This year a small bunch of us went to the Fiesta Casino near the airport to watch the SuperBowl. The last couple of years we went to Diane's house in Cariari, but for some reason, we switched venues this year. I started going to the Fiesta a couple of years ago to watch some season football games and met a few guys who were regulars there. One of them, Christopher Howard, the #1 authority on retiring and moving to Costa Rica, said he'd reserve a big table for his and my friends for Sunday's big game.
Since my team, the New England Patriots, weren't contenders, I threw my hat in for the next best team, the New Orleans Saints. Actually, I just wanted any team other than the Indianapolis Colts to win. There's something about the Manning dynasty - one year Peyton, another year Eli, another year Peyton - that rubs me the wrong way. Plus, the Colts pair up against the Patriots during the season and are the hardest team to beat.
The Saints were the underdogs this year, well, at least that's how the betting was going until the middle of last week, when a lot of people must have plunked down a lot of money to make them the favorites. The Saints had never been to the SuperBowl before Sunday. Thus, I bet on the Saints.
It was so much fun! Diane, Sam, Carl, Carolyn and I sat together. Laurie, Allan and some others sat at a different table. Not sure why. Some of Chris's friends spilled over into the seats across from us, and we got to know them. There were big-screen TVs all over the room, and one was directly in front of me. The picture was crisp with brilliant colors. The nachos were a little cold, but the pizza was good. As was the Imperial beer.
Diane had made up a football card, and I bought two squares. Sam and I pulled numbers randomly from a deck of cards to set up the rows and columns. I won the second quarter bet, which made me $11 richer.
There was a table of three young guys near me, one wearing a Patriots shirt, so I went over to talk to him. He was tico, which surprised me, since most ticos don't know the rules of American football. He, too, was rooting for the Saints.
At halftime, we unglued a big SuperBowl balloon from the table and started tossing it around the room. What fun!
It was a very good and close game, until the fourth quarter, when the Saints pulled out way ahead. The final score was 31-17 in favor of the Saints. Yay - my team won!
To make it even better, I won this year's bet with Shell. He and I bet every year on the SuperBowl. Whichever team I don't want to win is the team that he bets on. The last two years I had to pay him. This year he finally owes me. Our bets are small, only mil colones, or about $1.75.
So all in all, a good time was had by all.
Our table
Picking numbers for the football card
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