Super Bowl LVIII - Hard Rock Cafe, Paris, France

Super Bowl LVIII (the 58th of these games) took place on February 11, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Kansas City Chiefs faced the San Francisco 49ers.

Surprisingly, interest in the game was high in the run up, and not just among sports fans. One of the Kansas City players, Travis Kelce is dating mega-superstar signer Taylor Swift. This generated interest amongst the Swifties (as her fans are called), but also a surprising amount of interest from certain right wing commentators, blogs and Tweeters. A conspiracy theory started up suggesting that Taylor Swift's mega-stardom was actually a deep state CIA plot to re-elect Joe Biden, and that the relationship between Kelce and Swift was fabricated to further advance this plot.

Right. Anyway.

I took the Eurostar down to Paris on the 9th (Friday) after finishing up work for the day and settled into a hotel on a quiet square in the 2nd Arrondissement. The square was quiet, but the area was bustling with many lively streets and pedestrian areas with lots of options for food, drinks and shopping.

A night cap on the first night

Captain Haddock and Tintin kissing. On my!

Lunar New Year when I was there, so celebrated with some dumplings

Steak Frites

The weather was changeable all weekend, and managed a somewhat soggy walk in the rain up to Montmartre to see Sacre Coeur.

Saint Vincent Cemetery nearby.

The Big Game

I watched the game at the Hard Rock Cafe, securing tickets before hand which included a bucket of 5 bottles of beer and a buffet with typical game day snacks (sliders, chicken wings, nachos) and various sweet items.

Hard Rock Cafe, Paris

Sliders and wings (this wasn't my only plate, I got a decent feeding)

My bucket of beer for the game

I had a seat at the bar, which had a good view of the TV and also was impressively close to the buffet. Perfect set up.

The game itself kicked off with some sloppy and boring play highlighted only by an impressive 55-yard field goal by 49ers kicker Jake Moody at the start of the 2nd quarter, the longest ever field goal made in a Super Bowl. With four and a half minutes left in the 1st half, the 49ers got a touch down and led KC 10-0, but KC was able to get some points on the board with a 3 point field goal ending the first half 10-3 in favour of San Francisco.

After a half-time performance by Usher which featured lots of dancing, including an impressive bit on roller skates, the second half action picked up. The Chiefs scored a field goal and then a touch down to take a 13-10 lead at the end of the 3rd quarter. In the fourth quarter, San Francisco scored a 3 point field goal, which was answered by 3 points by The Chiefs. With KC still leading by 3 points, the 49ers scored a field goal with 3 seconds left. At the end of regulation, the score was tied at 19 points each.

The game went into overtime. Each team is allowed a possession of the ball, and the game continues until at the end of both teams possessions, one team has more points. The 49ers got the first crack, and scored 3 points with a field goal to take a 22-19 lead. The Chiefs responded by scoring a touch down, sealing their victory over San Francisco with a 25-22 win.

Watching the OT

I wandered back to my hotel close to five in the morning, on a luckily dry Paris night and got a few hours sleep before I had to check out of the hotel and head back to London.

Another Super Bowl around the world done. For more entries in this series, check out the my Super Bowls Around the World table of contents.