So, what happens to all of the championship merchandise printed for the team that doesn’t win the big game? That’s where Good360, a non-profit based in Virginia, steps in. The organization’s CMO, Shari Rudolph, explained its partnership with the NFL to give those shirts, sweatshirts and hats to countries outside the U.S. that need clothing. Rudolph also talked about working with MLB for its World Series and the production differences between the two leagues.
Archives For super bowl
It was my first weekend without work or travel in over a month, however it was not a weekend without responsibility… or rather, “responsibility.”
My buddy Danny, one of my best friends from Pennsylvania, came in to town for his annual birthday celebration (his actual birthday was the previous Tuesday). What this weekend usually amounts to is three straight days of debauchery. This year wasn’t quite the 5 am-a-night marathon of prior years… at least for three straight nights. Danny had work early Monday.
But all bets were off Friday and Saturday. We met up with my friend Ryan at a private club downtown Friday night where we hung out until last call, then dialed up the venerable West Village dive WXOU Bar for a night cap, followed by a trip to my bodega for sandwiches and wings.
Saturday started with an excellent brunch at Westville’s Financial District location and continued with a few more Bloody Marys at Beckett’s while I screamed at the TV over the Syracuse game (they lost).
After a quick reset at my apartment, we grabbed dinner at Village Yokocho, an awesome Japanese restaurant in the East Village that also contains a speakeasy. From there we ordered a round at Tompkins Square Bar (there was a line at Niagara!) and then met friends at Rockwood Music Hall Stage 1. The live set wrapped at 2 am so we walked back to Avenue A and one of my favorite watering holes, Kelly’s, for some late night wings and Blue Lights. Night cap? You bet; it happened up the street at Sophie’s. Danny was craving pizza, so we made that happen at Little Italy Pizza, which is open 24 hours.
My almost-vegan Buffalo "Chicken" Dip. #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/541zvOpffX
— Ralphie Aversa (@ralphieaversa) February 4, 2018
Now Sunday started a little differently; I Uber-ed round-trip to Whole Foods to buy the ingredients for my vegan Buffalo Chicken Dip, which I then promptly cooked before hitting the road. We had tickets for the noon Knicks game (they are awful), watching it at The Garden with a round of double-shot Bloody Marys (they are fantastic).
We bar-hopped a little, with a stop at my old neighborhood standby, The Dead Poet, before hailing an Uber to Ryan’s place so we could watch the Big Game and I could tweet out gems like this.
And with that, Eli Manning won his third #SuperBowl against Tom Brady.
— Ralphie Aversa (@ralphieaversa) February 5, 2018
After the game, none of us could turn away from the live streams of the celebrations (or, rioting) in Philadelphia. Finally at about 1:20 am, we called it and returned downtown.
Philly scanner: "10,000 people coming down Walnut Street." #SuperBowl #DillyDilly
— Ralphie Aversa (@ralphieaversa) February 5, 2018
After all, it was Monday. Danny had work in the morning.
Harry Styles just dropped his new single, a throwback that recalls British artists of yesteryear entitled “Sign Of The Times.” He’ll perform it next weekend on “Saturday Night Live.”
I jokingly asked Michael Che, the SNL star who co-anchors the “Weekend Update” desk, if he is receiving any extra ticket requests due to the One Directioner’s forthcoming appearance.
“Well I’ll be honest with you, most of my family are African-American, so they’re not huge Harry Styles fans believe it or not,” the comedian quipped back. “There might be some!
“Nobody’s hit me up yet. It’s not like Drake!”
Che walked the red carpet at The Garden Of Laughs comedy show benefiting Madison Square Garden’s Garden Of Dreams Foundation. He thought it was important to support ‘SNL’ cast-mate Leslie Jones along with some of his other friends, like Chris Rock and Tracy Morgan.
“Typically on a Tuesday we would be in the middle of writing and we wouldn’t come up for air until Wednesday, sometime in the daytime,” Che explained of the typical schedule during a show week. “SNL” had last week off; it returns this weekend with host Louis C.K. and musical guests The Chainsmokers. Jimmy Fallon takes over hosting duties next Saturday, when Styles is set to perform.
As for Che, he will tour behind his Netflix special “Michael Che Matters” this June, with the trek’s first stop in Boston. Some New Englanders weren’t exactly thrilled earlier this year when during a “Weekend Tonight” segment about the Super Bowl, the comedian referred to Boston as “the most racist city I’ve ever been to.”
“You know what’s so funny? I have so much fun in Boston as far as performing shows,” Che told me. “I love performing in Boston.”
Just two weeks ago he headlined a show at Boston University and according to the Boston Globe, refused to apologize for his remarks because, “I’m just trying to be more presidential.”
Ironically, you could call that a sign of the times too.
Electro-pop band Parade Of Lights stopped by 95.5 to chat about the success of “Golden,” the album Feeling Electric, and the band’s ties to Big Time Rush and Metro Station.
Marc Scibilia stopped by “Ralphie Tonight” to talk about his forthcoming, Butch Walker-produced album Out Of Style, his tour with James Bay and much more. The Nashville-native grew up, like me, in Western New York. So of course, there was a bit of reminiscing and catching-up to do (Marc and I have known each other for a while).
It is shaping up to be a big 2015 for the singer/songwriter. Earlier this year, his cover of the classic “This Land Is Your Land,” ended up on Jeep’s Super Bowl commercial. Outside of the Halftime Show, it was the most “Shazaamed” moment of the night. Scibilia’s debut LP drops this summer. Check out our chat and a video of Marc performing the first single, “How Bad We Need Each Other” below.
Even before landing on late night television, The Roots were one of the busiest bands in showbiz. Formed by emcee Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter and drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson in 1987, the Philadelphia-based crew toured the globe extensively before landing at 30 Rock alongside Jimmy Fallon in March of 2009.
But regardless how road-tested you are, few could move through the schedule that the band held over the past three weeks and not feel at least a little worse for wear. First, The Roots traveled to Phoenix for “The Tonight Show” post-Super Bowl. Then they flew farther west for Fallon’s “LA Week” of shows.
“I’m tired,” Questlove said, pretty matter-of-factly, when I caught up with him the Thursday before The GRAMMYs at a party he was DJ-ing at in Hollywood. “I love the great weather but I can’t wait to get back to New York, to my regular New York routine.”
Still, it was far from all gloom for Thompson.
“(The west coast has) been great. People have been receiving us well,” he continued. “(We’ve had) some of the highest ratings we’ve had and the biggest trending topics we’ve ever done…it’s been awesome. I can’t wait for next year.”
The Roots’ resurrected its pre-GRAMMYs jam with a weeklong jam session, and Questlove backed Ed Sheeran’s John Mayer-assisted performance of “Thinking Out Loud” at Sunday night’s award show. Then the band returned to New York for a week of shows and events leading up to last weekend’s NBA All-Star Game, which was held at Madison Square Garden.
“We’re holding up as well as can be expected,” Trotter told me on Saturday, before The Roots played GQ’s All-Star Party. The emcee was in attendance at an event for a new partnership between Dwyane Wade’s “Wade’s World” and the Sandals Foundation called, “Game Changer.” “It was rough, the two weeks we were out on the west coast, just because we didn’t sleep much.”
However echoing Quest’s sentiments, Tariq felt a sense of accomplishment leaving Los Angeles, successfully completing the run on “The Tonight Show” in LA while bringing the band’s GRAMMY tradition back to life.
“It was definitely a homecoming for ‘The Tonight Show,’” said Trotter. “It was a homecoming for me. I lived in LA for quite a few years and I just love it out there. The only thing that could make it better would be the decision to pick the show up and move back to the west coast, especially during a time like now when the weather is so depressing here on the east coast.”
And that’s coming from someone who is not only well-traveled, but from Philadelphia.
If people were bewildered when the lights went out at Super Bowl XLVII inside the Mercedes Benz Superdome – what will happen next year, when the big game is held outside at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium?
“That won’t be too much fun, I’ll tell you that,” said New York Giants Wide Receiver Victor Cruz on the prospects of inclement weather. The G-Man spoke with “The Ralphie Show” a few weeks ago at the Cartoon Network “Hall of Game Awards.” “Either way it’s going to make for a great game, and everyone’s going to talk about it.”
Cruz confirmed that there will definitely be an extra buzz inside the Giants locker room next year knowing that the Super Bowl will be hosted in the team’s stadium.
“We’re excited for it man,” he continued. “We’re excited to potentially be the first team of the host city to play in the game.”
The Wide Receiver attended this year’s game in New Orleans. His first thought when half of the building went dark?
“I was thinking, ‘I gotta get out of here,’” Cruz said. “I knew it was going to come back on but I had to catch a flight.”
Cruz enters this season as a restricted free agent. The Giants have until Tuesday to sign him to a long-term deal. If another team offers Cruz a deal that New York chooses not to match, the G-Men will receive a first round draft pick from that team.
Super Bowl XLVIII will be played in MetLife Stadium on February 2, 2014.
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Sunday’s Big Game is historically known to yield equally big calorie intakes for Americans across the country. John Rickards, a registered dietitian based in Philadelphia, shared a plethora of ways and ideas that you could enjoy some of your favorite foods without the Monday quarterback second guessing.
– Implement a game plan: perhaps only eat during halftime or a certain part of the game.
– Eat thin crust pizza to cut down carbs and/or add vegetables to the pizza for extra nutritional value.
– Skip the wings and use Buffalo wing sauce to flavor grilled chicken breasts.
– Light beer can save you 50-70 calories over regular beer.
– Eat snacks that keep you active, such as pistachios or peanuts still in the shell.
– Avoid layered dips for guacamole (high nutritional value) or salsa (low in calories).
TMZ’s Nicki Fertile reports that like most of us, E*TRADE also does not see any merit in Lindsay Lohan’s lawsuit over the E*TRADE Super Bowl commercial – in which Lohan claims E*TRADE poked fun at her with a “milkaholic baby” named Lindsay.
Catch Nicki on TMZ TV, local listings here.
