THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF SECURITY CHECKS
MINNEAPOLIS— Some six hours before kickoff, it only took 19 minutes for members of the media to get from a drop off point to the inside of U.S. Bank Stadium.
That’s nothing, considering how tight security was at most high traffic areas in these parts all week.
Pulling up to a restaurant on the other side of the Mall one night, two men dressed in camouflage and masks covering half their faces — oh, and carrying large guns — approached the vehicle.
They looked like terrorists. Turns out they were friendly cops.
The restaurant was also attached to the Eagles hotel. If you weren’t on the team’s list, you weren’t getting in. No muss, no fuss.
Of course, no systems are perfect, either. A photographer was on press row four hours before Sunday’s game, and when I pointed out his stuff was piled up at my spot, he gave it the old “yeah, yeah ... just hold on,” and went back to a conversation with the Las Vegas writer on the other side.
“Strange guy,” Vegas writer said later. “He told me that he was told to just come up here, and if he saw an empty seat to take it.”
An empty seat? In the press box at the Super Bowl?
That would be a first.
A couple of minutes after he left, we noticed the “photographer” had eaten the box lunch that was left for the person in the spot next to us. And a couple of minutes after that, we noticed a few of the Super Bowl programs left at each spot were missing.
Did anybody see dude’s credentials? Suddenly, we could understand how somebody was able to walk away with Tom Brady’s jersey after last year’s Super Bowl.