Celebrities step out for Super-size events
HOUSTON -- Inside Reliant Stadium yesterday, where they finally closed the roof and played a football game (perhaps you heard), the adjective "super" finally applied to something more than NFL hype, Lone Star style. The stadium began filling with Pats and Panthers fans hours before kickoff. AC/DC metal rock blasted over the loudspeakers, ticket holders got their faces painted with Pats or Cats, and the magaritas flowed liberally at the lounge-level bars on both sides of the arena. Magicians conjured. Mariachi bands serenaded the faithful from both camps. A city that tried valiantly all week to overcome negative stereotyping put its best snakeskin boot forward, to dazzling effect. Somewhere along luxury-suite row sat Pats owner Robert Kraft with his family, but without the usual coterie of VIP pals that flock to the Kraft box in Gillette Stadium. "It's a small suite, and we wanted to keep it reserved for just family this time," said son Jonathan Kraft, the team's vice-chairman.
CELEBS ABOUND The weekend's gigantic group lap dance -- an estimated 300,000 revelers jammed the streets of downtown Houston Saturday night -- ended with a slew of celebrity-studded parties awash in bulging biceps and plunging necklines. The Playboy party at the Corinthian club featured a Heaven & Hell theme and drew VIPs Paris and Nikki Hilton, Shannon Elizabeth, Run DMC, Duran Duran, Patrick Ewing, and Cal Ripken along with numerous naughtily dressed mag centerfolds. The Sports Illustrated bash at Houston City Hall, meanwhile, celebrated 40 years of swimsuit issues with a bevy of supermodels (Bridget Hall, Petra Nemcova) plus rapper LL Cool J, Bill O'Reilly of Fox News, NFL stud Jerry Rice, and dozens more high-wattage types. And agent Leigh Steinberg's annual SB soiree at the Aquarium lured boxer-pitchman George Foreman (sans grill), Bruce Smith, ex-NFLers Troy Aikman and Warren Moon, and more marine life than "Finding Nemo."
FRIENDS OF THE FAMILY Pats owner Bob Kraft hosted a party for some of his Boston buddies Saturday at the oh-so-swank La Colombe D'or in Houston. Making an appearance were Governor Mitt Romney, Mayor Tom Menino, NStar chairman Tom May, Fidelity exec Bob Reynolds, Gillette CEO Jim Kilts, Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton, the Boys and Girls Clubs' Linda Whitlock, and New York Giants co-owner Bob Tisch, who's chairman of Loews Corp. Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone also stopped by with his daughter, Shari Redstone, president of the Dedham-based National Amusements Inc. A football fanatic, Shari Redstone has said she'd like to own the Pats someday. "OK, I admit that is my dream," she told BusinessWeek in 2000. "Football is my greatest passion in the world. But it doesn't make good business sense. I'd have to figure out a way for it to make sense. But when I walk through the locker room before a game -- that is heaven!"
BREW HA! HA! A Fox Sports Net/Sam Adams afternoon beer blast at Brian O'Neill's Irish Pub, benefitting the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston, drew hundreds more, including the Pats cheerleading squad (hawking their "Making of the Swimsuit Calendar" DVD), boxer Johnny Ruiz, and brewmeister Jim Koch. Cheerleader Jeri Colbert, a Harvard Law student, revealed that the rah-rah gals dined with their Carolina counterparts on Friday, comparing uniform colors and sideline routines. "Our coach tried to prepare us," said Colbert, "but we've been going nonstop from 5:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. I guess I'll sleep when it's over." Koch held game tickets for himself and two children but no passes to any platinum parties, explaining that company policy forbids the CEO from taking freebies unavailable to employees. (Do Boston politicos know about this? And would they care if they did?) Quipped Koch, "I wanted to party where you didn't have to be a corporate big shot to get in. So I threw one myself."
BOOMTOWN Not that they needed much help, but New England fans primed themselves for yesterday's big game at a pair of Patscentric parties Saturday. WEEI-AM threw a live-broadcast bash that raised $60,000 for CBS analyst Boomer Esiason's cystic fibrosis foundation (Esiason's son Gunner suffers from CF.) Among the 1,200 attending: Governor Mitt Romney, Emmy winner and BU grad Michael Chiklis, Harvard Pilgrim head Charlie Baker, and comedian Jimmy Fallon. Esiason said he was overwhelmed by the turnout, calling it "a great testament to New England" and its football team.
TIPS FROM TIP Before serving in Congress and running for president, Jack Kemp was a Pro Bowl quarterback for the San Diego Chargers. Standing outside the Hilton before Super Bowl XXXVIII, Kemp reminisced about playing against the old Boston Patriots in Fenway Park. Snow was falling, he said, and in the stands sat Tip O'Neill. "I remember," a smiling Kemp recalled, "because when I got to Congress, all Tip ever wanted to talk about was football, and I wanted to talk politics. He usually won that contest."
DELUXE ACCOMMODATIONS At the plush InterContinental Houston, headquarters for Patriots players and team officials during their stay in the Lone Star State, the staff had to meet a few special requests. For one, we're told, the team's nutritionist insisted that there be no cookies or chocolate in the players' rooms. So fruit baskets were waiting for them instead. Hotel GM Jack Miller also hired an interior designer to personalize the suites to make guests feel more at home. How? Sports books and mags were placed in each suite.
FIT FOR A COACH We've heard of the presidential suite, but how's this for chi-chi? Bill Belichick's 2,100-square-foot suite in Houston -- that's right, 2,100 square feet -- had seven phones, living and dining rooms, and a master bedroom. There was a Jacuzzi bath in the master bathroom, with a window looking out on the Houston skyline. Belichick's room, if you can call it that, also had a few custom perks, including monogrammed towels and coasters, a chess set, a telescope, and a Lifecycle exercise bike set up in front of a 42-inch plasma TV. The coach could also see the TV from the bath.
FACE TIME Because the Pats were playing, Frank Wood would have watched the Super Bowl anyway. But the actor concedes he had a little extra incentive to find a TV in time for kickoff. The actor, who's dad is former UMass president Robert Wood, appears in a new ad for Staples that premiered during the Super Bowl. (If you saw it, Wood's the uncool office manager who extorts pastries from his employees.) "I didn't know it was a Super Bowl ad when I auditioned," said Wood, 43. It's safe to say that more people watched him yesterday than ever saw him in "Sideman," the Broadway play for which he won a Tony in 1999.
Globe staff writer Joseph Kahn contributed to this column. Names can be reached at names@globe .com or at 617-929-8253.
