ENTERTAIMENT : Frenzy Just for Fans : Huge tents on Rose Bowl grounds are home to 30 attractions offered as part of the Super Bowl extravaganza.

Back in the 1970s, the San Francisco 49ers had yet to embark on their historic string of Super Bowl victories. They were, in plain words, a bad team. But on summer afternoons, schoolchildren and die-hard fans would line the fence around training camp to peek at their favorite players practicing.

I was one of those devoted. In fact, among my fond childhood memories is a weekend when the team was away for a game in Buffalo. My friend and I hopped that fence. Breaking into a storage locker, we rummaged through discarded pads and sweat shirts. It stunk in there. We thought we were in heaven.

Well, the National Football League--never hesitant to market its game--has devised a more sanitary, and spectacular, way to steal such thrills. It’s called the NFL Experience, and it amounts to a Disneyland for football fans. Just substitute Joe Montana for Mickey Mouse.

This amusement park stands, through Sunday, on the grounds of this year’s Super Bowl at the Rose Bowl. Huge tents cover 700,000 square feet and house 30 attractions. There’s a trading card show and theater that offers highlight films, but that’s just the start of it:

* Through the magic of editing, fans can make videotapes of themselves catching a pass from Warren Moon during a game. There are also booths where you can pose wearing your favorite team’s uniform and have a trading card made, complete with statistics on the back.

* The Measure Up to the Pros tent features plastic body parts of famous players. Compare your hand to Jim Kelly’s. Match body weight with William (The Refrigerator) Perry. Or slip your entire torso inside the cast of a linebacker’s thigh.

* An outdoor section offers the opportunity to sweat. At the NFL’s Fastest Man, you can sprint 40 yards in a futile attempt to beat the times of the NFL’s fastest players. At the Extra Point Kick, boot one through regulation uprights. Or throw for accuracy at the Quarterback Challenge. The Fair Catch may provide the biggest challenge, and the greatest chance for humiliation. A machine “punts” the ball 40 yards and you try to catch it.

* A portable version of the Hall of Fame features artifacts dating back to football’s Stone Age, or roughly the 1890s. All of the expected helmets, trophies and jerseys are displayed. My favorites were a strap-on nose protector from the pre-helmet days and, of course, the championship rings from the 49ers’ four Super Bowl wins.

The NFL stumbled on the idea for this football frenzy two years ago when it erected a mock town square outside the Super Bowl at Tampa Stadium. Various booths sold food and merchandise. There was a card show. The event went over so well that the idea was expanded at last year’s game in Minneapolis.

“We said, ‘As football fans, what would we like to see and do if we had the chance?’ ” Don Garber of the league’s marketing office recalled.

More than 80,000 fans streamed through the grounds of the Minnesota attraction. This year, the NFL Experience is three times larger, and officials are hoping for more than 100,000 visitors.

“We know a lot of local fans don’t have the opportunity to go to the game,” Garber said. “Our goal is to give them a chance to participate in the Super Bowl in another way.”

Perhaps the greatest difference between this and other amusement parks is that, once you pay the admission, virtually everything is free, including the video and the trading card. More than 100 NFL players will attend the card show to sign autographs, also for free.

But fanatics beware: A sporting goods store has set up a tent as big as a warehouse to sell jerseys, jackets and hats. It is the kind of place where the true booster could put himself in debt for generations to come.

Proceeds from the gate will be donated to more than half a dozen charities in Los Angeles and Pasadena.

Where and When What: The NFL Experience at the Rose Bowl, Pasadena. Hours: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. through Saturday. Open Super Bowl Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. kickoff and following the game. Price: $10 for adults, $5 children 12 and under. Advance tickets are $7.50 and $5. Call: For advance sales, Ticketmaster, (213) 480-3232.