Many Catch Super Bowl Fever; Others Just Bored

The “players” representing Miami and San Francisco squared off Sunday in a mighty test of physical dexterity and stamina. Although the contest lasted only about four seconds, the Miami participant scored a wet but decisive victory over his opponent.

The event, at the El Gato restaurant in Van Nuys, was a “chug-a-lug” contest, part of the festivities at numerous public and private Super Bowl parties around the Valley where football fans gathered in the company of friends and strangers.

The celebrations ranged from the boisterous and rowdy affair at El Gato, where 600 Miami Dolphin and San Francisco 49er boosters cheered and drank while watching the game on a 20-foot-high video screen, to a relatively sedate gathering in Saugus that marked a reunion of the 1949 kindergarten class from St. Francis de Sales School in Sherman Oaks.

‘Together After 36 Years’

“I mean, where else can you find a class of kindergarten students who still get together after 36 years to watch a football game?” asked Suzanne Kiecle, 40, as she clutched a soft drink while surrounded by 10 of her former classmates just before the start of the game.

The reunion, at the Saugus home of Sales alumnus Steve Cook, was attended by a core group of friends who had managed to keep in touch with one another since graduating from 12th grade at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks.

Each year, members of the group, all from California, try to contact the other 23 members of the kindergarten class who are living in other parts of the country and the world. At least 10 former classmates have made the reunion a Super Bowl tradition for the past five years.

“We have the reunion around the Super Bowl because we know when that’s going to be every year, and we’re all football fans,” said Dick Yeakel, 41, a Chatsworth insurance agent. “It just seemed like a natural thing to try, since about three of us stay in close touch with each other, and it just kept growing and growing.

Time to Reminisce

“We try to get all the memories out of the way before the kickoff,” Yeakel said. “After that, all we talk about is the game.”

But Kiecle, a voice teacher in Studio City, still found time for reminiscing. “A few of these guys are ex-boyfriends from way, way back,” she said with a laugh. “Dick used to be my dance partner in grade school.”

The intensity of noise and cheering was much heavier at the El Gato restaurant, which set up chairs and tables in a large disco at the rear of the restaurant.

“The 49ers are No. 1 because they’re from California and California is bitchen!” Lydia Fowler, 21, screamed as San Francisco scored a first-half touchdown. Fowler had been in front of the restaurant with several friends a half-hour before it opened, and had handily won one of the afternoon’s chug-a-lug competitions between 49er and Dolphin boosters.

But not all Valley residents were caught up in Super Bowl fever, and some made it a point to get away from the television set.

Right about kickoff time Sunday, Elmer Ehlers was poising himself at the foot of Lane 7 at Canoga Park Bowl, just as he has every Sunday for eight years.

“I wouldn’t watch the Super Bowl for nothing,” the 62-year-old Simi Valley man said after knocking down nine pins. “It’s boring in front of the TV set all afternoon.”

‘Rather Be Bowling’

“I’d rather be bowling anytime,” said Ehlers’ buddy, Cedars Dennis, 54, of Northridge. “I’ll find out later who wins. What’s the big deal?”

For others, game time signaled a dash to the local shopping mall, where plenty of parking spaces could be found.

“We figured we would be better off shopping--no crowds, no traffic,” said Audrey Blinn, 37, who was at Topanga Plaza with Art Novac.

Novac conceded with a grin, however, that he was taping the game on his home video recorder. “I can fast forward through all the commercials,” he said. “Why be like the rest of them in front of the TV all afternoon? I’ll watch the game when I want.”

Dave and Polly Pistole of Simi Valley, who took the afternoon to buy a bottle of men’s cologne and browse through a table of used books, said Super Bowl XIX was just another football game.

No Excitement

“Now, if the Dallas Cowboys were playing it would be different,” said Polly Pistole, who is from Dallas. “This isn’t much to get excited over.”

“I can’t believe all the craziness,” Dave Pistole said. “I was in Palo Alto on business last weekend and I had to sign an agreement at the hotel that I would check out of the room by noon Friday or the rate would go up to $1,000 a night.”

Throughout the afternoon, golfers dotted the range of Van Nuys Golf Course, content the game had drawn many fellow golfers off the green and in front of the screen.

“I’ve gone through so much football in my life--I played it, my boys played it, I’ve watched it, my boys watch it--I’ve had it up to here with the whole thing,” Ray Steele, 54, of Van Nuys said as he practiced on a putting green.

“I had to get out of the house this afternoon,” he said with a laugh. “My wife is the one sitting at home watching the game.”