Supporters headed to Indianapolis earlier this week, some still waiting to score tickets
New England Patriots fan Ulises Galeano, of Indianapolis, walks though Super Bowl Village in Indianapolis, Friday. The New England Patriots are scheduled to face the New York Giants in NFL football's Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday.Tom Cardone wanted a bird in the hand, or in this case, a Super Bowl ticket.
Greg Bell was willing to take his chances.
They were among Western Massachusetts fans who made the trip to Indianapolis for Sunday night’s game between the New England Patriots and New York Giants.
Cardone and his wife, Denise, were among Patriots fans who went on the Internet, minutes after New England’s 23-20 win over Baltimore in the AFC Championship Game.
Bell reached the big game without a ticket. The attorney from Ludlow is a lifelong Giants fan.
“I have been to the three Super Bowls the Giants have won,” said Bell, a Ludlow High baseball star in the 1970s. “I missed the one they lost (to Baltimore in 2011). I had to come out for this one.”
In 1987 at Pasadena, Calif., and again in 1991 at Tampa, Fla., Bell went to the Super Bowl with tickets in hand.
In the years prior to the 2008 Super Bowl, he did several “dry runs,” as he called them, to see if that was necessary.
“I called around to brokers when I had no intention of going. It was always cheaper as the game approached, a difference from even three days earlier.”
Tom A. Cardone and Denise M. Cardone of Springfield stand with their "Touch Down Lounge" New England Patriots fan vehicle outside one of their favorite team's games the last time the Patriots were in the Super Bowly. The Cardones, long time season ticket holders for the Patriots, were unable to purchase Super Bowl tickets in 2008.For the 2008 game, Bell purchased a ticket on the morning of the game.
He is unworried about coming up empty, or being forced to pay a price he finds unreasonable, just to justify the trip.
Cardone’s contingent wanted more assurance than that.
“We’ve been season ticket holders since 1993. We always have a tailgate party at Foxborough, with anywhere from 20 to 40 people,” the Springfield resident and Cathedral High School graduate said.
“Right after the AFC title game (on Jan. 22), we went back to the parking lot and got on the Internet for tickets.
“We thought the best thing was to pay for them. It was a good financial decision.”
The tickets cost “in excess of $2,300 each,” Cardone said. He has had no second thoughts.
Cardone’s roots with the Patriots run deep. He married his wife on a Saturday in 1986, and then went to a game in Foxborough the next day.
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“The honeymoon began on Monday,” said Cardone, a sales manager for an aerospace company in Bloomfield, Conn.
“I spend a lot of time in Indianapolis on business. There is a lot going on here, and I’ll know where to go, but it’s a question of whether we’ll get in.
“We know we’ll get into the game, though.”
Cardone first bought season tickets in 1983. When he and his wife began a family, they dropped the tickets in 1990 but picked them up again in ‘93.
This is Denise Cardone’s first Super Bowl and her husband’s third. They did not attend the 2008 Patriots-Giants game.
Cardone said that was for reasons of “money and (ticket) availability.
“That game was in Phoenix. That’s a long way to go without a ticket,” he said.
The Cardones flew into Columbus, Ohio, and rented a mini-van for the drive to Indianapolis.
“Flights to Indy were very expensive. We also figured it would be crazy there,” he said.
The traveling party includes Holyoke High School graduate John Skelton, who lives in the Boston area and is attending his sixth Super Bowl, and his daughter, Kristen.
It also includes Tim Madigan, who lives on Martha’s Vineyard and takes a boat to all the home games, and Tim Mullins, a member of the tailgate party.
Like many fans, Bell refers to past Super Bowls not by years, but by numbers. This year’s game is the 46th since the Super Bowl was inaugurated in 1967.
“I was there for 21 and 25, and got there for 42. The Giants won all three,” Bell said.
“I missed the one they lost (No. 35 in 2001). I figured I’ve got to go this year, and maybe bring them luck.”