by Douglas Yeo (February 9, 2025)

It’s that time of year again. The National Football League’s Super Bowl will kick off in a few hours. Millions of people around the world will be watching, whether on television, through a streaming service, or the internet. Even people who are not football fans will be watching. The game is just that big, such a big part of life for so many people. Whether your team is playing (mine isn’t. . .) or not, whether you tune in just to watch the commercials or the halftime show, my guess is most readers of these words will be watching or have watched Super Bowl LIX – Super Bowl 59.

The Super Bowl is one of those unique events—like a World Cup soccer final, or a college football championship final—that is bigger than life. When I was young and living in Valley Stream, New York (just a few miles across the border of Queens, New York City, where I spent the first few years of my life), I remember watching Super Bowl III in January 1969. I was in eighth grade, but I remember the thrill of watching the game (on our family’s black and white television) and seeing our team, the New York Jets win. It was thrilling. I wish I still had my Joe Namath rookie football card. Yup, I had one. But after the Super Bowl III, I took that card and did what all of my friends and I did with all of our football and baseball cards: We got a clothespin and attached them to the back frame of our bicycles to make a fluttering sound. Seriously. I just looked: a Joe Namath rookie football card in near mint/mint condition is selling on eBay right now. For $48,500. I’ll pass. (No pun intended.)

Over the years, I’ve attended three Super Bowls. Each one of them are indelibly imprinted in my memory, historical events in my life that I’ll never forget.

Panoramic photos of Super Bowls XXXVI (New England Patriots vs. St. Louis Rams), XLIX (New England Patriots vs. Seattle Seahawks), and LIV (Kansas City Chiefs vs. San Francisco 49ers).

SUPER BOWL XXXVI – February 3, 20020

I was a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1985-2012. In December 2001, we began to hear rumors that the Boston Pops Orchestra—which IS the Boston Symphony Orchestra minus most of the principal players in the BSO—would be playing in the pregame show at Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans on February 3, 2002. The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks turned the world upside down, and the next Super Bowl after the attacks was scheduled to be played in New Orleans, with a typical Mardi Gras type theme. 9/11 changed that and the theme of the game was switched to a patriotic theme.

Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, was on the NFL’s Super Bowl entertainment committee and he suggested that the Boston Pops—”America’s Orchestra”—be involved in the game. That got set many weeks before any of us in Boston knew that the New England Patriots would actually be playing in the game. 

I told the story of how that all happened in a long article on my website: The New England Patriots and the Boston Pops: A Super Bowl XXXVI Diary, January/February 2002. You can read that article HERE.

Tom Rolfs, Douglas Yeo, and Ronald Barron at Super Bowl XXXVI

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft gave each member of the orchestra a ticket for the game. Amazing. I sat between two great friends, BSO trumpet player Tom Rolfs (he is now principal trumpet in the orchestra) and Principal trombonist Ronald Barron. 

My view from the end zone at Super Bowl XXXVI.

We were seated in an end zone; little did we know that we would watch the winning field goal come off Patriots’ kicker Adam Vinatieri’s foot and come right to us. Unforgettable.

A framed box of Super Bowl XXXVI highlights.

SUPER BOWL XLIX – February 1, 2015

I retired from the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2012 and when we moved to Arizona, my wife and I became season ticket holders for Arizona Cardinals (and Arizona State University—where I was trombone professor) football. That said, we still followed the Patriots; after all, one does not give up a nearly 30 year fandom overnight. In 2015, the Patriots were in the Super Bowl again, and Super Bowl XLIX was held at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, the home of the Arizona Cardinals. Just a 30 minute drive from our home.

Naturally we wanted to go to the game but ticket prices were out of this world. But then, the most unexpected thing happened. A friend in Boston, whose family had many season ticket seats to Patriots football, called and said that their family had two extra tickets. Would I like them? WOULD I LIKE THEM?!?!? YES! This was a remarkable gift, one I could not wholly accept without paying something. My friend didn’t want money for the tickets, but she said her family had supported an Christian ministry in Haiti for many years and if we wanted to make a donation to that group of selfless workers who served the poor, that would be great. So I sent a donation to the ministry and my wife and I went to the game. 

Douglas and Patricia Yeo outside University of Phoenix Stadium before Super Bowl XLIX

Our seats were five rows from the field, right on a goal line. It was WILD to be in the stadium—where we had seen so many Arizona Cardinals football games—and don our old Patriots gear for another game for the first time in several years.

At our seats for Super Bowl XLIX

I had never sat so close to the field for the game and I confess I never thought such a view right next to the end zone would be that interesting. But it was! At one point in the game, Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski caught a touchdown at the other side of the end zone. A week later, a photo of that touchdown that showed Pat and me across the end zone appeared in Sports Illustrated.

Rob Gronkowski catching a touchdown at Super Bowl XLIX. Douglas and Patricia Yeo are circled in red, across the end zone. I’m wearing a white baseball hat and Pat is next to me, on my left.

This was a wild, back and forth game. And at the end, the Patriots won in a stunning way, when Malcolm Butler intercepted Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson at the goal line. I wrote about my experience at Super Bowl XLIX and how I apply a very important lesson that was in evidence at the end of that game to my trombone playing and teaching in an article on TheLastTrombone. The article is titled: Stay disciplined: a lesson from Super Bowl XLIX. You can read that article HERE.

Patricia and Douglas Yeo celebrating the end of Super Bowl XLIX.

SUPER BOWL LIV – February 2, 2020

After Super Bowl XLIX in Arizona, the thought of attending another Super Bowl never entered my mind. I had been to two. Another one? I never really thought about it. But I DID go to another Super Bowl. And that is quite a story in itself.

Pat and I moved from Arizona to the Chicago area in 2018 in order to live closer to our grandchildren. One of the first things we did was get Chicago Bears season tickets. New town, new team.

Douglas and Patricia Yeo at Soldier Field, Chicago, September 8, 2024.

In 2019, the Chicago Bears ran a contest. The winner would receive an all-expenses paid trip to Super Bowl LIV in Miami, Florida. The contest was this: Write an essay of 100 words or less on the subject, “Who would you take to the Super Bowl and why?” I wrote an essay about my son-in-law, Chad, who is a hospice chaplain. My essay was exactly 100 words. And I won the contest. Unbelievable.

Douglas Yeo and Chad Leonard on the field at Super Bowl LIV.

Two fans from each of the NFL’s32 teams were given this remarkable experience. Each team decided how to award the two tickets allowed to them. The Bears had a contest. Some teams sent their “fan of the year.” Others had a random drawing. Going to Miami, staying at the Biltmore Hotel, going to the NFL Experience, NFL Honors, and Super Bols LIV was a truly remarkable experience, made all the better because we were with super fans from all teams.

Fans from all 32 NFL teams at the 2020 Super Bowl LIV fan experience. (AP Photo/Steve Luciano)

Once again, I found myself seated in the end zone at a Super Bowl, just like I had been at Super Bowl XXXVI. Chicago Bears Chairman George McCaskey came up to say hello to Chad and me and we watched a memorable game as the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers. We witnessed the beginning of the Kansas City Chief’s NFL dynasty as they won their first Super Bowl since they won Super Bowl IV in 1970.

Douglas Yeo, Chicago Bears Chairman George McCaskey, and Chad Leonard at Super Bowl LIV.

I wrote several posts on TheLastTrombone about this remarkable experience. You can read my article, 100 Words – Super Bowl LIV which tells the story of the contest and has my winning essay HERE. And you can read my long article about the whole experience at Super Bowl LIV, Super Bowl LIV – an exceptional fan experience thanks to the Chicago Bears and the NFL, HERE.

Today, when I’m watching Super Bowl LIV with Pat and our oldest daughter, Linda, her husband, Chad, and our two grandchildren, all of these live-in-person memories of past Super Bowls will be in my mind. The Super Bowl. It’s a special experience every year. Here’s hoping we’ll see a great game later today.

UPDATE: The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 in Super Bowl LIV. Congratulations to the Eagles. And now we’re on to next season. But first, baseball! Go Cubs, Go!