I attended the Super Bowl in person this year

LOS ANGELES, CA — The Los Angeles Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals in the nail-biting Super Bowl LVI — and I got to be there in person to watch it.

My brother works for the Rams, so my family was given passes to the game and their exclusive “Family and Friends” events at their team hotel in Manhattan Beach. We went to Santa Monica, their “Family and Friends” tailgate, the game, and afterparty. We also had lots of free food, drinks, and merchandise during Super Bowl weekend.

We also got to cheer on Matthew Stafford’s well-deserved win after supporting him at each stop of his career. Stafford has played on three of my family’s favorite teams: the University of Georgia Bulldogs, the Detroit Lions, and now the Rams.

In the last two minutes of the game, Cooper Kupp caught his second touchdown from Stafford and Aaron Donald forced Bengals QB Joe Burrow into an incompletion to end the game with a 23-20 Rams victory.

The victory cemented head coach Sean McVay as the youngest head coach in NFL history to win a Super Bowl and gave Kupp the title of MVP of Super Bowl LVI, which goes on Kupp’s mantle alongside his Offensive Player of the Year award. Kupp also earned the receiving triple crown, meaning he was first in the league in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns, the first player to lead in all three categories since 2005.

“The mental toughness, the resilience of this group, it took every single person. Fifty-five stories, 55 rings. Now it’s 56 stories, 56 rings,” McVay said about the season at the rally following the celebration parade that stretched south of downtown Los Angeles through Exposition Park to the LA Memorial Coliseum.

The victory also marked the Rams’ second Super Bowl win and first in Los Angeles after they came back in 2016 from a controversial stint St. Louis. They built the NFL’s largest and most expensive stadium — SoFi Stadium — in 2020 but officially cemented it as their home after this win.

“We have the football team here; we’ve got to be a part of that L.A. legacy, L.A. history,” receiver Robert Woods said at the rally. “You’ve got to win championships in L.A. You can win NFC championships; you can win playoff games but that’s not what we do here in L.A. I feel like we win championships. We make our fans proud; we make them loyal fans and this is how you do it. You win championships. You have parades going down Figueroa or whatever street we’re going down, but it’s super impactful for kids growing up, for new fans growing up. This is how you become their favorite team. This is how you get long, loyal fans. You get rings, you get trophies.”

Super Bowl LVI was a game for the ages, and that isn’t even taking into account the amazing half-time show featuring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar, with appearances by 50 Cent and Anderson .Paak.

I was excited to see it all. Super Bowl LVI was a memory my family will for sure never forget.