Posted on: Sunday, January 21, 2007
Super Bowl city is a kick even if you don't like football
By Matt Sedensky
Associated Press
MIAMI — When 75,000 fans pack into Dolphin Stadium on Feb. 4 for Super Bowl XLI, when the coin is finally tossed and that ball is first kicked, this city will become, temporarily at least, the football capital of the world.
But no matter how many millions of homes the game is beamed into, Miami is like a runway model wearing an oversized football jersey hanging to her knees. This city can't hide its seductive, playful, sleepless nature behind pigskin and turf.
Those here for the game will be greeted by the sandy coastline and pulsating clubs that have long been synonymous with this tropical playground, but also a lively arts scene, distinct neighborhoods and surprisingly serene escapes.
As game day nears, the opportunities for a visitor are as diverse as this city that is both sleek and gritty, authentic and artificial, boisterous and serene.
Football: Game festivities kick off Jan. 29 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, with Hootie & the Blowfish performing. Dozens of other events are scattered throughout game week, too, including Super Saturday Blast on Biscayne, a free pep rally at Bicentennial Park in Miami on Feb. 3 that is capped by fireworks.
Families: An interactive football theme park, The NFL Experience, will be open in the Dolphin Stadium parking lot Saturday and Jan. 28 and Feb. 1-3, www.superbowl.com/features/nfl-experience. Among other things, the NFL Experience offers visitors the chance to test their play-by-play broadcasting skills, experience a drive to the end zone while harnessed to a bungee and test their passing accuracy using special targets. Meanwhile, the Miami Children's Museum is offering its own football program, giving kids a chance to learn referees' signals, dress up in football gear and try to kick a field goal; 980 MacArthur Causeway.
Arts: The city's profile in the art world has grown exponentially since Art Basel, the decades-old Swiss festival, established an American outpost on Miami Beach five years ago. You're too late for the December event, but art lovers will find numerous other options, including the spectacular exhibit of glassblower Dale Chihuly's work at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, www.fairchildgarden.org. Thousands of pieces of the artist's work hang from trees, rise from the ground and float on water; they're particularly impressive if you visit at night, though the Fairchild stays open late only on Thursdays.
Elsewhere, Lorna Simpson's collection of photographic and video works closes at the Miami Art Museum, 101 W. Flagler St., on Super Bowl Sunday; and "The Syringa Tree," a tale of growing up in apartheid-era South Africa, closes at the Rose & Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center in Fort Lauderdale — www.miniacipac.com — a day earlier.
Music: From Fergie to the Florida Grand Opera, musicians are packing in for concerts surrounding the game. Dolphin Stadium will play host to the "Pepsi Smash Super Bowl Bash" on Feb. 1, with Kanye West and John Legend among the performers. The sounds of Caribbean and Latin-American music will be featured in "Nations in Rhythm" in Dania Beach on Saturday. Steve March Torme and the Hungarian Symphony Orchestra will be in West Palm Beach on Jan. 30; "The Super Bowl Gospel Celebration" is in Miami on Saturday; and Willie Nelson takes the stage at the glittering new Carnival Center for the Performing Arts in Miami on Jan. 31.
The beach: Special events abound on Miami Beach during Super Bowl week. On Feb. 3, 350 top fashion models from around the world face off in Volleypalooza, a volleyball tournament billed as the "sexiest sporting event of the year." Clubs will likely be packed as game day nears, including Penthouse Magazine's Going Deep party at Mansion, 136 Collins Ave., on Feb. 3 with Snoop Dogg performing. And in yet another "what it feels like to be in the NFL" type event, Ocean Drive between Fifth and 15th streets will close to vehicle traffic to create the Motorola Mile. Visitors can take a walk through exhibits highlighting Super Bowl milestones and step onto an interactive football field that allows a chance to perform an end-zone dance. All that said, visitors would be remiss to omit a day at the beach, as they would to leave without a nod to Cuban culture or Art Deco architecture.
The flavors: Joe's Stone Crab restaurant, 11 Washington Ave., is a South Beach institution, and locals say it's worth the long wait for tables for the crab specialty. In Little Havana, you can dine at another Miami icon, the Versailles Restaurant, 3555 SW Eighth St. While you're in the neighborhood, listen to the tiles clatter during games in Domino Park or watch workers roll cigars at the El Credito factory, 1106 SW Eighth St.
The unexpected: For all the chaos the Super Bowl will unleash on South Florida, visitors will likely still be able to enjoy quiet escapes. A nighttime walk from South Pointe, along the South Beach shoreline, is inescapably serene. The Holocaust Memorial is a moving, typically hushed spot that allows a guest to stand beside statues of the tortured, panicked and heartbroken (1933 Meridian Ave.). And Espanola Way on South Beach feels like a lower-key Mediterranean oasis for dinner or drinks.
Back in Miami, visitors will notice massive construction — including dozens of new hotels, the AmericanAirlines Arena and the Carnival Center — that has gone up since the last time the Super Bowl stopped here, seven years ago. And countless cranes giving way to still more high-rises promise that the city will transform itself again before the big game returns in 2010.
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