Jessica “Jag” Aguilar (photos by Beth Black)

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by Joanie Cox

Jessica “Jag” Aguilar approaches the counter at a Starbucks in Coconut Creek to order a green-tea latte with soy milk. A few weeks ago, she would have gotten regular milk, but she recently turned vegan as part of a new training diet recommended by her girlfriend. Learning how to substitute proteins has been a challenge, but sacrifice is no foreign concept to this Mexican-born mixed martial artist: Aguilar was forced to put her dreams on hold when she lost her father at age 6. When she was 16, one of her brothers was killed in a car accident.

An athlete since childhood, Aguilar competed in as many sports as she could, including soccer, basketball, softball, tennis and track while growing up in Houston. When her traditional Mexican mom found out Aguilar was the only girl on a boy’s basketball team in the fifth grade, she forced her to quit the team. “The school ended up creating a girl’s basketball team for me and we won a championship that first year,” Aguilar recalls. “But girls were not encouraged to play sports in my culture.”

Aguilar pushed aside college plans to help support her family by working at a blood bank. Later, she moved to Los Angeles with the hope of making it big as an actress, but soon realized that with no training or connections, she would have no future in Hollywood. She got a job as a correctional officer in Oregon, but Aguilar longed for a more-fulfilling life.

“There wasn’t much time for play,” says Aguilar, now 28. “I grew up pretty fast, but I love my family and would do anything for them that I could. My mom is so strong, and I’ve learned so much from her. After my dad died, she had to learn how to drive, speak English and support us. And she always said my dad was her first and only love. She had never worked before and put three of us through private Catholic school. She is definitely my hero.”

At 5-foot-4 and 115 pounds, Aguilar is petite, but her frame is ripped. She’s fueled by a seemingly endless amount of energy and the concept of respect informs her vocabulary. Her conversations are punctuated with “Please,” “Thank you” and “May I.”

But in the ring, Aguilar is a warrior. She is ranked fourth in the world in her weight class.

Little did she know joining a gym merely to stay fit would lead her to competing in one of the fastest-growing sports in the world. “I joined a boxing gym, Punch Fitness, in Deerfield Beach and I was taking aerobics classes after work,” says Aguilar, who moved to South Florida six years ago to take another shot at acting. She landed work as an extra on Spanish telenovelas and in an episode of Showtime’s Dexter, but spent her days working for a mortgage company. Secretly, she longed to return to her athletic roots.

“One day, I missed the aerobics class and didn’t want to run on the treadmill,” Aguilar recalls. “I saw people rolling around on mats. I decided to check it out. It was Brazilian jujitsu. I began learning the techniques and picked it up quickly.”

Impressed with Aguilar’s near-immediate grasp of the sport, her instructor suggested she compete in an upcoming match. “I didn’t think I’d ever compete in a sport again after high school, because you grow up and enter the real world paying bills and stuff like that,” Aguilar says. “Play time is over.”

Aguilar entered the competition and beat all the women in her weight class. “I liked it, so I kept training,” she says. “My second month into it, there was another tournament, which was American Top Team. I still didn’t understand the whole sport. I didn’t know what mixed martial arts was and I had no clue about UFC or any MMA show.”

While watching her first MMA fight, Aguilar met a promoter from American Top Team who was looking for a woman to replace one who couldn’t fight at a match the following week. “I was the same weight as the girl they were looking for. The promoter explained what mixed martial arts was to me, and I had no real MMA training at the time other than playing around with my brothers,” Aguilar says. “He told me I’d be fighting another girl and he gave me a basic rundown. I decided I wanted to fight and I asked him, ‘How much do I pay you?’ He looked at me funny and laughed, saying, ‘No, I pay you.’ ”

Although skeptical that this was one of those South Florida scams her friends had warned her about, Aguilar agreed to fight. “Once he explained it to me again, I thought it was pretty cool and I was thinking, ‘What can another 115-pound girl do to me?’ So I had five days to train for my first professional MMA fight,” Aguilar says. “I fought Lisa Ward. She had six or seven professional fights at the time. She had high school and college wrestling and she was in the top 10 in the world at that time, and I didn’t really know what I was doing. But I had a lot of determination.”

Aguilar refused to tap out to Ward. “I could hear Lisa’s dad yelling in the corner, ‘Tear her arm off!’ but I just wouldn’t give up,” Aguilar recalls. “Once someone tells me I can’t do something, I push harder. My hand was messed up for eight months, but I lost by decision to her. So that became the fight of the night.”

After that, Aguilar earned her way into American Top Team and gained fans from that fight. “Once the match was over, I kept going to the gym and training. I was liking it, but I knew I needed to learn more than Brazilian jujitsu.”

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Through the sport, Aguilar met Boca Tanning Club owner and MMA announcer Jennifer Boronico, who admits she gets goose bumps when she thinks about that fight. “People in the crowd were crying as they watched this girl fight,” Boronico says. “She has so much heart. She grows her hair long just to donate it to Locks of Love. Getting to know her really changed my life. I spoke with her after the match and asked her if she wanted to pursue the sport seriously, and she did.”

Boronico introduced Aguilar to her current MMA trainer, Marcos “Parrumpinha” Da Matta. Now, Aguilar has a purple belt in jujitsu under Da Matta, which is an intermediate ranking in the sport and typically takes about five years to earn. “I’ve been coaching Jessica since 2006, and she’s one of the best students I’ve ever had,” says Da Matta, who owns American Top Team in West Palm Beach and also is an MMA fighter. “She has more balls than a lot of men I know and when Jessica fights, she really brings it. She’s the only woman I train, and she can teach all of us what it means to have courage.”

Aguilar trains Monday through Saturday, often in Kendall at South Miami Sports Performance for conditioning and sparring, and at American Top Team in West Palm Beach for jujitsu. She describes her training as “intense and fast-paced.”

As American Top Team’s first female MMA competitor, Aguilar is proud to be a pioneer for women in the sport, but it wasn’t so easy breaking the news about her new career to her conservative Mexican mother. “My family didn’t know I was doing this until this past December,” Aguilar says. “My mom had no clue, and she’s very old-fashioned. Can you imagine me saying, ‘Mom, I’m getting punched in the face for a living’? In my culture, many women still aren’t encouraged to play sports. I think times are changing, though.” Although her mom still hasn’t seen her fight, Aguilar says she’s been very supportive.

Aguilar also resists the stereotype that female fighters can’t be feminine. Even though she can choke out another woman with her favorite move, the arm triangle, she also carries a Michael Kors purse, keeps Victoria’s Secret body lotion in her car and jumps at any opportunity to visit a museum or take in a Broadway show. “I’m not all about fighting,” Aguilar insists. “Outside the ring, I’m a regular girl.”

The battle for women to find financial victory in professional MMA fighting remains a struggle. Fighters rely heavily on sponsors, and male fighters typically earn more money than their female counterparts. Aguilar has, however, garnered a handful of sponsors, including Firedog Energy Drink, Boca Tanning Club and Mayersohn Law Group. “I appreciate all their support, since they provide me with the funds to pay my trainer and travel expenses when I fight in another state,” she says. “I thank God every day for my abilities and blessings. I can’t fight without my sponsors, coaches and team, though, and it’s been really hard. I need more help as the bills keep coming in. I’m hoping I don’t have to return to a day job. If that happens, I won’t be able to train anymore.”

Aguilar says when times get tough, her teammates, coaches, family, partner and fans keep her going. While MMA fighting hasn’t made her rich, she says the sport has taught her many lessons. Among them, it has taught her not to hesitate. Already fluent in Spanish and English, while studying MMA, she learned how to speak Portuguese. And while she has a battle scar on her nose after duking it out with a female fighter, Carina Damm, who had more than 20 pounds on her, the only pain Aguilar says she’s experienced from the sport is post-training soreness.

“I love it. I have a passion for the sport now and I figure I’m only young once,” Aguilar says with a grin. “I’m never gonna have this opportunity again. I can go back to school five years from now. I can go back to work five years from now. But I can’t go back to living my dream five years from now.”

Jessica Aguilar’s next match will take place 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 26 at Bad Blood 5 in Grand Rapids, Mich. The event will air March 5 on MTV Tr3s. For details, visit Gforcefights.com. And to keep up with Aguilar, visit Jessicaaguilar.com.

Contact Joanie Cox at jcox@citylinkmagazine.com.

Coin-toss touchdown? Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers

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To make this Sunday’s Super Bowl more interesting, City Link is offering odds and making predictions on certain things happening during the game. Call your bookie and place your bets.

The opening kickoff will be returned for a touchdown: 30:1
The opening coin toss will be returned for a touchdown: 500:1

Number of unsportsmanlike-conduct violations in the second half: 2
Number of unsportsmanlike-conduct violations in the press box: 11

Number of third-down conversions: 16
Number of third-down apostasies: 4

Number of interceptions: 5
Number of times Mike Ditka has seen Inception: 8

Number of tweets posted to Twitter during the game: 103 million
Number of those tweets posted by Chad Ochocinco: 102 million

Christina Aguilera will forget the words to the National Anthem: 25:1
Christina Aguilera will forget what city she’s in: 13:1

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Fergie will experience a wardrobe malfunction during the halftime show: 5:1
Will.i.am will experience a wardrobe malfunction during the halftime show: 7:1

Number of intentional grounding penalties: 1
Number of intentional Dougie-ing penalties: 5

Number of false starts: 8
Number of false idols: 24

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Number of questions at post-game press conference: 46
Number of honest answers given: 0

Number of commercials featuring mischiefmaking chimpanzees in an office setting: 4
Number of commercials featuring talking babies playing the stock market: 6
Minutes you’ll spend thinking how great it would be to have a talking baby chimpanzee for a stock broker: 11

Minutes into the broadcast before someone makes the first Rex Ryan-foot-fetish joke: 27
Odds that this joke will be made by Brett Favre: 70:1

Cowboys Stadium in Dallas

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by Joanie Cox and Colleen Dougher

ALE HOUSE
The local outposts of this five-state chain serve wine, liquor and 75 kinds of beer, as well as steaks, seafood, burgers and sandwiches.
Specials: Every Ale House location will host a party that starts at 5 p.m. and runs until “the last whistle of the game.” Tickets cost $50 and can be purchased in advance at each location. The price covers drinks (but not shots) and a buffet of crab legs, carved meats, subs, pasta, oysters, desserts and wings.
Location: Multiple locations throughout South Florida; Millersalehouse.com

BIDDY EARLY’S
This Irish pub has six high-definition flat-screen televisions and fixtures that were flown in from Ireland to give the pub an authentic Irish feel.
Specials: Free halftime buffet; free Jell-O shots each time a team scores; five-for-$10 domestic buckets; and five-for-$15 import buckets.
Location: 3419 N. Andrews Ave., Oakland Park, 954-567-1990

BOKAMPER’S SPORTS BAR AND GRILL
Named for former Miami Dolphins linebacker Kim Bokamper, this sports bar houses more than 55 high-definition plasma TVs, including two that the bar’s owners claim are among South Florida’s largest.
Specials: For $50, guests can choose a seat in the Sky Bar, where they can watch the game on a giant flat-screen TV and enjoy drinks and a buffet that includes wings, mini burgers and other game-appropriate grub.
Location: 1280 S. Pine Island Road, Plantation, 954-533-7152, Bokampers.com

BRINY IRISH PUB
This downtown Fort Lauderdale waterfront pub has high-definition TVs all around the place and a menu that includes burgers, sandwiches, salads, appetizers and three house specials: shepherd’s pie, fish and chips, and bangers and mash.
Specials: Well drinks and 12-ounce Bud, Bud Light, Miller Lite and Coors Light will cost $2. Merlot and Chardonnay will cost $3 a glass.
Location: 305 S. Andrews Ave., Fort Lauderdale, 954-376-4742, Brinyirishpubs.com

BRU’S ROOM
This local chain of pubs bills itself as the place “where good sports come to eat and play.” And the good sports eat plenty, says marketing director Barbara Gobbi: “Our locations will sell over 7 tons of wings on Super Bowl Sunday alone.”
Specials: The $13 Yueng and Wings offers a pitcher of Yuengling and 10 wings. Other drink specials will include domestic and imported beers for $2.50 and $3.25, respectively; $6.50 Heineken mini pitchers; $5 Skyy doubles; $7 mini pitchers of Captain Morgan rum; and $4.50 VeeV cocktails.
Locations: Multiple locations; Brusroom.com

CHEERS
A longtime host to South Florida cover bands, Cheers offers the typical pub fare and more TVs than ever. Having recently upped its collection from five to 12 televisions, this 25-year-old venue wants in on the Super Bowl action.
Specials: Five-for-$12 domestic buckets and five-for-$15 for import buckets.
Location: 941 E. Cypress Creek Road, Fort Lauderdale, 954-771-6337, Cheersfoodandspirits.com

DUFFY’S SPORTS GRILL
Hardcore sports enthusiasts are drawn to this popular chain, which has more than 50 plasma televisions at each location and deems itself the official sports grill of “your favorite South Florida teams.”
Specials: Two-for-one drinks, including top-shelf cocktails, premium wines and bottled beers all night long. The only drinks that aren’t two-for-one are already discounted, such as the permanent $3 special on Captain Morgan rum.
Location: Multiple locations throughout South Florida; Duffysmvp.com

FINNEGAN’S RIVER
Who needs the Black Eyed Peas at halftime when Miami favorites the Spam All-Stars are performing live at this party?
Specials: $9 pitches of Coors Light, $3.50 pints of Miller Lite, $2 stone crabs and $2 oyster deals from noon to 6 p.m.
Location: 401 S.W. Third Ave., Miami, Finnegansriver.com

GALUPPI’S
After 22 years in the bar business, Pat Galuppi sold Pat’s Place, his previous Pompano Beach bar, in 1999. Six years later, he and his son Grant opened Galuppi’s at Pompano Beach Golf Course. The restaurant offers a full menu, a Sunday brunch and a bar with 20 50-inch high-definition plasma TVs and a 17-foot projector.
Specials: $25 reserves a seat or stool anywhere in the restaurant and includes a buffet, a free drink, a raffle ticket for a 50-inch plasma TV, and drink and bucket specials.
Location: 1103 N. Federal Highway, Pompano Beach, 954-785-0226, Galuppis.com

GREASE BURGER BAR
This restaurant and bar has 14 flat-screen TVs and more than 70 craft beers in the bottle and on tap.
Specials: The party will begin at 5 p.m. and include all-you-can-eat wings, sliders and chips for $14.95.
Location: 213 Clematis St., West Palm Beach, 561-651-1075, Greasewpb.com

KEG SOUTH
This friendly neighborhood bar shows sporting events daily on eight flat-screen plasma TVs. It has two pool tables and burgers that win rave reviews.
Specials: Pay $50 to watch the game, drink all the domestic beer you want and dine on a buffet of wings, burgers and appetizers.
Location: 12805 S.W. 136th Ave., Miami, 877-342-7887, Kegsouthofkendall.com

LAUDERDALE GRILL
This steak-and-seafood restaurant with 20 big-screen TVs specializes in aged prime rib smoked in-house.
Specials: Five-for-$12 domestic buckets; food specials that cost from $6.99 to $9.99 and include pork-roll sandwiches, cheese curds, Johnsonville brats, chili-cheese nachos, and a Philly cheese steak made with Cheez Whiz; and a free raffle ticket for a high-definition TV/DVD combo with every pitcher or bucket purchase.
Location: 1901 Cordova Road, Fort Lauderdale, 954-524-1118, Lauderdalegrill.com

MR. MOE’S RESTAURANT AND BAR
A log cabin, a cozy fireplace, 36 TVs and a 95-foot-long bar makes this a good spot to watch any game.
Specials: Pay $30 and drink all you want during the game (includes call, selected premiums, mixed drinks and all beers) or take advantage of the beer specials: $3.25 Heineken pints, $15 Heineken buckets, $4 32-ounce Miller Lites and $12 Miller Lite buckets.
Location: 3131 Commodore Plaza, Coconut Grove, 305-442-1114, Mrmoes.com

QUARTERDECK NEIGHBORHOOD GRILL
This chain sports bar offers burgers, seafood, nachos, beer specials, a laid-back atmosphere and dozens of flat-screen TVs.
Specials: Two-for-one domestic and imported bottles and drafts. Meal deals include a half rack of ribs, fish and chips, chicken Francaise, and half a barbecue chicken for $5.99 each. A 2-pound baby-back rib dinner (including a side) will cost $9.99. Customers who ask for a Quarterdeck loyalty card will receive two-for-one house wines, cocktails (that contain only one liquor) and beers (bottles and draft, excluding pitchers).
Location: Multiple locations; Quarterdeckrestaurants.com

RICKEY’S SPORTS BAR AND GRILL
Rickey’s features 14 high-definition televisions and a menu stuffed with burgers, dogs, sandwiches, wings and ribs. Beginning at 6 p.m. Mondays, Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams hosts a live broadcast on WQAM (560) from Rickey’s.
Specials: $2.50 well drinks; $1.75 domestic drafts; $5.95 56-ounce domestic pitchers and $5 shots
Location: 8389 Pines Blvd., Pembroke Pines, 954-744-4697, Rickeyspinesrestaurant.com

SEMINOLE CASINO COCONUT CREEK
Watch the came on two concert-style JumboTrons.
Specials: A party will take place from 5 to 11 p.m. in the casino’s pavilion. The $30 cover includes all-you-can drink Miller Genuine Draft, house wines and soft drinks, and a buffet that will offer tailgate party favorites such as jumbo hot dogs, fries, burgers, wings and macaroni and cheese. A cash bar will be available.
Location: 5550 N.W. 40th St., Coconut Creek, 954-977-6700, Seminolecoconutcreekcasino.com

SLACKERS BAR AND GRILL
A Green Bay Packers bar, Slackers claims on its Web site, “We have over 30 TVs to watch your favorite game on. We even offer customers who get a table near the wall their own TV to watch whatever you like. Hell, you can even have a remote and change your own channel.”
Specials: Five-for-$12 domestic buckets; five-for-$17 import buckets; free halftime buffet. The bar is taking reservations for $20.
Location: 995 W. State Road 84, Fort Lauderdale, 954-530-4758, Slackersbarandgrill.com

SPORTSZONE84 BAR and GRILL
Wall-to-wall high-definition big screens, wings, loaded nachos, burgers and sandwiches are among the offerings at this hotel sports bar.
Specials: A free shot for anyone wearing a Steelers or Packers jersey each time their team scores; five-for-$12 domestic buckets; domestic pitcher and 15 wings for $19 (or $22 for import); $5 “big game” shots; and Budweiser giveaways.
Location: Rodeway Inn at 2440 W. State Road 84, Fort Lauderdale, 954-734-2424, Sportszone84.com

STRIKE MIAMI
Like most worthy bowling alleys, this one has its own sports bar. It also has a 180-foot video wall above the lanes.
Specials: From 6 p.m. until the end of the game, $44 will buy unlimited bowling (including shoe rental), beer and a buffet that includes finger foods such as chicken fingers, chips and salsa and pigs in a blanket. Nonbowlers can buy $5 beers and well drinks throughout the game at the alley’s sports bar.
Location: Dolphin Mall, 11401 N.W. 12th St., Miami, 305-594-0200, Strikemiami.com

TARPON BEND
Fresh fish and seasonal raw bar items are among the highlights at Tarpon Bend, whose Fort Lauderdale location offers 12 televisions and plenty of specials for football fanatics.
Specials: Five-for-$10 buckets of Coors Light, Miller Lite and Miller Genuine Draft Light 64; $2.50 Corona and Corona Lights; a free pound of wings with a $12 pitcher of Coors Light or Miller Lite; and a free entrée up to $9.99 with the purchase of three entrées.
Location: 200 S.W. Second St., Fort Lauderdale, 954-523-3233, Tarponbend.com

TOM’S NFL AMERICAN SPORTS BAR AND GRILL
This 25-year-old sports bar, located near Miami International Airport, has 18 televisions and Bud Light-sponsored specials.
Specials: Five-for-$12 Bud buckets; $8 Bud pitchers. Buy a plate for the barbecue, which will include chicken and ribs, for $7 to $10 (depending on how much meat you plan to eat).
Location: 5001 N.W. 36th St., Miami Springs, 305-888-6022, Tomsnfl.com

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LARRY MILIAN: IT’S THE STEELERS
The Green Bay Packers vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV. The NFL could not have asked for a better matchup between two storied franchises. So why do I feel so strongly about this being a one-sided Super Bowl — a nonclassic?

The quarterbacks are certainly impressive. The young and highly talented Aaron Rodgers replaced a legend in Green Bay and has done quite well this season. Two-time Super Bowl champion Ben Roethlisberger will try to make a case for greatness in his quest for his third title.

And both teams overcame terrific odds to make it to the Super Bowl. The Packers have been riddled with injuries this season, as they have seen 15 players hit the injured-reserve list. Replacements, smart play-calling and a hard-nose, blue-collar defense have been the secret to the team’s success. The Packers won the final two games of the season to advance to the playoffs and then started on their road run to the Super Bowl by beating the Philadelphia Eagles 21-16 in the wildcard round. The Packers then traveled to Atlanta to hand out the postseason’s most-lopsided defeat to the Falcons, 48-21, in the NFC divisional round. Their 21-14 NFC Championship victory over the Chicago Bears in Soldier Field capped off their improbable sixth-seed road masterpiece.

The Steelers, meanwhile, started the first four games of the season without the services of Roethlisberger due to a suspension for violating the NFL’s personal-conduct policy. They made due with Charlie Batch and Dennis Dixon, and they won three of their first four games. Roethlisberger returned, and the Steelers’ dominance continued, as they won nine of their final 12 games and earned the second seed in the AFC playoffs. After getting the wildcard week off, they hosted and defeated the Baltimore Ravens, 31-24, in the AFC divisional round. After a magnificent first half of football for Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship, going into the half up 24-3, they staved off a late Jets rally to win 24-19 in Heinz Field and advance to their eighth Super Bowl in franchise history.

Here’s what makes this matchup less than equal: defense. We know that both teams finished in the Top 5 in defense statistically in the NFL. The Steelers were No. 2. The Packers were fifth. But the game’s deciding factor will be run defense. The Steelers were tops in the NFL in fewest yards rushing against per game at 62.8. The Packers? They’re ranked 18th, with almost twice as many ground yards allowed per game as the Steelers, with 115 yards per game.

While the NFL is more of a passing league these days, teams still set up successful passing games with established running attacks. This game will expose the Packers’ inability to gain yards on the ground. Green Bay finished 24th out of 32 teams in rushing yards. Their 3.8 yards per carry this season is among the league’s worst in that category. The Steel Curtain defense, combined with the Packers’ pedestrian running game, will force Rodgers to throw the ball, and often.

Now, I know Rodgers has been in a zone the past month, but even the best passers get stumped by opposing defenses. The somewhat-inexperienced Rodgers is sure to throw a few interceptions. Even if Rodgers were to stay hot and avoid the turnover bug, the Steelers’ ability to sustain a ground game could keep the hot-handed quarterback on the sidelines.

The ever-so-popular intangibles also favor the Steelers, who have been to this game three times in the past six years. As poorly as Roethlisberger played against the Jets, it’s hard to argue with his playoff winning percentage, which is second all-time among starting quarterbacks, behind only Bart Starr (.900). Yes, Roethlisberger is even better in big games than Tom Brady (.737). Remember his third-and-19 conversion in bringing his team back from a 14-point deficit to beat the Ravens?

The Steelers will find a way to win their seventh ring in eight tries. I think they will win big.

Larry Milian co-hosts Armando and the Amigo 6-10 a.m. Monday through Friday on WFTL.

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BRIAN SPECTOR: IT’S THE PACKERS
The Steelers and Packers play two different kinds of football. The Steelers play smash-mouth football. They will run the ball with Rashard Mendenhall. They also will use their running ability with Mendenhall to set up the play action pass with Roethlisberger. He has some good weapons on the outside with Hines Ward, Mike Wallace, Emmanuel Sanders and Heath Miller.

The Packers will counter with a strong secondary in Charles Woodson, Truman Williams, Sam Shields and Nick Collins. The Packers’ running game has been better as they have run the ball relatively well at times with rookie free agent running back James Starks. Rodgers will throw the ball to his core of receivers in Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, James Jones and Jordy Nelson. The Steelers will have Troy Polamalu and Ryan Clark back there. The Steelers have an elite pass rusher in James Harrison, while the Packers have an elite pass rusher in Clay Matthews.

You can give the edge to the Steelers due to the experience factor. Roethlisberger has two Super Bowl titles already and he isn’t even 30.

But the Packers have overcome a lot. They beat the Giants and Bears in order to make the playoffs and then won three straight road games. Rodgers is an excellent quarterback and Mike McCarthy is a great coach whom few people were talking about. I think the Packers will win this game 24-21.

The Packers are a scary team. You never want to play a team that is on a hot streak. We see it time and again. Rodgers is a top 5 quarterback, and with every game, it becomes more obvious why the Packers told Brett Favre to take a walk. They knew what they had in Rodgers.

Let’s not forget that on the road to this Super Bowl, the Packers had numerous injuries. Yes, I realize that all teams have injuries, but the Packers lost Pro Bowl tight end Jermichael Finley, Pro Bowl linebacker Nick Barnett, starting free safety Morgan Burnett, starting tailback Ryan Grant and other key players. The Packers had 15 players on injured reserve this season.

Major kudos to McCarthy for his coaching job this season. He didn’t panic and sustained his composure. He kept his team confident. General manager Ted Thompson also deserves tons of credit for being able to find capable players to serve as adequate backups and still supply this team with the right personnel to get them to the Super Bowl. The Packers have playmaking ability all over the field. They are fun to watch. I anticipate Rodgers throwing the ball to his core group of receivers and I see a Packers defense that is playing great football. They will be up for the challenge. They are a physical defensive line with great secondary play and the linebackers are strong enough.

This will be one of the better Super Bowl matchups in a long time. How great would it be for the Packers to hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy in Green Bay with all the cheeseheads going crazy? What a storybook ending that would be.

Brian Spector is an executive producer at WFTL.

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TROY STRADFORD: IT’S NOT ME, DAMN IT
At the completion of the NFC and AFC Championship games, I found myself wondering about the emotions running through the players on the winning and losing sidelines, as well as their fans and coaches. The agony of defeat and the thrill of victory weakened the strongest member of each team, dropping them to their knees in tears.

Like many former NFL players before me, I wish I had gotten that far. I’ve won and lost big games during my career, but I never had the opportunity to put it all on the line, to be the hero or the goat just that one time in the biggest, most-watched game in sports, the Super Bowl.

Every year about this time, I feel empty inside. It’s not about the money. It’s not about the fame. It’s not about the perks one receives as a member of such an exclusive group. What matters is the feeling of accomplishment, the opportunity to play in the ultimate game. For the winner, it’s the opportunity to walk down the street knowing that you and your team completed the mission.

We play the game because we love it. We play the game to win. We play for the chance to raise the trophy at least once. To this day, I dream of playing in the Super Bowl. But it will never happen. Congratulations to the Packers and Steelers. I’ll be watching the game with envy.

Troy Stradford played with the Miami Dolphins from 1987 to 1990. He was voted the Offensive Rookie of the Year in 1987. He hosts In the Zone With Troy Stradford 10 a.m.-noon Monday through Friday.

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ARMANDO SALGUERO: WHO CARES WHO WINS? IT’S THE FREAKIN’ SUPER BOWL!
The first Super Bowl didn’t sell out. It didn’t mark an unofficial national holiday. Super Bowl Sunday was not a day to worship America’s game. We’ve come a long way in 45 years, haven’t we?

It’s fitting that Super Bowl XLV will be played at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas. Everything is bigger in Texas, and no American game is bigger than this one.

Cowboys Stadium cost a whopping $1.3 billion to build, and the NFL will charge $200 for fans to watch the game on televisions in an outdoor plaza. It all could add up to the first Super Bowl this millennium with an attendance of more than 100,000.

So this game means big places lifting up the biggest thing in American sports. How did we get here?

Once upon a time, the Packers owned the Super Bowl. They won the first two, and even the Super Bowl trophy is named after legendary Green Bay coach Vince Lombardi. It seems right that the Packers are in this game. They’re playing in their fifth Super Bowl and come in with a 3-1 record in the big game. But these Packers are not even shadows of the team Lombardi put on the field to run the sweep and play black-and-blue division football.

This team is about modern-day passing and a fancy, new-era blitzing defense. Aaron Rodgers was one of only four quarterbacks with a rating above 100 during the regular season.

Defensively, the Packers allowed the NFL’s second-fewest points. In that regard, they are a bit like Lombardi’s old crew.

The Steelers have won more Super Bowl titles — six — than any other team. They won Super Bowls in the ’70s, ’80s, in 2006 and in 2009. They went to the Super Bowl in the 1995-96 season but lost to the Dallas Cowboys.

Both these franchises have history etched in NFL lore. The Packers have that sweep. Lombardi famously said, “Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.” The Packers were Bart Starr and the Lambeau Leap. They also were the team of Max McGee, who stayed out most of the night before Super Bowl II because he didn’t think he’d be playing. But he was pressed into duty and caught seven passes for 138 yards with two touchdowns in a victory over Kansas City. McGee had caught four passes that entire season.

The Steelers are best known for the Immaculate Reception, but that didn’t come in the Super Bowl and it was in a year the team didn’t even get to the big game. The Steelers instead made their reputation with the Steel Curtain defense and an offense that was a tough-guy equivalent. Even today, the Steelers build their teams on the reputation those of yesteryear forged. Tough defense. Run-first offense. Do whatever it takes to win.

That has been the case for the team this year. The Steelers enjoyed a home-field advantage during the playoffs, in part, because they managed a 3-1 record early in the season while starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was serving an NFL suspension.

The Packers have been equally resilient and impressive. They looked nothing like Super Bowl contenders earlier this season, when 15 players were on or headed toward the injured-reserve list. They couldn’t identify a running game. They had a quarterback who had suffered two concussions during the season. Yet the Packers found their groove in time for the playoffs. They beat the NFC’s No. 1 seed. They beat the NFC’s No. 2 seed in the playoffs. They beat the NFC’s No. 3 seed. All those victories came on the opposing team’s home field.

So here we have it: the Packers against the Steelers. The foam cheesehead headgear vs. the Terrible Towel. It doesn’t get any bigger.

Armando Salguero covers the Miami Dolphins for The Miami Herald and co-hosts Armando and the Amigo with Larry Milian.

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MIKE WALLACE: WAKE ME WHEN IT’S OVER
Pardon me for my Super Bowl indifference. I realize not having a strong opinion on the upcoming Game of All Games is one of the cardinal sins of sports. But something happened when Jay Cutler’s Chicago Bears and Rex Ryan’s New York Jets lost their respective conference championship games.

For me, those losses were huge. They robbed my Super Bowl of a significant rooting interest. Without controversial Cutler or raunchy Rex, the Super Bowl lacks a villain. There’s no one for me to root against. And that’s important. It’s not about what team you pull for. It’s more about finding a team you most want to see lose, especially since my Washington DeadSkins haven’t made it this far in two decades.

With the Jets and Bears out of commission, we’re left with two lovable teams in Pittsburgh and Green Bay. Two storied franchises. Two intriguing quarterbacks. Two blue-collar towns. Two high character teams. Essentially, two groups of Mr. Nice Guys.

I needed a villain. I needed Rex or Jay. Instead, I have Ben and Aaron. So I’m bored with this Super Bowl already. I’ll watch it, sure. But I can take it or leave it. Cutler jacked my passion for this game by losing against Green Bay. Rex robbed me of the intrigue I was hoping for on Super Bowl Sunday. I think the Steelers will win it because they have better balance on offense and a stingier defense in big-moment situations. But it’s a close call. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Packers won.

So call me Ho Hum Joe when it comes to this Super Bowl. Steelers 24. Packers 21.

Mike Wallace covers the NBA for Espn.com and is a regular contributor to WFTL.

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ORLANDO ALZUGARY: DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE
With experience the only intangible separating Rodgers and Roethlisberger, it will be interesting to see how each quarterback performs against the other’s defense. Roethlisberger will attempt to light up a secondary that boasts Pro Bowl safety Nick Collins and two of the best corners in the league with future Hall of Famer Charles Woodson and the vastly improved Tramon Williams.

Roethlisberger also will have to have eyes in the back of his head with Clay Matthews looking to feast on some quarterback. Meanwhile, Troy Polamalu and Lawrence Timmons will try to ensure that Rodgers’ will have a miserable Sunday.

Rashard Mendenhall will be the game’s wildcard. After watching him torch the Jets’ premier run defense, I’ve decided that the Steelers’ running game will be too much for the Packers defense to handle and will keep the red-hot Rodgers off the field long enough to allow the Steelers to win.

Orlando Alzugary hosts The Big O Show 3-6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

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HANK GOLDBERG: YOU THINK THIS YEAR’S GONNA BE GOOD? LET ME TELL YOU A STORY, SON …
The first Super Bowl party was for Super Bowl II in the lobby at the Doral Beach Hotel. Invitees were limited to media, league officials and club owners. Fewer than a hundred people gathered for cocktails and pigs-in-blankets, but the big event was a visit by then-Florida Gov. Claude Kirk.

For Super Bowl III, I attended a barbecue at the Galt Ocean Mile Hotel in Fort Lauderdale, which served as the Jets’ headquarters. The barbecue took place on the eve of the Jets’ great upset over the Colts. The entire team gathered in the ballroom, and one player after another performed in front of the rest. They were so loose, having such a blast and appeared to be unconcerned about the Colts. The following day, they showed why.

Two years later, the crowd swelled for what became known as the Commissioner’s Party. This Super Bowl party stands as one of the best ever, as more than 2,000 people at Hialeah Park celebrated pro football’s greatest event. Hialeah would love to have that size crowd today. My big thrill was meeting CBS Sports’ Phyllis George, a former Miss America.

Following the Dolphins’ victory over Washington in Super Bowl VII to cap their perfect season, team owner Joe Robbie rented the ballroom at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. He spared no expense. This group was extremely close.

The party actually began Christmas Day, 1971, on the plane ride back from Kansas City following the sudden-death-overtime victory against the Chiefs. What an odyssey.
During Super Bowl XX, the late Pete Axthelm hired a model on roller skates to buzz the commissioners’ table at his intimate party, which hosted 5,000 of his closest friends. Axthelm had met the model in New Orleans’ French Quarter.

I had two memorable experiences at Super Bowl XXV: attending a pre-game brunch at a topless bagel emporium in Tampa, and listening to Whitney Houston’s unforgettable delivery of the National Anthem. As for the parties, I can no longer separate them.

Hank Goldberg is a veteran of sports-talk radio in South Florida, a former play-by-play man for the Miami Dolphins Radio Network and a contributor to ESPN and WFTL.

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ANDY SLATER: WHOEVER WINS, COACHES WILL MAKE THE DIFFERENCE
Many people believed we’d see Bill Belichick make an appearance at Super Bowl XLV. Some people thought we’d see Matt Ryan show his stuff. Of course, what the majority thinks never seems to happen. This year was no exception.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was hoping to watch his team playing at his own stadium in front of 100,000 spectators. Instead, he will see two teams who battled their own issues this season.

Coming into the 2010 season, the Steelers knew they were going to be without the services of their star, Ben Roethlisberger, for the first four games. They overcame that. The Packers couldn’t know that many of their key players would get injured, but they certainly were able to overcome it.

The Super Bowl comes with days and days of pregame coverage. We hear about every single matchup — who has the best running back, the best cornerback, the best kicker. But the biggest matchup won’t be on the field — it will be on the sidelines with Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin taking on Packers head coach Mike McCarthy.

These guys can decide what happens in this game. Just because McCarthy hasn’t been to the Super Bowl doesn’t mean the Steelers will have the edge. Only two years ago, we saw Tomlin hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy with a victory over Arizona. It wasn’t that long ago, either, when McCarthy led his Packers to an NFC Championship game after a 13-3 season.

At last year’s Super Bowl in Miami, Saints head coach Sean Payton ordered an onside kick in the third quarter that wound up being recovered by his team. That play turned out to be a game-changer, as the Saints went on to defeat the Indianapolis Colts.

Head coaches not only hold the right to make the final decisions, they also hold a very important red flag. Calling for a challenge of an official’s ruling on the field could mean so many things: You could lose a timeout or the ability to call a challenge for the remainder of the game, or you could gain field position and turn around the game.

Even though two great quarterbacks will play in this game, I have no doubt that the head coaches will be the differencemakers.

Andy Slater hosts The Andy Slater Show noon-3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

by Jake Cline and Dan Sweeney

Thanks to an anonymous source on the Super Bowl XLV Host Committee in Dallas, City Link has procured an exclusive look at the list of demands the Black Eyed Peas submitted in advance of their halftime-show performance. Known in the entertainment industry as a “rider,” this list actually goes on for 38 pages and includes specific instructions such as “Fergie must be addressed by all nonfamous people as ‘Her Fergieness,’ ” “No caffeinated drink will be permitted within 15 feet of Apl.de.ap” and “If Will.i.am wants to lick you, let him lick you.”

We are prohibited from publishing the rider in full, but our source has allowed us to post the items the group’s members allegedly requested for their dressing rooms at Cowboys Stadium. Their individual demands follow.

WILL.I.AM
42 bottles of Aquafina
5 bottles of Diva Vodka (with diamonds)
1 bottle of 1787 Chateau Lafite (Must be purchased from promoter of previous show, as only one bottle exists.)
11 feta-and-spinach sandwiches (crusts removed)
8 kobe beef burgers
15 packages of Louis Rich turkey bacon
6 bags of Baked Cheetos
9 packages of Double Stuf Oreo cookies (Remove one side from each Double Stuf Oreo and combine the two halves to create a Quadruple Stuf Oreo. Repeat for entire package. Discard extraneous cookies.)
18 Whatchamacallit candy bars
13 bags of peanut M&Ms (Warning: Absolutely no blue ones.)
1 orange
1 baby thresher shark (in tank)
2 life jackets
The Eagles’ Greatest Hits
14 XBox 360s with Kinect
Zach Galifianakis (with beard)
28 pairs of wrap-around Oakley sunglasses (with polarized lenses)
300 iPads
4 high-definition cameras to be trained on the artist at all times
2 alpacas (Peruvian, with bridles and saddles)
1 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 (freshly waxed and with full tank of gas)
1 military-issue parachute
2 unicycles

FERGIE
11 cans (undented) of Chef Boyardee Mini Dinosaurs With Meatballs
8 pounds of freshly picked cranberries
117 Silly Bandz (No animal shapes!)
The Blu-ray director’s cut of Win a Date With Tad Hamilton!
36 high-definition, 50-inch plasma TVs (Any brand but Sony!)
2 treadmills
1 StairMaster
4 P90X DVDs
4 complete sets of free weights with adjustable workout benches, pull-up bars and medicine balls
3 cases of Dulcolax
1 plunger (Important!)
Something Cher wore in 1973
Dane Cook
4 poster-size photos of the moon
1 tiara, bejewelled (No sapphires!)
2 full-length body pillows stuffed with emu feathers. (Feathers must come from wild emus. No farm-raised birds! Fergie can tell the difference!)
1 first-edition copy of A Shore Thing by Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi (Must be signed by author and inscribed “To my No. 1 inspiration, favorite singer of all time and potential best friend, Fergie the Queen”)
1 Martin Jetpack

APL.DE.AP AND TABOO
Name tags
1 checkerboard (checkers optional but preferred)
2 plastic cups
Working sink and toilet
1 unicycle
Carrot Top

Model Danyell Marie Sluss at Davie Ale House. Photo by Beth Black.

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The 2010 NFL season begins Thursday night, when the New Orleans Saints welcome the Minnesota Vikings to the Superdome. The Miami Dolphins will open their season against the Bills Sunday in Buffalo, and those sons of bitches who call themselves the New York Jets will host the Baltimore Ravens Monday night. (We don’t really have anything against the Jets — we just wanted to make a couple of Yankee heads explode. Sorry.)

NCAA Football began its season last week, marking the return to the field of, among many other teams, the Florida Gators (without the self-canonized Tim Tebow), the University of Miami Hurricanes (without its entire offensive line in jail) and the Florida Seminoles (without the hope of ever enjoying life as Florida Gators).

Obviously, we’re partial to the Dolphins and Gators around here, but that doesn’t mean we can’t raise a glass with those people who favor our opponents. Heck, we’ve even been known to date and marry people who don’t bleed orange, blue and teal. So without reservation, we’ve included among the following list of football-friendly sports bars and restaurants venues that welcome fans of teams such as the Seminoles, Jets, Giants, Eagles and Cowboys. Each of these venues has rolled out some fairly spectacular drink specials for football season, so if you soon find yourself in need of clinking pints of beer with supporters of your team’s biggest rivals, you’ll only need to consult this list. Unless, of course, you’re looking to drink with Patriots fans. You want to party with those buzzards, you’re on your own.

BOKAMPER’S SPORTS BAR AND GRILL
Kim Bokamper played for the Miami Dolphins from 1977 to 1985, but in the years since he retired from the NFL, the former linebacker has become better-known as a sportscaster for WFOR-Channel 4 and WQAM 560-AM and for lending his name to this mega-sports bar, which features more than 50 televisions among its indoor and outdoor dining areas.
Location: 1280 S. Pine Island Road, Fort Lauderdale, 954-533-7152, Bokampers.com
Specials: $2.50 drafts of Miller Lite, Coors Light, Yuengling and Bud Light; five-for-$10 buckets of Coors Light and Miller Lite; and four-for-$10 buckets of Sam Adams
Home team: Miami Dolphins

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BRU’S ROOM
Named for another retired Dolphins linebacker, this time Bob “Bru” Brudzinski, Bru’s Room is a popular gathering spot for sports fans. During football season, the Pompano Beach and Coral Springs locations play host to Florida Gators and Ohio State Buckeyes fan clubs, respectively.
Locations: 235 S. Federal Highway, Pompano Beach, 954-785-2227; 1000 N. University Drive, Coral Springs, 954-656-8041; 35 N.E. Second Ave., Delray Beach, 561-276-3663; 123 N.E. 20th Ave., Suite 21, Deerfield Beach, 954-420-5959; 5460 W. Hillsboro Blvd., Coconut Creek, 954-571-6999; and 1333 N. Congress Ave., Boynton Beach, 561-739-9332; 9060 Commercial Blvd., Sunrise, 954-746-9696; Brusroom.com
Specials: Five-for-$12.50 domestic buckets and five-for-$17.50 import buckets
Home teams: Miami Dolphins, Florida Gators (Pompano Beach), Ohio State Buckeyes (Coral Springs)

BUFFALO’S SOUTHWEST CAFÉ
Part of a five-state chain, Buffalo’s is a family-friendly outpost for fans of all NFL and NCAA teams. The menu offers burgers, plenty of fried fare and Mexican-influenced cuisine such as a spicy salmon entrée and a tortilla chicken pasta.
Location: 5761 Coral Ridge Drive, Coral Springs, 954-757-4500, Buffaloscafe.com
Specials: $2 domestic bottles; $2 domestic drafts; and two-for-one well drinks, wines and margaritas
Home team: None

CAPONE’S FLICKER LITE PIZZA
Hollywood may be best known for its large flock of Canadian snowbirds, but at Capone’s, the world begins and ends in Chicago. This long-running venue on the Intracoastal specializes in Chicago-style pizza, seafood and Italian fare. Naturally, the Bears are Capone’s team of choice.
Location: 1014 N. Ocean Drive, Hollywood, 954-922-4232, Caponesflickerlite.com
Specials: Five-for-$10 buckets of Bud, Bud Light, Coors and Miller; five-for-$12 buckets of Heineken
Home team: Chicago Bears

CHAMPPS AMERICANA
A sports-friendly chain restaurant with locations as far north as Minnesota, where it originated, and as far west as Colorado, Champps offers unusual burgers (including a huevos burger topped with a fried egg and jalapeño bacon) and television screens seemingly everywhere you look.
Location: 6401 N. Andrews Ave., Fort Lauderdale, 954-491-9335, Champps.com
Specials: $2.60 Miller Lite and Coors Light drafts; $3.50 Negra Modelo drafts; $4 Skyy Vodka bombs; $5 Jose Cuervo margaritas; five-for-$11 buckets of Polar; five-for-$13 buckets of Corona and Corona Light; and five-for-$13 buckets of Negra Modelo
Home teams: New York Jets, New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers

DAVIE ALE HOUSE
A screen pass away from the Dolphins training camp, Davie Ale House is the ideal place to get into a debate about whether or not all that marijuana and yoga has made Ricky Williams a better player.
Location: 2080 S. University Drive, Davie, 954-236-0062, Millersalehouse.com
Specials: $1 drink of the day; $6 pitchers; $7.95 buckets; and roughly 30 liquor specials
Home team: Miami Dolphins

DUFFY’S SPORTS GRILL
Duffy’s claims to be the official sports grill of the Miami Dolphins, Florida Panthers and Florida Marlins. It makes good on that designation by offering one of the longest lists of football-season drink and food specials in South Florida.
Location: Multiple locations throughout South Florida
Specials: The following are served every day during football season: $5.99 Arizona poppers; $5.99 Pittsburgh pierogies; $7.99 Raider Nation beef soft tacos; $7.99 New England jumbo fried clams; $8 Jose Cuervo Gold margaritas; $8 Buffalo Bloody Mary (a Bloody Mary mixed with Duffy’s wing sauce); $8 Kickin’ Kooler (Smirnoff vodka, Red Stag bourbon, Amaretto, pineapple juice, orange juice and grenadine); $8 South Beach Iced Tea (Absolut, Tanqueray, Cruzan rum, Jose Cuervo, sour mix and Pepsi); and $8 Dolphins Finatics Punch (Parrot Bay coconut rum, blue curaçao and pineapple juice). The following only are available Saturday, Sunday and Monday: $3.50 Coors Light, Bud, Bud Light and Miller Lite 34-ounce drafts; five-for-$10 buckets of Coors Light, Miller Lite, Bud, Bud Light and Bud Select; and five-for-$15 buckets of Amstel Light, Corona and Heineken.
Home team: Miami Dolphins; a Washington Redskins fan club meets at the Boca Raton location

GALUPPI’S RESTAURANT
If you’re planning to get married during the next five months and happen to be a fan of the Florida State Seminoles, you have our sympathies. You also could do much worse than to hold your wedding reception at Galuppi’s, which is one of two game-watching headquarters for the Seminole Club of Broward County. (The other is Sportszone 84 Bar and Grill; see page 22.)
Location: 1103 N. Federal Highway, Pompano Beach, 954-785-0226, Galuppis.com
Specials: Five-for-$5.99 buckets of Coors Light, Miller Lite and Miller Genuine Draft 64 during NFL games; five-for-$10 domestic buckets during Florida State Seminoles games
Home team: Florida State Seminoles

GATSBY’S DAVIE
This slick meet market and upscale pool hall serves an inexpensive Jack and Coke during football games, which is reason enough to recommend it. The attractive wait staff and patrons are another.
Location: 1805 S. University Drive, David, 954-476-0063, Gatsbysfl.com
Specials: $3.50 Jack and Cokes; five-for-$10 domestic buckets; and five-for-$15 import buckets
Home team: Miami Dolphins

LANDLUBBER’S RAW BAR AND GRILL
The bartender who answered the phone at this long-running raw bar had to take several deep breaths as she ran down for us the exhaustive list of specials Landlubber’s offers during football season. The venue welcomes fans of all NFL and NCAA teams, though it attracts a large contingent of Oakland Raiders fans, who not surprisingly have commanded their own room here.
Location: 1851 N. Pine Island Road, Plantation, 954-473-2884, Landlubbersrawbar.com
Specials: $1 Icehouse and Budweiser Select drafts; $1.50 Pabst Blue Ribbon drafts; $2.50 shots of UV Vodka; $3 Newcastle 16-ounce drafts; $3.25 Heineken 16-ounce cans; $6.95 domestic pitchers; five-for-$8 buckets of Miller; five-for-$10 buckets of Miller Lite; the Tower, a pitcher and a half of domestic beer for $9.99; and a Tower with 20 chicken wings for $18.99
Home team: Oakland Raiders

PARROT LOUNGE
Celebrating its 40th anniversary Oct. 14-16, this sports bar a block removed from Fort Lauderdale beach heavily favors two teams from Pennsylvania.
Location: 911 Sunrise Lane, Fort Lauderdale, 954-563-1493,
Parrotlounge.com
Specials: Five-for-$12 domestic buckets and five-for-$17 import buckets
Home teams: Philadelphia Eagles and Pennsylvania State Nittany Lions

QUARTERDECK
Often-crowded during football games, this casual restaurant and sports bar offers daily specials to go along with a menu that features a number of seafood entrées, burgers and fried appetizers.
Locations: 12370 W. Sunrise Blvd., Plantation, 954-423-4197; 1541 Cordova Road, Fort Lauderdale, 954-524-6163; 2933 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, 954-525-2010; 3155 S. University Drive, Davie, 954-452-7676; 3280 Old Boynton Road, Boynton Beach, 561-374-9113; Quarterdeckrestaurants.com
Specials: Two-for-one domestic and import drafts and bottles, from noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays and all hours of operation Sundays
Home teams: None

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SHUCK-N-DIVE CAJUN CAFÉ
A New Orleans-style eatery that serves a mean bowl of gumbo, oyster and catfish po’ boys and, somewhat incongruously, the best buffalo burger we’ve had in South Florida, Shuck-N-Dive is, of course, an ideal place to watch the Saints and Tigers play. Those teams go best with the Louisiana-brewed Abita beer, but Shuck-N-Dive offers a discount on a more-familiar brand during Monday Night Football games.
Location: 650 N. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale, 954-462-0088
Specials: $2 Bud drafts during Monday Night Football
Home teams: New Orleans Saints and Louisiana State Tigers

SPORTSZONE 84 BAR AND GRILL
With a television in every booth, 22 big-screen TVs and free Wi-Fi, this relatively new entry on the Fort Lauderdale sports-bar scene is not the place to go for an evening of quiet contemplation. The large menu offers a bounty of fried finger foods, burgers, hot and cold sandwiches, and sports-bar-friendly entrées such as fajitas and baby-back ribs.
Location: 2440 W. State Road 84, Fort Lauderdale, 954-734-2424, Sportszone84.com
Specials: $1 drafts; $10 domestic buckets; $19 pitcher and wings
Home teams: Dallas Cowboys and Florida State Seminoles

USA midfielders Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley.

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by Jake Cline

To the uninitiated, soccer can seem like a puzzle. A fast-moving, often low-scoring game, the sport appears to be riddled with contradictions and arcane rules. To wit: It’s illegal for a player to touch the ball with his hands while on the field, but he must throw the ball in from the sidelines after it has been kicked out of bounds. It’s possible for a player to be offsides on a playing field that appears to welcome as much order as a ferret race, with only the keepers remaining in any one position for long. As for that field — why the hell is it called a pitch when, again, the players’ hands aren’t allowed to touch the ball? And won’t all those headers lead to brain damage? A soccer ball isn’t exactly plush, you know. Head one too many of them and you could end up married to a Spice Girl.

This is how a newcomer views soccer. At least, this is how I viewed it when I first fell into the sport 3 1/2 years ago, while falling for a woman whose two sons play the game (and quite well, I’ll self-servingly add). Despite the ostensible randomness on the pitch, soccer can be a game of remarkable order and strategy. The players, in fact, do have set positions, and don’t just run willy-nilly around the field attempting to shoot the ball past the opposing keeper’s gloved hands and into the net. It may have taken me longer than most soccer newcomers to realize this, but eventually, I began to appreciate the roles of the individual positions, particularly the midfielders, whose primary job is to help the forwards score goals and the defenders prevent them. They’re the ultimate middlemen, with none of the term’s louche connotations.

The first misconception that a well-played soccer match will erase from a neophyte’s mind is that the sport is boring. It’s not. While the majority of the world’s inhabitants consider the idea nothing short of blasphemy, the alleged dullness of the game has long been conventional wisdom among the great mass of American sports fans, most of whom have been weaned on a steady diet of professional football. This is odd when you consider that the average football game — with its legion of timeouts, huddles, quarter breaks, halftimes and wardrobe malfunctions — can stretch 60 minutes of official playing time somewhere north of three hours. It’s as if the sport had been invented by dentists.

In soccer, aside from the requisite halftime, extended breaks are few. I’ve seen matches in which a player has fallen to the ground, writhing in pain — from a twisted ankle, a knee to the nose, an elbow to the eye — while the referees didn’t so much as finger their whistles for fear of interrupting the flow of the game. And these were matches played by 12-year-olds.

The World Cup poses another set of challenges to the freshly soccer-addled mind. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement surrounding the tournament, but it’s also possible to feel intimidated by the import assigned it by the sports press and those incessant ESPN commercials in which Bono all but claims the Cup will halt global warming, remove the oil from the Gulf and convince Lindsay Lohan to kick drugs once and for all. And unless you’re already a fanatic or a convert, don’t try to retroactively navigate the honeycomb of qualifying matches, friendlies, groupings and coaching decisions (Ronaldinho isn’t playing for Brazil? Really? And the country hasn’t devolved into civil war?) that have preceded the start of the tournament.

Instead, you may just want to pick a team — a country, in fact — and drive your stakes into its camp. Spain appears to be the consensus favorite to win the Cup, though it wouldn’t be unwise to root for Italy (winner of the 2006 tournament), Brazil, the Ivory Coast or Germany. And though only the most-patriotic among us expect the United States team to bring the trophy home with them, it’s difficult to imagine anyone save the most-virulent America haters (Osama bin Laden, Dick Cheney) hoping to see Landon Donovan, Tim Howard and Boca Raton’s own Jozy Altidore fail in South Africa during the next two weeks.

Me, I’m cheering for the Yanks. And while watching them play, should something not make obvious sense, I’ll do what I’ve done at countless soccer matches in the past 3 1/2 years: unfurrow my brow, bite my tongue and pretend like hell that I know what’s going on.

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Following is a list of venues that, beginning this Friday, will intentionally succumb to World Cup fever. I’ve attempted to pair each venue with the appropriate matches, based on genre, clientele or the biases of the owners.

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America’s Backyard
100 S.W. Third Ave., Fort Lauderdale, 954-727-0950, Jointherevolution.net/ab
In addition to being a rather unfortunate example of consonance, the phrase grillin’ and chillin’ doesn’t readily lend itself to the frenetic sport of soccer, either. Yet America’s Backyard, which proudly flaunts the phrase as its motto, will host the mother of all World Cup parties Saturday when the USA’s Yanks meet England’s Three Lions in one of the most-anticipated matches of the competition. Billed as Clash of the Nations — a World Cup Celebration, the party at America’s Backyard will broadcast the game on 20 large-screen televisions throughout the venue. The $30 admission fee includes an open bar from 1 to 4 p.m., two passes to the recently opened National Lampoon Underground comedy club, and gift certificates to Chima Brazilian Steakhouse and Sports Authority. Doors will open at 12:30 p.m.
Recommended match: England vs. USA, 2:30 p.m. Saturday

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Churchill’s Pub
5501 N.E. Second Ave., Miami, 305-757-1807, Churchillspub.com
“This will be our eighth World Cup,” says Churchill’s owner Dave Daniels, who is in his fourth decade of operating this landmark music venue in Little Haiti. An amateur soccer player in his native England, Daniels plans to go all out for this Cup. “We’re just going to put as many TVs as possible inside and outside on the patio. I know when England got knocked out of the World Cup in South Korea [in 2002], we had about 350 people here at 4 or 5 in the morning. I think we could do more for this one, so we’re putting TVs everywhere.”

Daniels is expecting a large crowd for the England-USA match, and believes both teams will qualify for the Round of 16. “If England has a good run, we’ll do well,” he says of the pub, which will serve breakfast during the morning matches.

The publican believes Spain or Brazil likely will win the Cup, though he refuses to give up on his home team.

“I rubbishly want England to win,” he says. “But I believe in the tooth fairy. It’s about the same conviction.”
Recommended matches: England vs. USA, 2:30 p.m. Saturday; England vs. Algeria, 2:30 p.m. June 18; Slovenia vs. England, 10 a.m. June 23

Fox and Hound Pub and Grille
4812 N. Dixie Highway, Oakland Park, 954-491-8869
“The USA-England game is going to be pretty much a riot,” says Tami Leigh, a Fox and Hound bartender for the past seven years. “Well, not a riot, but you know what I mean.” Certainly, this long-running British pub will make for an ideal place for Three Lions fans to taunt their Yanks-loving counterparts during Saturday’s match. With one big-screen TV and seven flat-screen sets, the Fox and Hound will open early for all the Cup’s matches. Leigh, who watched the 2002 World Cup from the other side of the Fox and Hound’s bar, is expecting a good turnout for this year’s tournament. “There’s a really huge English community here in Fort Lauderdale,” she says. “They’re pretty crazy about their soccer.”
Recommended matches: England vs. USA, 2:30 p.m. Saturday; Slovenia vs. USA, 10 a.m. June 18; England vs. Algeria, 2:30 p.m. June 18; Slovenia vs. England, 10 a.m. June 23; USA vs. Algeria, 10 a.m. June 23

The Funky Buddha Lounge and Brewery
2621 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton, 561-368-4643, Thefunkybuddha.com
Typically open only in the evening, this craft-beer emporium, hookah bar and music venue will welcome fans of the USA soccer team during all its Cup matches. Owner Ryan Sentz, a former City Link employee, hasn’t decided what the Buddha will offer in the way of food — “we may set up a grill,” he says — but the bar will serve customers a free craft beer each time the Yanks score. Because the Buddha keeps more than 100 regional and specialty beers in its coolers and on tap, fans should hope for high-scoring games.
Recommended matches: England vs. USA, 2:30 p.m. Saturday; Slovenia vs. USA, 10 a.m. June 18; USA vs. Algeria, 10 a.m. June 23

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Lucky Strike Lanes
1691 Michigan Ave., Miami Beach, 305-532-0307, Bowlluckystrike.com
The upscale bowling alley and nightclub will open much earlier than usual during the Cup. From 7:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., the venue will serve an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet for $8. The bar, meanwhile, will offer Bloody Marys for $5 beginning at 8 a.m. And if your team loses its match, you can simply take your frustrations out on the pins.
Recommended matches: South Africa vs. Mexico, 10 a.m. Friday; Ivory Coast vs. Portugal, 10 a.m. Tuesday; Slovakia vs. Italy, 10 a.m. June 24; Portugal vs. Brazil, 10 a.m. June 25

Mickey Byrne’s Irish Pub
1921 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, 954-921-2317, Mickeybyrnes.com
If you’re pulling for France to win the Cup, you’ll want to stay clear of Mickey Byrne’s, which harbors a fair amount of antipathy toward Les Bleus. “France swindled their way into the Cup at our expense,” says the pub’s co-owner Mike Rowe, citing the still-controversial 2009 qualifying match between France and Ireland, in which Bleus forward Thierry Henry committed a handball foul that eluded the referees, tied the game in overtime and sent Ireland home and France to South Africa. “It was a blatant handball,” Rowe seethes.

In a symbolic gesture of revenge, Mickey Byrne’s will award bar patrons a free shot each time France gives up a goal during the Cup. Rowe says the venue, an official sponsor of U.S. Soccer, will screen all the games, offer bucket beer specials and root for the Yanks.

But should the Americans fall in the first round, who would Rowe like to see win the tournament?

“Anybody but France,” he says.
Recommended matches: Uruguay vs. France, 2:30 p.m. Friday; England vs. USA, 2:30 p.m. Saturday; France vs. Mexico, 2:30 p.m. June 17; Slovenia vs. USA, 10 a.m. June 18; France vs. South Africa, 10 a.m. June 22; USA vs. Algeria, 10 a.m. June 23

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Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove
2700 Tigertail Ave., 305-644-4680, Ritzcarlton.com
The high-end hotel will offer low-cost viewing parties during many of the Cup’s matches. For $15 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. throughout the tournament, visitors to the Ritz-Carlton’s Amadeus Bar can watch the games on flat-screen TVs and gorge on a continental breakfast buffet or, during the afternoon, a salad bar and pizza. The bar will have more than 30 foreign beers on hand, though it’s tough to imagine the hotel will allow the scene here to get too wild. In other words, go somewhere else to watch Brazil play.
Recommended matches: South Africa vs. Mexico, 10 a.m. Friday; and Uruguay vs. France, 2:30 p.m. Friday

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SushiSamba Dromo
600 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, 305-673-5337, Sushisamba.com
Japan’s Blue Samurai aren’t expected to make it beyond the first round, given the team’s tough Group E competition in Cameroon, the Netherlands and Denmark. Brazil, meanwhile, is an obvious favorite to win the entire contest, and because SushiSamba Dromo favors Japanese and Brazilian cuisine, the idiosyncratic South Beach restaurant may be the best place in South Florida to watch the Samurai and the Selecao head toward their respective destinies. SushiSamba will project all the Cup’s matches on a big screen in its dining room and serve special dishes such as Kobe beef sliders, churrasco and eggs, and cast-iron baked eggs. As if Brazil’s matches weren’t going to be lively enough, the bar will offer World Cup-themed drinks whenever the Selecao is on the pitch, including the forward (with Maker’s Mark, cider and sour mix), the midfield (shochu, tomato juice and simple syrup) and the keeper (mango and guava juices, sparkling wine and simple syrup).
Recommended matches: Japan vs. Cameroon, 10 a.m. Monday; Brazil vs. North Korea, 2:30 p.m. Tuesday; Netherlands vs. Japan, 7:30 a.m. June 19; Brazil vs. Ivory Coast, 2:30 p.m. June 20; Denmark vs. Japan, 2:30 p.m. June 24; Portugal vs. Brazil, 10 a.m. June 25

Waxy O’Connors
1095 S.E. 17th St., Fort Lauderdale, 954-525-9299; 1248 Washington Ave., Miami Beach, 305-534-7824; and 690 S.W. First Court, Miami, 786-871-7660; Waxys.com
South Florida’s three Waxy O’Connors will screen all the Cup matches, including those in the morning, when the pubs will serve Irish breakfast to early-risers. The Fort Lauderdale venue had yet to set its promotions at presstime, but the South Beach Waxy will provide $9 pitchers of Pabst Blue Ribbon and other specials determined by whichever countries are competing at the moment (sangria when Spain is playing, etc.). The Miami pub also will pair beer specials with current matches, which it will show on 17 flat-screen TVs. During Saturday’s USA-England match, 790-The Ticket host Jorge Sedano will broadcast his show live from the Miami location.
Recommended matches: South Africa vs. Mexico, 10 a.m. Friday; England vs. USA, 2:30 p.m. Saturday; Ivory Coast vs. Portugal, 10 a.m. Tuesday; Honduras vs. Chile, 7:30 a.m. June 16; Slovenia vs. USA, 10 a.m. June 18; Chile vs. Switzerland, 10 a.m. June 21; USA vs. Algeria, 10 a.m. June 23; North Korea vs. Ivory Coast, 10 a.m. June 25.

Contact Jake Cline at jcline@citylinkmagazine.com.

Lingerie Bowl VII

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by Joanie Cox and Colleen Dougher

Super Bowl XLIV will mark the 14th time the big game has been played in Florida, but we never need an excuse to party here. Obviously, neither do celebrities. Throughout football season, Land Shark Stadium, which is now Sun Life Stadium, has seen more famous faces than a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, with Miami Dolphins co-owners Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Venus and Serena Williams often attending the games and the disparate likes of Kim Kardashian and the dead-sexy Larry King making their presences known, as well.

This Super Bowl weekend, South Florida will be crawling with more A-listers than usual. Jim Carrey, Jenny McCarthy, Holly Madison and Jamie Foxx will be among the many celebrities in town to host public and private events. And if the most-famous face you want to see is on the label of a Sam Adams bottle, you may be able to find a star-free event, as well. While nothing Super Bowl-related comes cheap, we made a Peyton Manning-size effort to bring you the biggest and best parties happening this week.

THURSDAY, FEB 4

Clematis by Night
The Super Bowl edition of this free weekly event will include appearances by professional athletes, interactive games, a spirit competition between cheerleaders and bands from Palm Beach County schools, and music by Mickey Thomas and Starship on the Meyer Amphitheatre stage and the Gypsy Lane Band on the Centennial stage. 5-10 p.m. Thursday in Centennial Square at the end of Clematis Street in downtown West Palm Beach. Call 561-822-2525 or visit Clematisbynight.net.

Eats, Beats and Cleats
Mingle with 75 current and former NFL greats, including Barry Sanders, Michael Irvin, Gale Sayers, Roger Staubach, Jim Kiick, Elbert “Ickey” Woods and Jim Marshall. They will sign autographs and appear at private meet and greets at Eats, Beats and Cleats, a four-day festival on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach. The event will begin Thursday with a VIP players party at the Ritz-Carlton and culminate with a tailgate party before the big game Sunday. In between, attractions will include Fashion Rocks the Gridiron; Dancing for the NFL Stars; Gridiron Culinary, featuring celebrity chefs; and a chance to sit in on Chalk Talks and Coaches Corner with Mike Ditka. Call 877-733-3430 or visit Ebcmiami.com. Daily passes cost $85 and four-day VIP all-access tickets start at $350.

Football After Dark
The top two teams from the Lingerie Football League’s two conferences will play for a chance to meet in Saturday’s Lingerie Bowl VII. The 6 p.m. preparty will boast beer gardens, a VIP lounge, DJs, barbecue and player meet-and-greets. The playoffs will begin at 8 p.m. at Hard Rock Live, 1 Seminole Way, in Hollywood. Call 954-797-5531 or visit Hardrocklivehollywoodfl.com. Admission is $40 to $5,000.

Hotel 944
This four-day bash, a joint venture of 944 Media and special events company Relevent, will begin Thursday and feature poolside performances by Wyclef Jean, Mario, Snoop Dogg and DJs Irie, Vice and Ross One. Other draws include a celebrity charity poker tournament, the Jose Cuervo Platino Penthouse with Paul Oakenfold, a Qwelf Game Lounge, a charity event hosted by Jimmie Johnson and Nick Lachey, and a pregame party with a performance by Kid Sister. The event will take place at Eden Roc Renaissance, 4525 Collins Ave., in Miami Beach. Admission costs from $20 for poolside events to $700 for VIP admission, which includes access to the pool deck and penthouse. Call 531-0000 or visit Hotel944.com.

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Jamie Foxx
Actor, comedian and musician Jamie Foxx will host a star-studded party 10 p.m. Thursday at Passion Nightclub at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, 1 Seminole Way, in Hollywood. Call 954-321-3443 or visit Passionnightclub.com.

Miami Rice
Join NFL Legend Jerry Rice for a red-carpet-preceded dinner with live entertainment and a guest list that’s expected to include Joe Montana, Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin, Brent Jones, Roger Craig, Troy Aikman and Steve Young. 7 p.m. Thursday at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, 1 Seminole Way, in Hollywood. Call Ian Grutman at 305-534-7101 or e-mail ian@miami-mg.com. Tickets cost $500 to $1,000 and benefit the Buoniconti Fund, the fundraising arm of the Miami Project To Cure Paralysis.

NFL Super Bowl Celebrity Bowling Classic
Lynn Swann, a Super Bowl MVP and NFL Hall of Famer, will host this tournament and fundraiser in which 30 NFL legends will bowl to raise money for NFL’s Youth Education Town initiative. Swann, you see, is a recent inductee into the Bowling Hall of Fame. The balls will begin rolling 7 p.m. Thursday at SpareZ Lanes, 5325 S. University Drive, in Davie. Call 201-489-0049, e-mail n.nicolosi@verizon.net or visit Sparezbowling.com. Entry fees are a $300 donation to NFL Charities or $1,000 per team of four bowlers.

Pepsi Super Bowl Fan Jam
The Fan Jam offers free concerts on two consecutive nights in Miami Beach. Entourage star Kevin Dillon and former Access Hollywood host Nancy O’Dell will co-host Thursday’s VH1 concert featuring teen singer Justin Bieber and Grammy winner Rihanna. Friday’s concert featuring Nelly Furtado, Paulina Rubio and Miami’s own Pitbull will be hosted by Telemundo stars Leti Coo and Jessi Losada and actor Karim Mendiburu. The public entrance to the 7 p.m. concerts will be located at Eighth Street and Ocean Drive. Gates will open at 5 p.m. Free tickets, no more than 10 per person, are available through Ticketmaster.

The Ritz-Carlton South Beach
Don Shula, Jamie Foxx and Mike Ditka will host various events and dinners at the hotel throughout the weekend, so this VIP Players Kickoff Reception is sure to have some surprise A-list guests. The poolside party at the hotel’s Starr Barr and DiLido Beach Club will begin at 9 p.m. The hotel is located at 1 Lincoln Road in Miami Beach. Call 786-276-4000 or visit Ritzcarlton.com. Tickets cost $350.

FRIDAY, FEB 5

Diddy’s Party
Diddy has booked the Miami strip club King of Diamonds for the weekend, and the price to enter the rapper and producer’s makeshift court is not cheap. Regular admission is $100 and VIP access costs $300. Tables, meanwhile, cost $1,000 for two people (one bottle minimum), $2,000 for four (includes a bottle of Moët and a one-bottle minimum) and $20,000 for 20 people (six-bottle minimum), which puts one onstage with Mr. Sean John himself. 17800 N.E. State Road 9 in Miami. Call 305-258-1600 for table reservations or 305-999-9500 for additional club information.

Leather and Laces
Kim Kardashian will return to host this annual party, which has a reputation for being the sexiest and most decadent party of Super Bowl weekend. Puerto Rican model and actress Roselyn Sánchez and Hugh Hefner’s ex Holly Madison will co-host. 9 p.m.-3 a.m. at the Paris Theatre Miami, 550 Washington Ave., in Miami. Admission is $375 at the door and includes an open premium bar. Call 800-809-1277 or visit Leatherandlaces.com

Night of Champions
Jamie Foxx will host an evening featuring NFL Hall of Fame players and music by former New Orleans Saints All-Pro player Kyle Turley and his country band. 9 p.m. Friday at the Fillmore Miami Beach. Call 847-509-3086 or visit Gridirongreats.org. Tickets cost $95 to $625 and proceeds will benefit the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund, a nonprofit organization that provides financial grants and medical assistance to retired NFL players in need.

Nocturnal
Georgia rapper Young Jeezy is hoping to see some “Love in This Club” during his No Sleep Celebrity Super Bowl Weekend. DJ Khaled, Rick Ross and DJs HeadBussa and Nasty will perform in this three-floor, 20,000-square-foot club. More than 30 NFL players are expected to kick it here, as well. 50 N.E. 11th St., in Miami. 8 p.m.-5 a.m. Tickets cost $35 at Wantickets.com. Call 305-576-6996 or visit Nocturnalmiami.com.

Rock ‘N Soul Party
A red-carpet event will precede this party presented by sports agent Drew Rosenhaus and featuring NFL players such as Tommie Harris, Chad Ochocinco, Willis McGahee, Santana Moss and Terrell Owens. At presstime, details were not available on the musical performers or other attending celebrities, but past attendees include Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Adam Sandler. The party will start 10 p.m. Friday at Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, 1 Seminole Way, in Hollywood. Call 954-797-5531 or visit Hardrocklivehollywoodfl.com. General admission tickets cost $100 and VIP passes will go for $250.

Super Bowl Gospel Celebration
This NFL-sanctioned Super Bowl event unites gospel artists such as Donnie McClurkin, BeBe and CeCe Winans, and Israel and New Breed with the NFL Players Choir to deliver uplifting, inspirational songs. 7:30 p.m. Friday at James L. Knight Center, 400 S.E. Second Ave., in Miami. Call 305-416-5978 or visit Superbowlgospelcelebration.com. Tickets cost $55-$95.

Tootsies Cabaret
Vivid Girls Savanna Samson, Sunny Leone, AJ Bailey and Monique Alexander will join 300 other adult entertainers during the Vivid Party at this two-level, 74,000-square-foot club with nude dancers and 30-foot stripper poles. 10 p.m. Friday at Tootsie’s, 150 N.W. 183rd St., in Miami Gardens. Call 305-651-5822 or visit Tootsiescabaret.com. Tickets cost $300.

SATURDAY, FEB. 6

Celebrity Beach Bowl
Gridiron greats will compete with entertainers in a “no-holds barred” flag football game at DirecTV’s fourth annual Beach Bowl. The list of coaches and players includes Eli Manning, Troy Aikman, Warren Moon, Christian Slater, Guy Fieri, Kevin Dillon and Taylor Lautner. After the game and trophy presentation, the All-American Rejects will perform. Gates will open 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Collins Avenue between 21st and 22nd streets on South Beach and the game will begin at 2:30 p.m. Admission is free. The game will be broadcast live on DirecTV’s 101 Network.

Lingerie Bowl VII
The Lingerie Football League’s conference champions will battle it out at Lingerie Bowl VII, billed as “the ultimate catfight.” The Hard Rock’s Tailgate Village will open at 6 p.m. Saturday. The red carpet parade will begin at 7 p.m. and the game will start at 10 p.m. at Hard Rock Live, 1 Seminole Way, in Hollywood. Call 954-797-5531 or visit Hardrocklivehollywoodfl.com. Tickets cost $40 to $5,000.

Penthouse Magazine Super Party
DJ Riz, the official DJ of the NFL, and DJ Stonerokk will spin at this party featuring 2010 Penthouse Pet of the Year Taylor Vixen and other Penthouse Pets. 9 p.m. Saturday at Passion Nightclub at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, 1 Seminole Way, in Hollywood. Call 561-912-7007 or visit Thepenthousesuperparty.com. Tickets cost $250, which includes an open bar until midnight; $500 for all-night open bar; and $1,000 for a private room with open bar and bottle service.

Rock N Ride
This car show and concert presented by Sinbad Sports and Billboard magazine will include performances by Young D-Low, Blazer Ellington and Edajah Blu. Noon-8 p.m. Saturday at BankUnited Center, 1245 Dauer Drive, in Coral Gables. Call 305-556-6000 or visit Rocknridecarshow.com. General admission is $25 and VIP access is $49.

Saturday Night Spectacular
Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy will host this event featuring the circus art and street theater group Cirque USA and self-described “psychic madman” Jim Karol. Since accurately predicting the numbers drawn in a Pennsylvania lottery in 1990, Karol has appeared on major television talk shows, the NBC series Phenomenon and the movie Jackass Two. He also claims to have memorized, among other things, 80,000 ZIP codes and the Scrabble dictionary. This event will include an open bar, buffet and sushi bar, and a celebrity mini poker tournament to benefit McCarthy’s autism organization, Generation Rescue. 8 p.m. Saturday to 3 a.m. Sunday at Bank of America Tower, 100 S.E. Second St., in Miami. Call Peter Renaldi, 214-244-5001or visit Saturdaynightspectacular.com. Admission is $1,000 to $20,000 (latter price includes a cabana).

Snoop Bowl VIII
The Snoop Dogg All Stars will take on a local youth football team coached by Miami Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter and Buffalo Bills wide receiver Terrell Owens at this charity game. 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Nathaniel Traz Powell Stadium at Miami-Dade College’s North Campus, 11380 N.W. 27th Ave., in Miami. Call 305-237-1000. Tickets cost $20 and can be purchased at Ticketalternative.com or at the gate.

Super Bowl Playboy Party
Conflicting media reports say tickets to this party cost either $1,000 or nearly $3,000, so hobnobbing with these bunnies and celebs may not be an option. But maybe you’ll get another chance in the future. Rumors that the financially struggling Sagamore may become a Playboy Hotel are multiplying like rabbits. 9 p.m. Saturday at the Sagamore, 1671 Collins Ave, in Miami Beach. Call 305-535-8088 or visit Sagamorehotel.com.

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Super Bowl Saturday Night
This outdoor event at the Sheraton Beach Hotel in Fort Lauderdale will feature a concert by O.A.R., Barenaked Ladies and Robert Randolph and the Family Band and a fireworks display after the show. Food, drinks, blankets, chairs, tents, grills and weapons are not allowed, so leave your guns at home. Concessions will be available for purchase. Gates will open 4 p.m. Saturday with a DJ set and video programming, and the concert will start at 6 p.m. adjacent to the Sheraton at 1140 Seabreeze Blvd., in Fort Lauderdale. Call 954-524-5551 or visit Southfloridasuperbowl.com. Admission is free.

SuperBrunch at the Viceroy Hotel
Chefs Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse will demonstrate the art of cooking while jazz musician and former New York Yankee Bernie Williams will perform at this three-hour gourmet brunch. 11 a.m. Saturday at the Viceroy Hotel’s 50 Club, 485 Brickell Ave., in Miami. Call 206-298-1217 or visit Mariobatalifoundation.org. Admission is $1,000 and benefits the Mario Batali Foundation, which helps to feed, educate, protect and empower children; and Camp Erin, a bereavement camp for youths.

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY

Big Game Brunch
Hobnob with NFL cheerleaders and sports stars such as former NFL coach and current Fox broadcaster Jimmy Johnson at a brunch featuring an intimate Q&A, a trivia contest and a silent auction to benefit Russell Reading and Life Skills Foundation. 10:30 a.m. Sunday at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, 1 Seminole Way, in Hollywood. Call 954-966-6300, ext. 11423, or visit Seminolehardrockhollywood.com. Tickets cost $175. Tables cost $1,500.

Cinema Paradiso
Watch the game on a big screen from plushy stadium-type seating while dining on burgers, hot dogs, chili and other picnic-type food for sale at this old-church-turned-movie theater. 4:30 p.m. Sunday at 503 S.E. Sixth St., in Fort Lauderdale. Call 954-760-9898 or visit Fliff.com. Admission is free.

The Clevelander
Watch the game at this swank South Beach hotel. 1020 Ocean Drive, in Miami Beach. General admission is $25 at Wantickets.com. Call 305-532-4006 or visit Clevelander.com.

National Hotel
DJ Clue has remixed songs for Mariah Carey and Usher. He’ll demonstrate his turntable skills at this bash featuring rapper Biz Markie, who still garners Jersey Shore-style fist pumps when he performs his off-key 1989 hit “Just a Friend.” Hip-hop producer Stevie J and model Tammy Torres will host the party. Noon-9 p.m. at 1677 Collins Ave., in Miami Beach. Tickets cost $25 at Wantickets.com. Call 305-532-2311 or visit Nationalhotel.com.

Rock the Game
Watch the game from VIP couches and recliners or the free general admission seating at Rock the Game, which will feature food and drink specials and appearances by Lingerie Football League players and the Hard Rock Girls. 5 p.m. Sunday at Hard Rock Live, Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino 1 Seminole Way, in Hollywood. Call 954-797-5531 or visit Hardrocklivehollywoodfl.com.

Stage 84
During the game, this club will host football trivia contests and serve two-for-one domestic and imported beers and dollar shots of lemon drops, kamikazes, melon balls and fuzzy navels. 4 p.m. Sunday at 9118 W. State Road 84, in Davie. Call 954-474-5040 or visit Stage84fl.com. Admission is free.

Super Salsa Bowl
The Pollo Tropical across the street from Sun Life Stadium will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the biggest bowl of salsa by making more than 600 pounds of the condiment in a giant stainless steel bowl. The tailgate party will include free samples, live music, giveaways (including Pollo Tropical chicken for a year) and a $1,000 prize for the best salsa dancer. Noon-4 p.m. Sunday at 19500 N.W. 27th Ave., in Miami. Call 305-328-6970 or visit Pollotropical.com. Admission is free.

Contact Joanie Cox at jcox@citylinkmagazine.com and Colleen Dougher at cdougher@citylinkmagazine.com.

The author (third from left in the top row of children) years before he embarrassed his brothers (front row, second and third from left) and father (top row, second from right). He will admit, however, that Ernie’s Eagles were a pretty badass football team.

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by Jake Cline

I’d like to tell you that I made the confession at the start of the second quarter, with the ball on the 30-yard line and the score 14-6. I’d like to tell you that I didn’t know the first names of only two players on the field and wasn’t trying to figure out the others by rhyming words with the last names printed on the backs of the athletes’ jerseys. I’d like to tell you that I wasn’t disappointed when I learned Bernard Berrian’s first name isn’t Antiquarian and Adewale Ogunleye doesn’t answer to GoldenEye. I’d like to tell you that, without consulting the Internet, I could instantly recall the teams that played in Super Bowl XLI (it was, as you surely know, the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears) or even the game’s winner (the Colts).

But I can’t do any of that. I was as invested in this game as I have been in any football game, which is to say hardly at all. I watched it, of course, but with a detachment I reserve for situations in which I’m made to feel as if I’m a stranger in my own skin. This happens whenever someone attempts to corral me into a discussion about Family Guy, bad novelists, spirit-nurturing, the personal lives of celebrities or the fact that today’s being Thursday means that it’s almost Friday and Friday is the start of the weekend and — “Oh, my God, it’s almost Friday! Can you believe it?” I can believe it.

At the time, I shared an apartment with my brother, who was two years out of the Navy, 11 years removed from a marriage and 45 minutes reclined in my La-Z-Boy, a chair I typically protected with an Archie Bunker-like ferocity. I was on the couch, a sagging, green, plush-velvet thrift-store find left behind by an ex-girlfriend who estimated a piece of furniture’s worth not by its comfort level but by its appalling lack of aesthetic value. And if it smelled like hobo piss at the time of purchase, all the better.

So the game. The game was at Dolphin Stadium, not 20 minutes from the apartment, though the spectacle unfolding on my television made it seem as if it were taking place on another planet. Earlier in the broadcast, during the pre-game show, members of the French-Canadian terrorist organization Cirque du Soleil did some frightening things with elbows and pantaloons, and the man who ate Billy Joel performed the National Anthem without, to my surprise, breaking into “We Didn’t Start the Fire” halfway through. And then, the ball was on the 30-yard line, the score was whatever it was and I, naively and reflexively, uttered the following confession to my brother:

“You know, I sure am glad I turned down tickets to this game.”

My brother is not a graceful creature. He is taller than I am, and at the time, his post-Naval exercise routine involved little more than driving bibulous, saddle-sore women home from country bars at 4 in the morning. I have long teased him that he walks like a duck, and he, in turn, has told me I remind him of Sasquatch. Why is none of your business. (For the sake of familial unity, I will share that my brother has gotten his body and act in shape since then. Hi, Joe!)

But at the moment my confession reached his ears, he may as well have been Usain Bolt. With an alacrity I’d never seen in him, my brother set the chair upright, sprang to his feet and bounded across the living room.

“You did what?” he shouted, disbelief spreading across his face.

“I turned down free Super Bowl tickets. So what? Look at that nonsense,” I said, pointing at the television. “Would you want to be there?”

“Of course I would!” he shouted. “Are you fucking kidding me? It’s the Super Bowl. Someone offered you free tickets and you turned them down? Are you fucking serious?”

“Yeah, I turned them down. I didn’t even think about it. Someone offered them to me and I said, ‘No thanks. Give them to someone who likes football.’ ”

“I like football, you asshole!” he yelled. “This has to be the stupidest thing you’ve ever done.”

I admit now that it may have been one of the stupidest things I’ve ever done. And like many, if not all, of the foolish errors I have committed in my lifetime, I made this one without thinking. It went down like this: A friend’s firm had given its employees two tickets each to the Super Bowl. She didn’t want them and offered them to me. I told her I didn’t want them, either, hung up the phone and went back to eating my sandwich or whatever menial act I considered to be vastly more important than accepting tickets to a crowded contest in what I’ve long considered to be an overrated, unexciting sport. (Conversely, I’m a die-hard baseball fan who finds the best games can be a thing of beauty, like a Van Gogh painting or a Neko Case song.)

The concept of halftime puzzles me, and timeouts try my patience like Sarah Palin in a comparative-religion class. This doesn’t make me better than those people who love football. Nor does it make me worse. It doesn’t make me anything other than a man who doesn’t care all that much for the game. (Here’s the part where I brush aside questions of masculinity, a concept that depends not on something so trivial as a man’s appreciation for pigskin but on matters of real consequence, such as character and integrity. And also a wide appetite for chili and the songs of Waylon Jennings.)

My brother grabbed his cell phone and raged into his bedroom. Over the sound of the game, I caught snatches of his conversation: “Dumb asshole.” “I can’t believe it.” “I’ve never been so pissed off at him.” “Yeah, later.”

There was a pause and then he started up again. “You’re not going to believe what Jake did.” “Moron.” “Dickhead.” “I know, I know.”

My own cell phone rang. It was my other brother, Josh. I couldn’t even get out a “hello” before he started in with me. “Is Joe serious? Did you really give away Super Bowl tickets?” I did. “Are you serious?” Yes. “Schmuck.” I love you, too.

Joe, who had taken his rant into the bathroom, was alerting someone else to my unpardonable sin.

My phone rang again. Dan, a family friend and die-hard Miami Dolphins fan who lives in Georgia, speaking as calmly as possible, told me, “You don’t know how badly I want to drive to Fort Lauderdale right now and kick you in the balls.”

The calls continued: more friends, my brother-in-law, our dad, even our mom. The call from my mom was the worst. “Son, is what your brother told me true?” It is, I confessed.

Now, here’s where your mom would tell you that you should have thought of your brothers before turning down the tickets, that at the very least you could have accepted them and given them to a co-worker or your boss. But not my mom. My mom heard my answer and giggled so knowingly at my breach of All-American, NFL-genuflecting etiquette that I would have preferred Dan’s foot in my balls. When your own mom laughs at you for turning down Super Bowl tickets, you know you’ve done something wrong.

So that’s how I came to be, for at least several weeks, a pariah within my own family, an embarrassment to my friends and the loneliest contrarian on Earth. I can no longer hear the words Super Bowl, Peyton Manning or Antiquarian Berrian without thinking of that evening, when the ball was on the 30-yard line, the score was 14-6, the Indianapolis Colts were on their way to winning the championship and I didn’t know better than to keep my damn mouth shut.

Nonetheless, I sure am glad I’m not going anywhere near that game next Sunday.

Contact Jake Cline at jcline@citylinkmagazine.com.

DJ Le Spam and the Spam Allstars

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With the Pro Bowl taking place this Sunday at Sun Life Stadium and the Super Bowl landing on the venue/corporate billboard Feb. 7, football fans will have no small number of ways to express their pigskin love this week and next. Below are several Super and Pro Bowl-related events scheduled between now and Sunday. We’ll post a full list of Super Bowl parties next week.

THURSDAY, JAN. 28

Art and Jazz on the Avenue
Tonight, this semi-regular event on Atlantic Avenue in downtown Delray Beach will feature meet-and-greets with NFL stars such as Reggie Givens, Lorenzo Hampton, James Pruitt and Lionel Dalton. A celebration of South Florida football also will be held, with Florida Atlantic University football coach Howard Schnellenberger, FAU players and their owl mascot, local high school athletes, and cheerleaders from the Miami Dolphins, FAU and area high schools. 6-10 p.m. Thursday. Call 561-279-1380 or visit Downtowndelraybeach.com. Admission is free.

FRIDAY, JAN. 29

Super Art in the Park
Ketchy Shuby, Fourth Dimension, Jacob Jeffries Band and DJ Le Spam and the Spam Allstars will perform in the Super Bowl edition of this monthly concert series. Attractions will include autograph-signings, Super Bowl-themed activities and displays of sports memorabilia and art. The show will take place from 6 p.m. to midnight Friday at Fred B. Hartnett Ponce Circle Park, 2800 Ponce de Leon Blvd., in Coral Gables. Call 305-644-8888 or visit Artintheparkconcerts.com. Admission is free.

South Florida Fan Fest
This three-day event will feature a Sports Memorabilia and Card Show with 120 vendors, interactive games and activities, live music by DJ Smoove, Kristy Nicklas, DJ Epps and others, and autograph-signings by Santana Moss, Edgerrin James, Lorenzo White, Andre Rison and Marvin Jones. The festival will take place from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday at the Miami Beach Convention Center at 1901 Convention Center Drive. Call 305-556-6000 or visit Southfloridafanfest.com. Tickets cost $15 per day or $20 for a three-day pass, with proceeds going to organizations such as the United Way, City Year and Commit 2 B Fit.

Battle of the Beauties
Twenty-six NFL Pro Bowl cheerleaders will play tug-of-war, flag football and volleyball, and run an obstacle course created by local fire departments at this AFC vs. NFC competition judged, refereed and emceed by current and former NFL players. The cheerleaders also will perform dance routines, sign autographs and pose for photos with fans. The “battle” will take place from 2 to 6 p.m. Friday at Ocean Manor, 4040 Galt Ocean Drive, in Fort Lauderdale. A rooftop VIP gala will follow from 7 p.m. to midnight. Call 305-360-3732 or visit Sojoevents.com. Admission is $10 for the main event and $75 for the VIP gala.

SATURDAY, JAN. 30

Super Saturday in the Street
This six-hour extreme tailgating party will feature live music, food, NFL cheerleaders, autograph sessions with current and former NFL players and a tailgating challenge. It will begin noon Saturday between 19th and 21st avenues on Hollywood Boulevard in downtown Hollywood. Visit Downtownhollywood.com. Admission is free.

— Colleen Dougher