The Super Bowl is Being Hosted Where I Live: So Fu*king What!

How are local and nearby residents affected by Super Bowl 2022?

I’m writing and publishing this story on Sunday, February 12, 2022, at 9:45am PST. That’s just hours away from kickoff time.

I live in Los Angeles, and only 20 or 30 minutes away from the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, the location of Super Bowl 2022.

I’m writing this story, as a bit of a brag, but also a rant, because people don’t often think about how the locals are affected by these type of huge events.

Yes, the Super Bowl is being hosted where I live, but so fu*king what?

Okay, first comes the ranting part…

No fan of football

By the time most readers see this story, the day will no doubt have come and gone, the game will be over, and the main topic will be old news.

But this story is not about the Super Bowl, or who wins or loses. It’s not even about the latest act of discrimination on the part of the NFL, against former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores.

Instead, this is a non-football story, and it’s just a personal observation about what happens to neighborhoods, when huge events — with worldwide interest — are held in their cities.

Let me state for the record, I’m not a football fan, and if I were, I don’t know that I’d be a Rams fan (in spite of my favorite Rams house shoes in the image above).

One of my close neighbors is a huge 49ers fan, so if I were to choose a team, I’d go with them. I could hang out with her a lot more, and get into watching the games on a regular basis.

So, I don’t like football, and as far as I know, I don’t personally benefit from having the Super Bowl hosted in my city. That’s why I’m irritated by all the noise about it.

Honking horns, yelling fans, and that’s just the beginning of the madness.

From L.A. to Inglewood, and everywhere in between. Things are a lot more hectic than usual.

FYI: If anyone out there is thinking Inglewood is not my city, because I live in Los Angeles, that’s not how it works out here. Inglewood is part of Los Angeles County, just like lots of other lesser known cities out here. The city of Los Angeles is where I live (L.A.).

I’m close enough and familiar enough, to not see any lines of demarcation between the cities, although they exist.

So when it comes to bragging rights about hosting the Super Bowl, I’ll damn well claim Inglewood if I want to.

Being as I’m not a fan of football, the only thing I’ve been noticing about the closer we get to game time, is the amount of police cars I’ve seen and heard, racing down the streets at all hours of the damn night!

The intersection I live at is a busy and dangerous one that I’ve written about in more than one story. When heading either southbound or westbound, both cross streets provide a direct route to Inglewood.

It’s an absolute fact that I heard a hell of a lot more police cruisers and first responder vehicles last night, headed in both those directions. Can I blame that on the Super Bowl? Maybe, maybe not.

The same can be said with all the loud noises waking me during the night, that were either gunshot celebrations, gunshot confrontations, or just some awfully loud firecrackers.

These things might just be speculation on my part, but as for the numerous street closures, bus detours, and other traffic related issues around this event; those are very real.

The same is true for all the planned security that was put in place to cover the event. One local paper (Los Angeles WAVE) described it this way:

“A big assist from the Los Angeles Police Department. The low-key presence of the FBI. A takeover of the Inglewood Senior Center.”

They went on to say, besides the help from the L.A.P.D:

“Hawthorne, Torrence and other neighboring suburbs are assisting Inglewood Police with security details and traffic controls near SoFi and surrounding areas.

Hmm. Great. Just what the citizens of Inglewood need. Yeah right. If you know anything about Inglewood, you know that cops, FBI, and black residents are not a good mix. But hell, we’ll see what happens.

I get it. Of course, I get it. I understand the need for preparation and precaution, and everything else, but that doesn’t mean it’s not irritating as hell, especially when you don’t really care about the event.

Thanks to what’s going on and the cities popularity right now, I cancelled my plans to drive anywhere this weekend.

I also tried to rent a hotel room, and have a little getaway, like I enjoy doing sometimes. One room was TRIPLE the regular weekend price.

Needless to say, I chose to stay at home.

Tourists and tourist traps

Everywhere you go in this city right now is pretty much a tourist trap, or at least if it’s anywhere near the stadium.

I can only image what the street vendors and hustlers are doing over there, but I know they’re making a killing. I’m sure they’re selling everything from tee shirts and caps, to food, drinks, and parking spaces.

Yep! That’s how we do it.

While it’s great that the money is definitely flowing into the locality, but there’s one thing that won’t be so great, the day after. I suspect the city will be a mess, and I doubt if the cleanup will come as quickly as the fans did.

Many of those diehard fans who actually paid hundreds and thousands of dollars for tickets can be real slobs.

I’m not just talking out the side of my neck; I know how it goes in these types of tourist traps, where people come from all over to “celebrate”.

The more money they have to pay for the experience, the more entitled they feel. I witnessed this crap first-hand, several years ago, when I lived in Las Vegas Nevada.

In Las Vegas, I lived a block away from Sahara and Las Vegas Blvd; a very popular and busy intersection in Sin City.

I can’t count the number of times that I walked down a side street, from my apartment to the Strip, or vice versa, and damn near stepped in vomit!

Sometimes they don’t even bother to make it to a discreet area off the Strip! And oh yes, let us not forget about the used condoms that were hastily disposed of. Yuk!

That’s what people do in a tourist city where they’re so excited to cut loose and celebrate, they feel like anything goes.

In some ways, I suspect more harm than good may come from this event.

Hopefully, by the time people read this story, the aftermath of the Super Bowl will prove me wrong, but I doubt it.

What about COVID

If the above situation wasn’t cause enough to make you re-think the whole Super Bowl experience, consider this question: “What about COVID? Have we subconsciously decided that it no longer exists, so we can do what we damn well please?

Maybe not, but that seems to be the message by tempting fate, and attending an event with thousands of people — masked or unmasked, I’m not really sure.

Even if they are masked, isn’t that still pushing it? I’m not judging, I’m just curious. It’s hard for me to grasp that football could mean that much to someone.

If it’s a matter of getting out of the house and wanting to spend time with people in a jovial mood, I get it.

But being around excited, drunk, screaming, spitting and frothing at the mouth fans is really a bit much.

I won’t bother to go into all the public statements about the precautions being taken at the game, with regard to COVID. After my recent bout with Omicron, I don’t care what kind of precautions they take.

Whatever they do is not enough to catch me sitting in a stadium seat — if I cared about football, or could afford a ticket.

Final Thoughts

The SoFi Stadium is brand new, so to host this type of event at such an early stage is a real accomplishment.

I’m not blind to what the stadium means for locals, and what benefits it brings to the residents of Inglewood. I wrote a story about it last summer.

I’m happy that people in the world have something to turn to to bring them all together in a common way. Sports seems to do that, and yes, that’s a good thing.

But I also think it’s important to keep things in perspective, and consider more than just the game.

Whether we’re talking about how sporting events affect local residents, or the subject of ongoing discrimination that minority athletes have to deal with. It’s always about more than just a football game.

HEY READERS:

Not a Medium Member yet? Join now with my referral link: https://justissgoode.medium.com/membership and I’ll earn a few bucks when you do. COOL HUH?

That’s right, plus I can HELP YOU START EARNING MONEY TOO! Thousands of writers on Medium got started just like you — with nothing more than a DESIRE to write. So what are you waiting for? Join us 😄