Let’s make one thing clear. The Super Bowl must always be played in the United States. This nonsense of playing America’s greatest sport spectacle in Europe is blasphemy.

So, that said, which U.S. cities are best suited to host America’s premier sporting event? Please note that I used the word “event” not game. As long as the city has a warm climate and a stadium with enough seats to fill the NFL’s wallet, the actual game-site is irrelevant to me. It’s the host city’s ambience and logistics that is critical to the overall Super Bowl experience. For those who have never been to a Super Bowl, trust me, the week-long events and party atmosphere leading up to the game are as important, if not more so, than the game itself.

A poll in HOFmagazine.com asks, which of the following five cities is the best location for the Super Bowl? Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, San Diego, or Tampa. I’ve been fortunate to spend much time in these great cities. I have some interesting stories from all, however, I’ll stick to just ranking them for Super Bowl purposes.

5. Los Angeles

What can be written about this city that hasn’t already been published? Most visitors either love it or hate it, but it should be on your Bucket List as a must see. As the host of Super Bowl I (which was actually called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game) in 1967 at the LA Memorial Coliseum - and subsequent Super Bowls at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl, it’s unquestionably one of America’s most fun cities. From Hollywood to Malibu - Santa Monica to Marina Del Rey - and down to Long Beach, there are plenty of great restaurants, bars, nightclubs, beaches, and beautiful people. But, it’s too spread out for my liking to host this event. Again, there’s no doubt you’d have fun here, but you’ll likely be hanging out with many people who have no idea a football game is in town. LA is simply too big and lacks logistics to get ranked higher.

4. Tampa

For those who travel to Florida via I-95 to their favorite east coast spots, try traveling I-75 for a change and enjoy the Gulf Coast. Your first stop should be the Tampa Bay area - home of some great beaches. However, this ranking isn’t about beaches. On a smaller scale, Tampa Bay runs into some of LA’s logistic problems - it’s too spread out. Basically, the area consists of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater, hence, the term Tampa Bay. Obviously, the area has some great waterfront dining, but what gets Tampa the #4 rank is Ybor City. Located just northeast of Tampa - a streetcar ride away, Ybor City is known as Tampa’s Latin Quarter and is considered one of Florida’s top-ranked night spots. Stroll down La Setima - the main street of the Historic District, and you’ll find a variety of cuisine. But, it’s the nightlife that makes this a great attraction. Throughout the night, you’ll hear Jazz, Blues, Salsa, Reggae, and even hip-hop emanating from bars and nightclubs - making Ybor City a great consolidated area for Super Bowl partying.

3. San Diego

America’s Finest City. That’s how the city promotes itself - and you won’t get an argument from me. I’ve been to most major American cities, and San Diego is my favorite. Bordered by the Pacific Ocean, Mexico, deserts and mountains - and offering a consistent climate, you might wonder why San Diego only ranks #3. (Well, since I once lived there, maybe I just didn’t want to be accused of prejudice.) While there’s much fun along the 70-miles of beaches from Coronado and Mission Beach to La Jolla, Del Mar, Encinitas and Oceanside - it’s downtown San Diego that offers Super Bowl fans the ability to walk to all the shops, restaurants, bars, and nightclubs they need to keep them happy. Fans can enjoy the waterfront at Seaport Village - or walk up the street and party in the Gaslamp District with great music and beautiful people. San Diego is one of America’s nightlife hot spots - and provides a great Super Bowl atmosphere.

2. Miami

In 2010, the Miami-area will be hosting its 10th Super Bowl - most by any city. And why not? Forget that the stadium is a trek, get your butt to Miami Beach and, more specifically, South Beach - and you may never make it to the game! Hang out on Ocean Drive in the Art Deco District with a cocktail and just take in the view. From vintage cars, Harleys, celebrities and, oh yes, those beautiful models - you’ll think you’ve died and gone to heaven. Nightlife is ‘the-way-of-live’ on South Beach, so Super Bowl fans just need to get out of their hotel room and they’ll run into fun by accident. Food and drink is abundant but, if you like crab, be sure to head down to Joe’s Stone Crab - it’s the best. However, try to remember why you’re there - and set your alarm for the game. The beautiful people alone make Miami my #2 Super Bowl city.

1. New Orleans

This flamboyant city was made for the Super Bowl. As a matter of fact, many football “insiders” wouldn’t mind if the game were played there every year. Between its music, nightlife, unparallel cuisine, and convenient logistics, New Orleans and the Super Bowl is a match made in heaven. Head to Harrah’s Casino on Canal Street - then to the famous French Quarter, and you may never see your room - unless you need some privacy. However, I warn you, it’s a Marti Gras every night, so bring plenty of money and be ready to “rally” every day so you don’t miss anything. And here’s a recommendation: Be sure to take a few days off from work when you get home so you can recuperate! Without question, New Orleans is America’s #1 Super Bowl city.

Unfortunately - or maybe fortunately as I get a little long-in-the-tooth, this year I’ll be watching the big game from the comfortable confines of my home. However, as I hear about all the parties leading to the game, I’ll be reminded of some fun times spent during Super Bowl week - and all the great cities who have hosted it.

Only in America!

Heath Ledger DEAD
Brad Renfro DEAD
Christopher Bowman DEAD
Chris Farley DEAD
River Phoenix DEAD
John Belushi DEAD
David Strickland DEAD
Kurt Cobain DEAD
John Candy DEAD
Jonathan Brandis DEAD
Freddie Prinz DEAD
Princess Di DEAD
Anna Nicole Smith DEAD
Andy Gibb DEAD

Three more tragic deaths this month. I once wrote in HOFMAG.com that publicity is like poison - it’s okay if you don’t swallow it. Celebrity has always been disposable, but disposable used to mean you lived out your life as a has-been, subject to endless inane questions like “Didn’t you used to be so and so?” or those insidious TV magazine featurettes such as “Whatever happened to?” By the way, whatever did happen to Joe Piscopo? Unfortunately these days, disposable has a more finite meaning. Dead and gone.

What role do the media play in this? Too much I’m afraid. “Celebrity” is an entirely new industry, driven into a frenzy by the Internet, celebrity magazines, TV shows and fed by paparazzi and over-enthusiastic fans who can’t spend their money fast enough.

There was a time that getting your girlfriend pregnant branded you with a scarlet letter. Now if you’re Tom Brady or Matthew McConaughey, you land on the cover of People Magazine. Three weeks ago People celebrated Eddie Murphy’s marriage on the cover. Last week Eddie made the cover again with the announcement that the marriage lasted two weeks. Nice.

Listen, times are changing, and I’m fine with that. Just don’t be shocked in the future if you read the following headlines:

Britney Spears DEAD
Lindsey Lohan DEAD
Amy Winehouse DEAD
John Daly DEAD
Keifer Sutherland DEAD

If we don’t start to let people live in peace, we are looking at more and more unhappy endings like the three we experienced in this month.

For those thankful to the Cleveland Indians for beating the Yankees in the MLB 2007 Division Series to save us from yet another Boston - New York confrontation … here we go again. But, this time, it’s the NFL and the biggest spectacle in sport. The Super Bowl.

Yes, America, those fanatic sports fans from Boston and New York, who have anointed themselves as the two greatest sports-towns in the country, will be going at it one more time. And, needless to say, one city will once again be hanging another championship banner. It’s the Patriots versus Giants, round 2.

So, which team do you hate more now…the Yankees or the Patriots? Just think, if the Patriots pull off the unbelievable task of a perfect 19-0 season, they will become the greatest team in NFL history. And with Brady a mere 30 years old, the Patriots’ organization will become the greatest all-time NFL franchise by the time he retires, if they’re not already.

Thank God for the Montreal Canadiens. Of the four major pro sports in North America, it appears only hockey eludes Boston and New York from holding the “grand-slam” of greatest sports organization crowns. The Yankees, with their 26 championships, have been the king of baseball since the days of Ruth and Gehrig - then DiMaggio, Mantle, and Jeter. The Celtics and their 16 championships have held the reign as the greatest NBA franchise due to the likes of Russell, Havlicek, Cowens, and Bird. Now the Patriots and Brady are on the threshold of becoming the elite of the NFL. As the saying goes, “the rich get richer.”

To make matters worse, if the Patriots win another Super Bowl this year, Boston teams will have won six championships in football and baseball combined during the last seven years. The Sox in 2004 and 2007, and the Patriots in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2007. And, to make matters worse, the Celtics are making noise again in the NBA.

So while most American sports fans are admitted New York-Boston haters, rest-assured, millions of them will be tuned-in Super Sunday to watch Super Bowl XLII. They just need to remember that Boston or New York will win another championship. Pick your poison.

Some 19 years ago now at a professional wrestling card of all things, my Dad jumped from his seat and quickly made his way to a pay phone. That’s right, a pay phone.

During the next five minutes, he gave my Mom a detailed account of how he’d forgotten to set the VCR and how she needed to. That’s right, a VCR.

Two hours of television that would change my life were saved.

I was 10 years old and Lonesome Dove was some long western I didn’t want to give a chance and my Dad absolutely loved. Maybe we made a deal that since he took me to see wrestling, I’d give Lonesome Dove a chance - I can’t really remember.

But, I’ve since watched that tape - and the six other hours that went with it - too many times to count, before doing the same with the DVD, read the book that inspired it at least three times, read every sequel and prequel and watched them just the same.

On Wednesday night, Comanche Moon concluded the miniseries saga of Lonesome Dove created by the immortal words of the great Larry McMurtry.

To many, McMurtry might very well just be the guy who showed up to the Oscars in jeans and had something to do with Brokeback Mountain.

To me, as it relates to the written word, he is my greatest hero.

For as long as I can remember, I wanted to do two things when I “grew up” - become a professional football player and an author. The football thing waved bye-bye about my freshman year of high school when I couldn’t find my way off the bench for longer than a play or two.

When I read Lonesome Dove, it made me want to write even more, to be a better writer, all the while making me question if I could ever mesmerize a reader with my words the way McMurtry had done to me.

It was a book – and a miniseries – that captivated my every emotion. It made me cry and laugh, smile and frown, think and remember.

On screen, nothing has ever portrayed the Old West with such realism – and yet it never lost its romanticism.

For eight hours of epic grandeur, there was action, suspense and comedy. It was about unending friendship, true love, fathers and sons, living and dying, being young and growing old.

As I watched the final installment of Comanche Moon – and the final installment of the Lonesome Dove story – I loved it just as I knew I would, all the while feeling disappointed just as I knew I would.

Steve Zahn was phenomenal as Capt. Gus McCrae, but Robert Duvall is Gus McCrae. Just as Tommy Lee Jones is Capt. Woodrow F. Call, Danny Glover is Josh Deets and Frederic Forest is Blue Duck.

More than anything, as I thoroughly enjoyed Comanche Moon, I was saddened that there would be no more epic novels or tear-jerking miniseries to look forward to.

Nevertheless, Larry McMurtry, a man whose resume includes having won a Pulitzer, an Emmy and an Oscar, is due thanks and admiration – not just for being the greatest living author, but for fighting the good fight to keep alive the miniseries, the Western and the novel.

Then again, maybe, like Gus and Woodrow, they’re just alive in the hearts and minds of fans like me and a select few. Hopefully not.

My San Diego friends have experienced a whirlwind of emotions the past year. It began with the Chargers’ playoff loss to the Patriots last season. After that demoralizing game, fans called for coach Marty Schottenheimer’s head. Soon, thereafter, ownership disposed of Schottenheimer. Then, earlier this season, the Chargers proceeded to loose a few games, and fans sarcastically chanted Marty! Marty! Marty! at Qualcomm Stadium. Today they’re saying, Marty who?

While most NFL experts were anticipating the next Pats-Colts round, the Chargers put a damper on things. And while I can hear the cheering in southern California and see the smiles throughout New England, is a Patriots–Chargers game really what America wanted to see? I’m sure it’s not what CBS wanted – nor the millions of Patriots’ haters. Hell, I’ve already heard a friend of mine saying, “The Patriots just got a ‘free ride’ to another Super Bowl.”

Since they blew-out the Chargers, 38-14, earlier this season, I don’t expect the Patriots to falter this week on the road to perfection. However, I do expect a good game … for a half. Then it’s on to Glendale, Arizona for a chance to become the NFL’s greatest team ever.

By the way, there is another side of the playoff bracket. The Giants will have an uphill battle facing media-favorite Brett Favre and his Packers. New York’s win against Dallas wasn’t a big surprise for me, as I picked that one. But, I also picked the Seahawks, so Vegas isn’t calling me to help set any odds this week. However, no matter who wins in the “junior bracket” does anyone really think the NFC has a shot at a championship? Maybe – but, San Diego will have to come up with an even bigger upset this week for NFC fans to have hope.

So, to all my Chargers friends – congratulations and enjoy this week’s build-up to a game that could resemble the AFL Championship game played January 5, 1964 at San Diego’s Balboa Stadium, which was won by the Chargers in a blow-out against the (then) Boston Patriots 51-10. However, the victor will also be playing home this time – at Foxboro’s Gillette Stadium. And after the loss – please, no whining like last year. Also, don’t be calling for Norv Turner’s head. The Patriots are simply the better team.

A three-ring circus has nothing over Major League Baseball. Whatever happened to arguments about who’s better – Mantle or Mays, Williams or DiMaggio, Koufax or Gibson? What about a good old-fashioned debate regarding the designated hitter? Or how about this one: Who hit the greatest home run ever – Bill Mazeroski, Bobby Thompson, Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Joe Carter, Calton Fisk or Roger Maris?

Nope…none of that talk anymore. This good ole baseball bar-room banter is now replaced with talks of steroids, cheating, congressional hearings, and phone-tap conversations. Thank you Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, MLB, et al.

To make matters worse, we now have a potential cheater even downplaying the importance of his election into the Baseball Hall of Fame. If he made nothing else clear in his recent press conference charade, Roger Clemens made it perfectly clear that he doesn’t give a “rat’s ass” about getting inducted in baseball’s most treasured shrine in Cooperstown. I wonder how that plays with some of the legendary players of the game who cherish their place in the Hall – or, even more so, with those still waiting for the honor like Rice, Blyleven, Dawson, or Lee Smith?

Whether innocent or guilty, I hope writers remember how important the Hall of Fame is to Clemens. A one-time first-ballot lock, I guess he now has more to worry about than Cooperstown.

In another life, I was a high school basketball coach. To give you a hint how long ago, Rick Pitino was the head coach at Boston University. Back then, I was an admirer of two coaches with as diverse personalities as Obama and Hillary.

My coaching idols during those basketball days were John Wooden at UCLA and Bobby Knight at Indiana. I loved Wooden’s people and game-management genius and Knight’s overall basketball genius. The calmness of Wooden and the fire of Knight were both inspiring traits in their own right. Combine the two and you have the greatest basketball coach ever.

Back in the days of short-shorts in basketball, fiery coaches were more the norm than not – and while I admired Wooden, my coaching style was more like that of Knight. However, as years passed, I’ve been able to change with the times and become more Wooden-like with a calmer and more professional demeanor. Unfortunately, the same can not be said for Knight.

Watching Coach Knight’s antics the past decade, I came to the conclusion a long time ago that it was time for him to fade into coaching history. His recent press conference with his grandson only confirms that feeling. I’ve watched many embarrassing moments in Knight’s career that have made me wonder how this man could have been a coaching idol of mine, but this one could be the worst. I’m now even embarrassed for him as a man.

I thank my lucky stars that I also looked to Coach Wooden for inspiration.

It’s almost hard to believe how I started the New Year. Watching a Hockey Game. Yup, that’s right. With the Rose Bowl game less than a mile down the road from my house, I eagerly tuned into the Winter Classic, Buffalo vs Pittsburgh. I don’t remember the last time I watched a hockey game on TV. Hell, the Ducks won the Stanley Cup last year, and no one in Southern California (least of all me) seemed to notice. The only thing I know about hockey since Gretzky retired is that the sport is supposed to have the worst commissioner in professional sports. It certainly has the worst TV contract.

Yet, as I think about it, I’ve always heard that hockey players are the most gracious athletes, and during the past year I don’t recall reading of one hockey player shooting steriods, killing dogs, impregnating models or shaving points. I don’t know what it was about the Winter Classic that drew me to the TV. Maybe it was the spectacle, or maybe it was just the seeming purity and joy of the game played on the outdoor rink. Two nights earlier, the NBA Celtics refused to wear throwback shorts in the game against the Lakers (who wore them for one half). Could you imagine the lordly-entitled players of the NBA playing in something like the Winter Classic? Last month I played golf with Brett Hull who was a heck of a guy. Today I watched a hockey game on TV. You know what?

Maybe it’s time I gave hockey a second chance. Sport for sport sake. Interesting concept.