HOUSTON - Memo to Patriots fans: Houston has you covered.
Thousands of football-hungry fans from Boston and beyond willdescend upon the Bayou City starting late today and tomorrow forSuper Bowl XXXVIII. But only a select few possess tickets to Sunday'sbig game. How, then, to satiate the masses who will take in thePatriots-Panthers face-off from a barstool?
Fear not. New Englanders with or without the coveted tickets canfind something to do within Houston's 633 square miles, as thenation's fourth most populous city welcomes an estimated 100,000tourists. They might even find something resembling the comforts ofhome, from the traffic to the trendy shopping to the . . . well, notthe weather. (Temperatures this week are forecast to be in the 60s,with nary a snowflake in sight. Sorry.)
First things first: A bar outside downtown Houston has alreadyestablished itself as headquarters for Patriots fans, plasteringbanners and pennants outside and flying the Patriots' flag. TheTavern on Gray expects hundreds of Pats fans to belly up to its 187-foot-long bar, which owner Charlie Watkins contends is the longest inthe Lone Star State.
Watkins is a seventh-generation Texan whose forebears fought inthe Battle of San Jacinto. (That was the battle that the Texan armywon in 1836 after being crushed by Mexican forces at the Alamo.) Heis coy about his football loyalties, although he rooted for thePatriots during the playoffs. But he professes admiration for oneteam: Boston sports fans.
'The Patriots bring Boston fans down here, which is a fun, funfootball group,' said Watkins, 47. 'I feel Houston is very, veryfortunate to have Patriots fans, because they're a big, loyal fanbase coming into Houston. And that makes it much, much better tocheer the Patriots on.'
Watkins transformed his bar into a Patriots fan den afterreceiving a telephone call from Brad Darr, a Pats follower who owns abar in the French Quarter of New Orleans. During New England's SuperBowl appearance in the Big Easy two years ago, Darr remade his taverninto Patriots central, and he plans to unleash the same hoopla atWatkins's place.
Darr is not a man who fools around. He and up to 45 Patriots fansflying in from New England will pack two recreational vehicles anddrive to Houston tomorrow morning, heading straight for Watkins'sbar. On Saturday night, they plan a voodoo ceremony with anunsuspecting stuffed panther.
'We've got some pins we're going to be sticking into the pantherto get the crowd riled up,' said Darr, 35. 'After sticking some pinsin, the last thing we do is cut the head off. That's what we did witha ram the last Super Bowl.'
The Patriots, you recall, won that game against the St. Louis Rams20-17.
New England fans can also celebrate at a free downtown streetparty called The Main Event beginning tonight and lasting throughSuper Bowl Sunday. In addition, the NFL Experience at the George R.Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston will let children andadults test their throwing, blocking, kicking, and other pigskinskills.
A word to the wise: Do not expect downtown Houston to lookanything like Faneuil Hall-Quincy Market. Large swaths of thebusiness district are essentially empty canyons amid the skyscrapers,devoid of life after quitting time.
But parts of downtown have come to life. With $4 billion in publicand private money pumped into the area since 1995, new apartments,restaurants, and clubs are enlivening the streets of the financialdistrict.
Driving in Houston is all but unavoidable, and that meansnavigating Houston's freeways. Highways in Houston expand to as manyas 14 lanes, seemingly delighting motorists who weave in and out oflanes because, well, they can. Aaron Katersky, a Scituate native whotraverses the city as a reporter for Houston's leading news radiostation, KTRH-AM, sees it daily.
'Boston drivers are obnoxious; Houston drivers are oblivious,'said Katersky, 28. 'It's one Texan in one big truck thinking he ownsthe road, and he's not trying to be mean, just sort of meandering,changing lanes at will. So you end up with these people who are allover the road in these enormous vehicles.'
