FORT LAUDERDALE — Robert Ward and Troy Scott may have been pulling for different teams to win Sunday’s Super Bowl.
Regardless of the game’s outcome, there was one thing upon which both agreed: They were elated at the chance to watch it live on television in the United States.
Last year, Ward, Scott and 540 other Navy crewman aboard the USS Bainbridge found themselves spending Super Bowl Sunday bound for Israel in the Mediterranean Sea.
This year, fresh from a training stop at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after a mission in the Persian Gulf, Ward and Scott, both operations specialists, occupied barstools in front of a giant TV screen with 60 of their fellow crewmen at the Penalty Box, 2701 N. Federal Highway, watching the Washington Redskins defeat the Denver Broncos 42-10.
“It feels great!” said Ward, 19, of the chance to spend a few days in Fort Lauderdale and take in the Super Bowl. “If we were under way, we couldn’t see it because the TV is scheduled. They have reruns and other programs already scheduled, so they stick to that and they wouldn’t put it on.”
Ward, from Norfolk, Va., was somber after the Broncos opened a 10-0 lead in the first quarter, and was rooting for a Redskin victory.
Scott, 21, springing to his feet and waving his arms with every favorable turn for the Denver Broncos, said he was rooting for his birthplace.
For Steven Gerardi, 25, a semi-pro hockey player from Toronto, a trip to Fort Lauderdale was a way to escape Canada’s “rain and slush.”
“I came to watch Denver kick their butts,” Gerardi said. “I had a game Thursday, and after that we jumped on the redeye and came down to watch the game. We’ve been going to the beach every day, drinking, partying. It’s been fun.”
A matchup of NFL and Canadian Football League teams might prove as interesting as the Super Bowl, Gerardi said.
“If they played by CFL rules, they’d win,” Gerardi said. “The field is longer and wider. You have two downs to make 10 yards, so it’s wide open. It’s more of an athletic game. Here, it’s just big guys crunching each other.”
Loyalties to opposing teams created friction between other friends watching the game as on-field excitement spilled over into the Penalty Box.
Todd Grengus, 24, of New York City, rocketed a full cup of beer onto his friend, Jorge Rodriguez, 27, of Hialeah, when he pounded a table in frustration at the Redskins’ early misfortunes.
“I love it; I’m rooting for the Broncos. Let’s have a different team,” Rodriguez shouted, unfazed by the dousing.
“No, I hate the Broncos,” Grengus countered. “I’m a big Giants fan. The Redskins are going to kick their butts. They’re too big.”
At Roland’s, 2948 N. Federal Highway, stockbroker Raymond Asmar said he thought the game had far greater significance than simply deciding a National Football League champion.
Asmar, 31, of Pompano Beach, said a win by the Redskins, the National Football Conference champion, would help the economy.
“When the NFC team wins the Super Bowl, the stock market’s gone up 90 percent of the time,” Asmar said. The stock market went up on Thursday and Friday about 50 points, which leads me to believe that the money was right for betting on the Redskins. Plus the stock market needs all the help it can get.”
