One of the most exciting parts of the annual Super Bowl Sunday pregame is when whoever broadcasts the game sends out video clips of various players and coaches en route to the game. Maybe they’re walking from a hotel to a bus. Maybe they’re exiting that bus in the stadium loading dock. Maybe they’re walking with determination down a hallway in the bowels of the stadium, wearing Beats headphones and bobbing their heads. No matter what, you know you’re within several hours of a long-awaited kickoff.
Videos of the Eagles and Patriots on their way to the Super Bowl, ranked
To win the game, you must first arrive at the game.
In that spirit, let’s rank the most inspiring-looking entrances to U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis before the Eagles-Patriots Super Bowl on Sunday. Broadcast clips are via NBC:
1. Tom Brady getting on one team bus, not liking the seating options on that bus, and diverting to another bus.
In my wildest dreams, Brady boarded this bus, Rob Gronkowski made a loud farting noise immediately, and Brady decided to take another vehicle.
2. Brady walking into the stadium, now with sunglasses.
And offering definitive proof that he doesn’t wear sunglasses to deal with the sun, but to shield his eyes when the cameras are around. Otherwise, he’d have been wearing them while he was actually outside and boarding the team bus.
3. Nick Foles looking deeply chill.
This is not a man who is bothered by the stage of his first Super Bowl start. No, sir. Foles’ absolute calm should give every Eagles fan faith in his ability to win this game.
4. Rich Eisen being generally elated to see the buses moving.
(The teams both had about a 30-minute journey from hotel to stadium, NBC reported during its pregame show. Each team had two buses.)
5. Eagles coach Doug Pederson looking all business as he boards a team bus:
Watch him calmly board that bus while a presumable Eagles social media staffer trails him with a camera. Incredible poise by someone who isn’t bothered in this moment.
6. Bill Belichick politely letting others board the bus before him.
When you’re in your eighth Super Bowl with one organization, you get the privilege of significant others and family traveling on the bus with you. It’s the pinnacle of American job security.
7. Danny Amendola assuring everyone he’s OK by determinedly charging onto the team bus.
Same deal, really. A nice, firm gait from a confident-looking man. Amendola’s had some injury concerns, but this makes it seem like he’s doing just fine. Watch him bounce up those steps with the explosiveness we’ve come to expect from him.
Getting to the stadium is, after all, a key part of winning the game.
You can see 2017’s rankings here, led by a steely-eyed Brady marching into NRG Stadium in Houston as a phalanx of bodyguards surrounded him.
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