Super Bowl Fans Huddle Around TV

‘That’s how they ought to settle the arms race. Put Russia and the United States out there on the field, and let them settle it that way. It would be much cheaper than buying missiles.’ --Frank Jahn,Placentia teacher A foreign sociologist would have been intrigued at the cultural mores of Orange County on Super Sunday:

- Traffic, both on surface streets and freeways, was virtually nonexistent.

- Police reported that crime was way down.

- Amusement parks such as Knott’s Berry Farm and Disneyland, normally bustling on weekends, showed marked decreases in attendance.

- But a Fountain Valley sports emporium faced a virtual run on the bank as hundreds of last-minute shoppers flocked in for Miami or San Francisco football team memorabilia.

- And in neighborhood after neighborhood, quiet streets were punctuated by noises from people watching TV inside homes--cheers, jeers or groans, according to the fortunes at that moment of either the 49ers or the Dolphins.

Anaheim Police Sgt. John Beteag, noting that his city’s streets “were as quiet as on Christmas day,” summed up the change that had fallen over all of Orange County by mid-afternoon. “Super Bowl Sunday is a national phenomenon,” he said.

At a colorful private party on Greenleaf Street in Santa Ana, a guest cheering the 49ers in front of a TV set agreed that watching football on Super Sunday had indeed become sort of a national ritual.

“Yes, this (Super Bowl Sunday) is a kind of ritual, but it’s one I enjoy,” said Bobbi Rodrigues of Yorba Linda as she sat cheering her team.

In Buena Park, John Carpenter, operations manager for Knott’s Berry Farm, said that the TV-watching ritual resulted in reduced park attendance. Disneyland similarly reported a decrease in visitors.

“People want to be staying home, watching the game,” said Carpenter. “I’d like to be doing that myself.”

For police, Super Bowl Sunday afternoon was a time of calm.

“It’s much quieter than usual today,” said Lt. Bob Benson of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

But it was frantic at some commercial places, notably bars with big TV screens. And notably at Sports Fan-Attic, a sports memorabilia shop in Fountain Valley.

“It’s incredible, the amount of sales and fans we’ve had,” said Mark Christensen, owner of the store. “They really come in and make a big deal out of it.”

Christensen said that Orange County turned out to have more Dolphin fans than he anticipated.

By Sunday morning, he said, the store had sold virtually all of its Miami T-shirts. “. . . In fact, we don’t have any Dolphin anything left,” he said.

Just a couple of hours before the game began, throngs of 49ers and Dolphins fans descended on the shop eager to snap up Super Bowl programs and one last hat or T-shirt. Some said wistfully that they wished a Southern California team had made it to the big event.

“I’m for the 49ers,” said Scott Hardy of Fountain Valley. “But I really wish it were the Raiders,” he said as he showed off his purchases: two Raiders mugs and Super Bowl pins from Raiders games in 1977 and 1981. “I was at both those games,” he said, “and I’d be at this one too if the Raiders were playing.”

Dave Shafer and Desiree Phillips of Yorba Linda loaded up with more than $30 worth of programs, pennants, shirts and hats. The sports paraphernalia was earmarked for the 15 guests they invited to their Super Bowl party.

“Where are the Miami hats?” asked Spring Robbins of Stanton. “What, you’re all out? Oh my God, I need something with Miami on it!” she said, rummaging through some T-shirts that had fallen to the floor.

At the private party on Greenleaf in Santa Ana, the overwhelming majority of fans watching the game at the home of Frank and Carol Jahn were 49ers fans, as were the hosts.

But Marilyn Halliday of Westminster vehemently and defiantly cheered on the Dolphins. “Kill him!” she yelled to her Dolphins on the screen as a 49ers ball carrier loped down the field.

Why was she so strong for Miami? “I don’t have a reason,” she responded. “I just don’t go along with everyone else.”

Frank Jahn, a science teacher at Esperanaza High in Placentia, nursed his beer and waxed philosophical. Motioning to the screen, he told some of his guests, “That’s how they ought to settle the arms race. Put Russia and the United States out there on the field, and let them settle it that way. It would be much cheaper than buying missiles. Just get them a few football helmets . . . and what do football helmets cost, anyway?”

Some sports fans made elaborate plans Sunday to allow for free-wheeling drinking without endangering anyone.

In Anaheim, for instance, one group at the Casa Maria restaurant on Katella Way hired a limo and a tuxedoed driver.

“It’s much cheaper than a 502 (once the penal code number for drunk driving),” said Jerry Rosenberg of Fountain Valley. He, Jim Graeff of Anaheim and Maria Foust of Fountain Valley briefly left the restaurant’s bar at one point to show how the big white Lincoln limo they came in was even equipped with color TV.

“We always do something special for Super Bowl Sunday,” said Foust.

The driver, Margie Goldthwaite of Russell’s Limo Service, said she didn’t mind that she was the virtually the only one in the restaurant not able to enjoy alcoholic beverages. “These people I’m driving get to enjoy the day, and that’s great, because they don’t have to worry about driving and drinking,” she said.

Besides, she added, she did get to watch the game. “I’m for the 49ers,” Goldthwaite confided. “But my boss is for Miami.”

Seated in Casa Maria, near the limo-traveling group, was a loudly cheering circle of 49ers fans including an ex-Floridian, Bob Sullivan.

Sullivan, now of Brea, explained why he chose not to cheer for a team from his native state: “I’ve been converted.”

An unscientific analysis of the cheers in the rollicking bar at Casa Maria seemed to indicate a preponderance of 49ers fans.

But the restaurant’s general manager, Ray Garcia, diplomatically told a reporter that team support inside his packed bar was “about 50-50” for the two competing teams.

Who was he cheering for? “Oh, the 49ers,” said Garcia. “Because it’s the home team--California, you know.”

Then, a brief, sad look on his face, Garcia motioned to Anaheim Stadium, just across Katella from his restaurant.

“I wish it could have been the Rams playing there today instead,” he said.