{"id":385268,"date":"2023-02-14T06:06:35","date_gmt":"2023-02-13T20:06:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=385268"},"modified":"2023-02-14T06:06:35","modified_gmt":"2023-02-13T20:06:35","slug":"super-bowl-monday-didnt-disappoint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/super-bowl-monday-didnt-disappoint\/","title":{"rendered":"Super Bowl Monday didn\u2019t disappoint"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Former CNMI national baseball player and current national golf coach Ned Norita, right, won a barbecue grill at the Super Bowl LVII watch party at the Hyatt Regency Saipan yesterday. Also in the photo is MARPAC resident manager Guy Pudney, left, and watch party host Brad Ruszala. (MARK RABAGO)
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All roads led to Super Bowl watch parties on Saipan yesterday as the island\u2019s gridiron fanatics had their full\u2014literally and figuratively\u2014of Super Bowl LVII featuring the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles.<\/p>\n

Over at the Hyatt Regency Saipan, Marketing and Communications manager Bea O\u2019Malley said the watch party drew a total of 112 fans, which was much more than their advertised 80 capacity for the event.\u00a0
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MARPAC Beverage and Tobacco manager James Lee, top right, poses with his staff at the Super Bowl LVII watch party at the Pacific Islands Club Saipan. (MARK RABAGO)
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\u201cWe are happy to share this event with all the football enthusiasts on Saipan. The day worldwide right now is the same\u2014Super Bowl!\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Brad Ruszala, the host of the Hyatt Super Bowl watch party who even wore Jim Kelly\u2019s No. 11 jersey during the event, said the over-capacity crowd at the Garapan landmark was simply electric.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crowd was great! Their enthusiasm was on par or better than any crowd I\u2019ve seen for Super Monday. I feel bad for the Eagles fans who lost out on their celebration but they\u2019ve got nothing to be sad about because their team was outstanding.\u201d
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<\/a>
Philadelphia Eagles fans R.J. and Werlly don their team\u2019s colors during Super Bowl Monday at the Saipan World Resort\u2019s Sunflower Room. (LEIGH GASES)
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And talking about the Eagles\u2019 38-35 loss that could be controversial or not, depending on what team you\u2019re rooting for, Ruszala shared his own perspective on the gutsy defensive holding penalty call.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think it was controversial, at all. I think the only thing that made it look suspect was the Fox coverage that paused the play the second time the receiver was held. The first time was much more damning,\u201d he said.\u00a0
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A group of friends rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles watch the Super Bowl LVII in the Mari Bar at the Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan on Super Bowl Monday. (LEIGH GASES)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

Over at the Pacific Islands Club Saipan, banquet manager Ann Zapanta said about 40 of the most diehard Chiefs and Eagles fans enjoyed the game at Charlie\u2019s Cabaret.<\/p>\n

She said it may not have been the largest crowd the San Antonio hotel hosted for a Super Bowl watch party, but what they lacked in number they more than made up for by cheering loudly for their favorite teams.<\/p>\n

PIC Saipan SEA manager Reymark Castro agreed with Zapata\u2019s assessment and then some.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a fan, I could not really focus much on the crowd energy. All I know is that I have witnessed a super close, intense battle between two champions. That got me speechless. There is no reason to even speak about anything with that close of a game in that big of a moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Castro also gave two thumbs up to PIC\u2019s superb chefs who whipped out one of the finest Super Bowl watch party fare this side of the Western Pacific.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell you what\u2019s the other reason why I am not screaming, it\u2019s because of those big stuffed burgers in my mouth\u2014OMG! So many surprises with this Super Bowl game, the halftime show was surprising, the intense close game was surprising, the turnaround that Patrick Mahomes did to get his team home even with his injury was surprising. The only thing that was not surprising was the comfort in watching, the food selections and the event prizes given away. That is always a guarantee from PIC and MARPAC. Today was a good day for football fans,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

At the more centrally located venue of Saipan World Resort, the Sunflower Room was filled to the brim with gridiron fans as they also overflowed into the adjacent Oasis Lounge with another giant screen setup.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Majority of Super Bowl Monday goers were Eagles fans sporting their teams\u2019 colors, but there were a few rooting for the Chiefs as well. However, it was a friendly atmosphere as fans watched with their family and friends\u2014some of whom played hooky from work and shied from the camera and blended in with the shadows of the dimly lit room.<\/p>\n

This was a Monday with no blues as alcohol sponsored by MARPAC riled everyone up with each touchdown-\u2013the fans clamoring for more booze and more football. For $25 a ticket, it included a free Budweiser drink and for more drinks, their bucket of five cans was just $15.<\/p>\n

It was clear from the crowd that the Eagles had more fans, as one said they will win because they will fly high above the head of the Chiefs and out of their grasp. But the young buck Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes had a few fans himself as a couple enjoying the show from the quieter Oasis Lounge said that he will bring the Chiefs the championship once again.<\/p>\n

Mike Babauta, Saipan World Resort Sales and Marketing director, said that their annual Super Bowl show is back and better than ever for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, with over $1,000 worth of raffle prizes, along with World Resort room stays and buffets, and MARPAC products.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Babauta, a football and San Francisco 49ers fan himself, said that he is rooting for the Chiefs to win because they lost to the Eagles, but that \u201cit is what it is.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over at Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan\u2019s Mari Bar, it had a more intimate atmosphere with cushy lounge chairs and four giant flat screen TV\u2019s on the bar\u2019s walls.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Football fans, most of whom were Eagles fans, took the time to enjoy some football, socialize, and guzzle on the delicious beverages and wolf down the freshly prepared breakfast and lunch menu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All roads led to Super Bowl watch parties on Saipan yesterday as the island\u2019s gridiron…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":385262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-385268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}