Countdown to Super Bowl XLVI - Indy have fun - Ingles

Let's just enjoy it.

For one week, let's accept the craziness and embrace the spectacle. Let's soak in the wild scene and the jolt of energy and glitz that will envelop Indianapolis as our midmarket town becomes the epicenter of sports and pop culture, and as we briefly become a city that never sleeps.

Yes, traffic may become a headache to rival the worst migraine, and intense security could make life Downtown a challenge. Getting a dinner reservation will be as hard as deciphering one of Jim Irsay's tweets.

And, yes, we in the local news media will be in a frantic Super Bowl overdrive as New Yorkers and Bostonians, and likely a few Kardashians and even more Jersey Shorians, overrun the Circle City.

The next seven days around here truly will be all Super Bowl, all the time.

Then it will be over, leaving us with memories of Ice Cube strolling through Broad Ripple or Madonna rushing into a club Downtown. And while another Super Bowl in Indy is possible, getting a second big game would appear to be even more unlikely than us getting this one.

You know the drill: These games by nature are meant to be played in Miami and New Orleans, near oceans and famed party zones, not in the chilly air of bundled-up Indianapolis.

So relax and enjoy the game while it's here -- even during those temporary moments of inconvenience.

I make this plea after hearing complaints from those who spout things such as: "I'm sick of hearing about the Super Bowl." "Why can't the city get this excited about fixing schools?" "Why don't we focus this much on how the city looks all the time?" "Locals can't afford to go, anyway." "I hate Bill Belichick."

I understand the complaints. (I really understand that last one.) But there's something to be said for sitting back and enjoying life for a while. If nothing else, this week's festivities will give us the type of midwinter distraction that every other city in the country would love to have. It also might help take our minds off the political madness over at the Statehouse.

One of the things I love most about Indianapolis is that it is large enough to attract big events but small enough to have its vibe completely altered even by midsized events. I love the unique feel of Downtown, for instance, when the Gen Con gamers take over the city or when 2,500 firefighters descend upon it. Relatively small union protests or tea party rallies can transform the Mile Square into a political hotbed. Final Fours, Big Ten tournaments and, of course, the Indy 500 turn the city into sports central.

But we've never seen anything like this.

Not to go all TMZ on you, but celebrities who would be the stars of the show at the Indy 500 wouldn't get past the bouncers at some of this week's big parties. Then, of course, there will be the unique sights: Downtown zip lines, the spectacular Super Bowl Village and probably the best people-watching opportunities this city has ever seen.

Some of the more curmudgeonly Hoosiers among us are intent on noting that all of the city's problems will remain after Jimmy Fallon and Alec Baldwin leave. Yep, they will. Just as they would have without a Super Bowl. Expecting more is expecting too much.

I've been a critic of outsized public spending on professional sports stadiums and what it says about our priorities. And I'd trade this Super Bowl for a city full of super schools without blinking.

But it's not as simple as either/or. There's no doubt about the benefits that sports bring to this city, and the benefits of this particular game are obvious. The Eastside legacy project and the economic boost for local businesses are but two examples. Perhaps most important is the reminder that it sends to the city about the benefits of thinking big. This city has become what it is -- and it's something to be proud of -- after decades of thinking bigger than our weight class.

As I wrote this column at a Starbucks in Butler-Tarkington, a woman sitting next to me spoke to a friend about the excitement about to hit the city. She spoke of plans to go to the NFL Experience and said her grandson was looking forward to taking part in the festivities.

The woman, Patti Ryg, lives near Atlanta but was in town to visit her family. She and her husband have fallen for the city and plan to move here within a few years. She likes the city's ability to think big.

"It's so fun to be here right now with everything that is going on Downtown," she said. "If the vision they have put out there for the Super Bowl (week) is what really transpires, and I think it will, it's just going to be amazing."

The spectacle that's about to take over Indianapolis won't solve our problems and, yes, there will be headaches in the coming days. But this will be a week unlike any the city has ever seen. Do yourself a favor. Enjoy it.

(source Indianapolis Star)