In January of 1998, San Diego hosted Super Bowl XXXII. I submitted an application to be a volunteer. I waited for someone to call me, but no one ever did. I got a letter from the volunteer committee that stated that they had tried to contact me, but weren't getting a response. The letter also indicated that I needed to go through disability sensitivity training in order to be a volunteer. I called the phone number on the letter and left a message on their voice mail stating that no one had tried to call me and if they did, they weren't leaving messages.
(So, I guess that everyone who volunteers for the Super Bowl, including myself, gets the idea that they're going to get into the game for free. The first round of volunteers is contacted and their job is to call to recruit the other volunteers who have signed up. But that first group of volunteers wants to ensure that they get into the game, so they claim to make calls, but state they can't get a hold of anybody. This means they get to sign up for those prime positions.)
I called the other number in the letter to set up the training session. At the session, they had those of us who hadn't received assignments sign up for slots to be filled. What they had was working the NFL Experience. It's a kind of temporary NFL theme park set up at the stadium. I worked the Punt, Pass and Kick attraction. I helped to catch and return the footballs that were punted, passed and kicked. I was worn out by the end of the day. We were asked if we wanted to volunteer for another day, but I'd had enough. I did get a free T-shirt out of it.
Anyway, the organizers were supposed to throw a big party for all the volunteers as thanks. It was scheduled to occur a couple of weeks after the game. However, things fell through and there was no party. And I guess there was a lot of volunteers griping about the way they had been treated when they were trying to help out the city. (It wasn't just the party. Apparently, everyone had the same issues I had in trying to volunteer.) The Padres owners decided to step in and offered all the volunteers a free ticket to the home opener on April 7th, 1998 to help make up for the party that was canceled. The volunteers were also invited to take part in a pre-game presentation on the field. I had been sent a ticket and was looking forward to it.
However, I got my hernia and the Padres home opener was the day after my operation had been scheduled. I wasn't going to get to go. Since Mom and Dend were going to be there to help me recover, I asked Dend if he wanted to use my ticket. Mom said she also wanted to go to the game. There were arrangements for volunteers to buy extra tickets. I just had to go to the box office, give them my original ticket and offer to buy another ticket for $5 and they would give me two seats together. So Mom and Dend got to take part in an extra activity while they were visiting me.
The night before the game, I was recovering. Mom asked me what I wanted to eat for dinner. I told her I wanted pizza and that Dend could get Little Caesar's from the Kmart just down Texas Ave. at the bottom of the hill. He went out, got it and came back. I ate a few slices. However, my stomach was still sensitive from the surgery and I wound up throwing it all up. I felt bad. (But I did not vomit again for the rest of my recovery.)
The next day, Mom and Dend went to the Padres game. One of the extra perks with the volunteer ticket was that it was supposed to come with a voucher for a free hot dog and soda. Dend had the voucher, but couldn't use it at just any concession stand. There was a special stand set up for this and all the volunteers were there at the same time trying to get their free hot dogs and sodas. He had to wait a long time for that. He wasn't too happy and felt it wasn't worth the wait. And if he felt that way, that meant the volunteers probably felt that way. They got screwed over again.
I was able to stay by myself at home with no problems. I listened to the game on the radio. The Padres won 3 - 2 over the Cincinnati Reds in 10 innings. Just as I heard the game end, Mom and Dend came back. They had left a little early so they wouldn't have to deal with the crowd leaving the stadium and waiting for the light rail. They didn't regret missing the end of the game.
The rest of my recovery went well. Mom and Dend went back home and I was able to get back to work. I guess I was starting to feel a lot better since I mostly remember their experience with the game and very little of the suffering I had to endure during that time.
1998 happened to be the year that the Padres won the Division and went to the World Series. Mom and Dend enjoyed knowing they had attended the home opener of the team that got to play in the finals.
Tomorrow: The final word on this whole hernia experience.
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