Sport Report

by Phil Johnson

Motto: The real game is the game you are in.

Text: “Bodily exercise profiteth little.”— Paul of Tarsus

Super Bowl Bash VI

Residents of Minnesota have survived the World Series and the Super Bowl, and we are gathering our niceness for the NCAA Final Four. I didn’t score high enough on the Minnesota Niceness Test for an assignment to meet important persons at the airport. I did have a friendly exchange on the streets of downtown Saint Paul with a Floridian Super Bowl visitor who was originally from Boston. He is still a Celtics and Red Sox fan. Ted Williams, Bill Russell, and Larry Bird are people we discussed with loyalty and admiration.

Other than this chance event, it looked like I would have as little personal contact with the Super Bowl as someone in, say, Vashon, Washington. Probably less. Then, lo and behold, I received ten tickets to the Leigh Steinberg and Jeffrey Moorad Super Bowl Bash VI at Mark Rosen’s Bar & Grill in downtown Minneapolis.

Though I had heard the names of Steinberg and Moorad, they were not registered in my consciousness (an increasingly suspect faculty of mine) or discoverable in my unconscious without significant prompting.

The name of Mark Rosen, a very capable and popular local sport reporter is securely fixed in my mind. As it turns out, Steinberg and Moorad (I was given a T-shirt and mug with their names on it to aid my memory) are sports agents of significance. Among their clients, for example, are Joe Montana and Warren Moon.

Because the pay is pretty good these days, I fantasized offering my services to a needy team to which these gentlemen could direct me. But when I introduced myself to Mr. Steinberg, he made no move to talk contract. The truth is that Bob Bach, North Park’s Mr. Outside (1957-1960) and present North Park Board member, mailed the tickets to me. He had them to give because of his outstanding daughter Mindy who worked for Steinberg & Moorad for a couple years. When I mentioned her name, Mr. Steinberg said, “Mindy Bach! We were delighted to have her!”

The food and drink were excellent. Other guests told me that I had missed Warren Moon but I did see Boomer Esiason and a lot of impressive physiques.

I’m afraid I will miss future Super Bowl Bashes. Mindy now works for American Christian Trust Studies in Israel. Maybe I can get a free trip to Israel, though.