SAN DIEGO HOST SUPER BOWL XXII : It Was All Happening at the Zoo, But Other Spots Were a Bit Slow

Late last week, Tricia Rutherford got this great idea.

While her husband and the rest of the world went ape over Super Bowl Sunday, Rutherford would pack up the kids and head for the zoo. What better time to get a glimpse of the popular giant pandas from China than during pro football’s premier event, she figured.

Apparently, a lot of other people figured the same thing.

When Rutherford, a friend and their five children arrived at the zoo before kickoff time Sunday, they found a jam-packed parking lot and a teeming crowd queuing up to see the soon-to-depart pandas.

Wart Hogs Over Pigskins

“We’re not exactly football fans, and we thought for sure the zoo would be empty today,” Rutherford said, pausing wearily on a bench as her kids studied a snoring East African wart hog. “Obviously, we were wrong.”

Indeed. Zoo employees reported that, despite all of the hoopla and hype accompanying San Diego’s being host of the Super Bowl, the pandas--along with their numerous fuzzy and feathered brethren--were still a big draw Sunday.

“I’m surprised,” one security officer mused, referring to the 16,296 zoo-goers roaming the grounds and snapping up panda paraphernalia. “There’s only one Super Bowl a year, and yet all these people decided to pass it up for us.”

Other San Diego attractions, however, were not similarly blessed.

At Sea World, attendance was 3,296--less than half of what it was on the same Sunday last year (which was not a Super Sunday). Balboa Park’s array of normally bustling museums were all but deserted, and many of the area’s shopping malls looked like ghost towns.

“It was a terrible day,” said a spokeswoman for the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center. “We usually sell out our afternoon shows, which hold about 300 people, but the biggest crowd we had today was 60. I guess football was on everyone’s mind.”

Recreational facilities were sparsely used as well. There were but a few souls in tennis togs on the Morley Field courts at last check early in the second quarter, and Torrey Pines Municipal Golf Course--where a three-hour wait can greet an eager duffer on a typical weekend day--was virtually uninhabited at midday.

Torrey Pines Was ‘Dead’

“It was absolutely dead from about 11:30 on,” said Annelise Pettersen, an assistant golf pro. “That’s a first. Very unusual.”

From Horton Plaza to the Museum of Photographic Arts, those who did opt to pass up football for some other activity generally said they had ventured out in hopes of avoiding a crowd.

“I got a nice bonus on Friday, so I thought I’d come downtown and spend it while everyone else was watching the game,” legal administrator Leslie Gray said as she perused the frilly wares at Victoria’s Secret in Horton Plaza.

Jim Pope, a Navy cook stationed aboard the destroyer John Young, was hunting for a good mystery at Brentano’s, awaiting the start at a nearby movie theater of “Three Men and a Baby” when he was asked why football wasn’t on his agenda.

“Football? Doesn’t interest me a bit,” said Pope, whose sporting allegiances rest instead with the San Diego Sockers. “All my buddies are watching it, but I really couldn’t care less. The one thing I may do is go out later and watch all the fans of the team that lost. That’s always fun.”

Black miniskirts were on 14-year-old Stephanie Morgan’s mind as Denver kicker Rich Karlis launched Super Bowl XXII with his opening kickoff.

‘Shopping Is the Major Sport’

“Shopping is really the major sport of the country, and we didn’t want to miss a weekend,” said Morgan, accompanied on a tour of Nordstrom’s junior department by fellow ninth-grader Jennifer Sobel. “We’ll hit The Limited after this. Then we’ll just base (make fun of people behind their backs) and scam on guys.”

Across town, Joann Ehley said she decided to pass up an invitation to a Super Bowl party to catch the San Diego Museum of Art’s exhibit of 100 years of works by women. Hildette Rubenstein made a similar choice, opting to wander through the museum while her husband enjoyed folk dancing elsewhere in the park.

“We’re not big on football, and we can always watch the game later on the VCR,” Rubenstein said.

Back at the zoo, locals who had counted on a light crowd lamented the big turnout and long wait for viewing the pandas, which leave San Diego next Monday.

“We thought this would be the perfect time to see them, but so far the line’s just too long,” said Debbie Morebello, pausing with her son Adam and his friend Ryan near the blue wildebeest enclosure. “I guess we’ll have to try again.”