesday was apparently the day that was generally considered "kick off" to Super Bowl week. I knew something was different when a good amount of my friends on Facebook and people I follow on Twitter started uploading pictures from 42nd street today, so I had to take a walk down there. I think my face is still numb from the cold wind, but it was definitely cool to see so many people in one place celebrating what has become America's pastime.

There was a big increase in people strictly there to see the attractions. Football fans from near and far were present, and the traffic has never been worse. IF YOU PLAN ON COMING TO VISIT NEW YORK CITY AND SEE SUPER BOWL BOULEVARD FOR YOURSELF, USE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION. Otherwise, make sure you fill up your gas tank in Jersey.

Over the next few days, I'm going to be checking out some other Super Bowl-related events in New Jersey, so it will be interesting to compare and contrast the crowds. I still say the fan presence at the Prudential Center on Tuesday for Media Day was more electric.

Spending the majority of the day today on radio row, I got to conduct a lot of great interviews, including Glenn Lehrman from StubHub, NFL Legend Dave Robinson and Pittsburgh Steelers great Rocky Bleier. Here are 2 other interviews from today:

UFC's Frank Mir discusses being from Vegas, his reaction to being in New Jersey, including Newark's great restaurants and UFC 169, taking place Sat Feb 1st at the Prudential Center. I also gave Mir a few recommendations on some Jersey restaurants that he should try before leaving town. Listen to the interview below.

Former NFL wide receiver Michael Clayton talked about the adjustment to the NFL and what it takes to become a leader both on and off the field. Michael has a new book entitled "Chasing My Rookie Year," which discusses Clayton's struggle to replicate his stellar stats from his first season in the NFL. Listen to the interview below:

Newark's Largest Indoor Tailagte [1/28]

It's official. Today, January 28th, I had the best chili I've ever had or ever will have. I had the privilege of visiting Newark's Largest Indoor Tailgate, an event being held until 8pm tonight at the Newark Museum.

The best of the best in NJ food was available to football fans of all ages, as well as Battle Of The Brews for fans over 21.

F&B Fine Catering from Bloomfield was there with amazing football themed cakes and 58 Supper Club were just a couple of the food establishments that showed up. 58 Supper Club gets credit for the aforementioned great chili.

Fans were able to have photo taken with the original 1967 Vince Lombardi Trophy, which is part of our new exhibition

Special kick-off performance by the award-winning Elizabeth High School Marching Band (1-2 pm)

- NJPAC Jazz Band performance (4-5:30 pm)

- Demonstrations by celebrity chefs:

2-3:30 pm Aaron McCargo Jr. (Food Network)

6-6:30 pm Scott Cutaneo (Fox & Friends).

Special guests include David Robinson, Green Bay Packers HOF, Jerry Izenberg, sports journalist and Ulysses Grant Dietz, Chief Curator at the Newark Museum and architect of the City of Silver and Gold from Tiffany to Cartier exhibition.

Initial Reaction to the Kickoff of Super Bowl Week [1/27]

I was expecting to emerge from the Subway station on 50th street and be walking through a sports fan's paradise. Not so much the case.

While there are literally hundreds of different events, shopping locations, and stages set up for Super Bowl week, it kinda just feels like it's almost New Years eve... meaning there's clearly something going on, but a lot of people just don't want to be bothered by it. They just want to get to where they have to go. Downtown Jersey City, however, was transformed into a NFL Wonderland for fans of all ages.

But my first impression was that the NFL should have stuck to letting NJ take the bulk of the Super Bowl attention. We have the space and we have the diehard fans. It's kind of cluttered here in NYC. While NYC is widely regarded as the best city on earth, I think destinations in years past served as far better locations for all of this action. (New Orleans, Tampa, Miami, Indy, etc.

Sunday January 26th

Media's Police Escort

Sunday afternoon members of the media went on board a bus from radio row in Times Square to the Hyatt in Jersey City where the Denver Broncos are staying. Our destination would have taken us about an hour with traffic, but thanks to an expansive police escort, it took about 15-20 minutes. With NYPD presence on both sides of us through the Holland Tunnel and NJ State Police/Jersey City PD blocking every single road on the other side, it was the quickest way you could ever escape the hell that is NYC traffic.

The funny part was the bus had a giant Denver Broncos logo on the front and in small fine print said "for press." The people on the streets who we drove by couldn't see that, only the logo. Imagine for a second you are out on the town in downtown Jersey City and suddenly 10-15 cop cars show up with sirens running, followed by two Academy buses. Virtually every single person stopped and took photos and videos of our bus passing them by. All I could think of was "imagine if these windows weren't tinted? These people would be so disappointed." I would guess about 300 people uploaded pictures of the police escort to their social media sites last night thinking it was Peyton and the Denver Broncos. Little did they know it was a bunch of members of the media, including a foul mouthed guy from Freehold.

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