Tal Winder hemmed and hawed for the perfect moment, waiting weeks before finally opening his wallet and dropping $4,900 on tickets to Super Bowl LX.
And with those tickets in hand Sunday, black paint smeared across his face and the coin toss a few hours away, the Lathrop man and die-hard New England Patriots fan flashed a smile that showed no hint of buyer’s remorse.
“Having your team in your backyard,” Winder smirked, “this is something I had to do.”
With that he walked into Levi’s Stadium as — for the first time in a decade — the Bay Area played host to America’s largest sporting event, where tens of thousands of Patriot and Seahawk fans bounced in the aisles for a spectacle that was part gridiron contest and half Puerto Rican dance party.
RELATED: How Super Bowl LX unfolded at Levi’s Stadium
The return of the Super Bowl marked a milestone moment for Santa Clara and the South Bay, ten years after Levi’s Stadium last hosted the NFL’s championship game. The event capped years of investment in the venue and the region’s infrastructure — and served as a global dress rehearsal ahead of six World Cup matches scheduled at the stadium later this summer.
That the game itself unfolded as a methodical, defense-heavy affair mattered little to the crowd packed beneath a picturesque blue sky, carrying only a faint hint of the Bay Area’s winter chill.
Instead, fans reveled in the opening act of what figures to be the busiest, highest-profile sports year the Bay Area — and Santa Clara in particular — has seen in recent memory.
Decked out in a lime-green jersey and sporting green-and-blue beads, Derek Fant voiced excitement for a region that welcomed him and thousands of fellow Seahawks fans. It was a showing that left an impression, even among heated rivals of the San Francisco 49ers.
“It shows your caliber of people or community and how you can represent the NFL,” Fant said, of the impression the South Bay made on him this week.
The festive mood stood in contrast to the political tension that hovered over the Super Bowl in the days leading up to kickoff.
Concerns over a potential increase in Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity prompted protests earlier in the week. By Sunday, however, a local rapid-response network said it had not confirmed any heightened ICE presence in the South Bay — easing fears among immigration advocates as the event unfolded.
While the group Contra-ICE passed out 25,000 towels emblazoned with the phrase “ICE OUT” to Super Bowl attendees, the focus inside and around the stadium remained on the game itself.
Trump himself — who spent so much time openly deriding halftime performer Bad Bunny and his Puerto Rican heritage in the lead-up to the game — stayed to script. He continued that criticism after the show, calling the largely-Spanish language performance “disgusting” and “an affront to the Greatness of America.”
All the while, the Bay Area’s celebration for its once-in-a-decade event carried on, bathed in a sea of nautical blue, red and bright lime green.
Veronica Miranda-Pinkney of San Jose was one of the more than 100 fans of Bad Bunny who gathered across the street to try to catch a glimpse of the “King of Latin Trap.” Donning a Puerto Rican bucket hat, Miranda-Pinkney said she only recently became a fan of the singer. And as a daughter of immigrants, she said his performance “represents the people.”
“This means the world to people and I think he’s going to shine tonight,” she said. “He’s going to show that Latino people are here to stay.”
Far more came for the football.
Sporting full Founding Father outfits — complete with white powdered wigs and suit jackets that were far more fashionable in the 1700s — siblings Inoke Tonga, 35, and Siesia Tonga showed up to the Super Bowl to support their brother Khyiris Tonga, a defensive tackle for the New England Patriots. Each carried a scroll bearing messages of support.
“It might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for him,” said Inoke Tonga, of Salt Lake City. “My plan was have my brother look up at the jumbotron, and hopefully that we got on.”
Lugging a massive chain around his neck that doubled as gameday jewelry, Jason McCall arrived as a steely veteran of the nation’s largest sporting event. The North Attleboro, Massachusetts, resident celebrated his ninth trip to the Super Bowl, while taking his 19-year-old son, Dylan, for the first time.
The duo wore Patriots jerseys and hats — one a fluffy American flag design, the other shaped like a football — a nod to what McCall called “a superstition thing.”
“You want to show out,” he said. “Because there’s no hiding who we’re here for.”
Some had an extra reason to celebrate.
Scott Weber — a San Jose resident who turned 60 on Sunday, just in time for the NFL’s 60th Super Bowl — dialed up directions to wayward fans at Section 211 as an usher for the big game. He and his wife started ushering at SAP Center in downtown San Jose years ago as a way to see more sports. And when he found out Super Bowl LX was happening on his 60th birthday, he couldn’t stay away.
“It’s the best job you could have,” said Weber, a lawyer by trade.
As kickoff neared, Yesenia Fonseca, a 17-year-old senior at Andrew Hill High School in San Jose, served as one of three youth captains assisting with the coin toss for Super Bowl LX, representing Boys & Girls Clubs of America. She followed a parade of Bay Area liaisons who helped put the region’s stamp on what has become one of America’s unofficial holidays.
It began earlier in the week when Bay Area rap royalty E-40 and Too $hort helped welcome the NFL to the region at the league’s opening kickoff events. It continued with pre-game prognostications from a psychic medium at San Jose’s Winchester Mystery House and a giraffe at a Vallejo amusement park (both of whom favored Seattle).
Then, just before kickoff, Bay Area rock legends Green Day — hailing from the comparatively tiny East Bay town of Rodeo — cranked open the party ahead of kickoff, belting out four of their biggest hits, including a sendoff performance of “American Idiot.”
Vocalist-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong broke with tradition and opted not to use the forum for any political statements. Instead — in what became an allegory for much of the day’s festivities — he just belted out eight words.
“Welcome to the Bay! It’s Super Bowl 60!”
Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.
Leave a Reply