Channel 2 photojournalist Johnny Thomason remembers Super Bowl XXVII

TULSA - I was fortunate enough to cover two Super Bowls while working here at Channel 2. 

They were in 1993 and 1994 covering the Dallas Cowboys.

When football season was starting in 1992 the OSU, TU and OU football teams were down and Big Al thought about going to cover the Cowboys and Troy Aikman for something more interesting. 

I had never been to a NFL game much less being on the sidelines shooting one. Excited to be there is an understatement. 

The days were grueling. Driving to Dallas hauling all of our equipment, setting up an edit station at our NBC sister station in Dallas, shooting the game, post game, editing the story, feeding it back to Channel 2, then driving back to Tulsa. This after shooting high school games on Thursday and Friday, then covering one of the college games on Saturday. 

But boy did it pay off!

The Cowboys kept winning and about 3/4 of the way through the season I began to think these guys could do it and get to the biggest sporting event in the world. 

They won the first playoff game against Philadelphia that set up a match against the 49ers. Wow what a game that was! All the talk was about that game and the weather. Big Al wrote about that NFC Championship and how horrible the weather was. Then it was off to Pasadena for, if I remember right, 10 days of football heaven. 

I had never been around so much excitement.  It was all anyone was talking about.  (There was one woman in Los Angeles at the Media hotel who wanted to know what was going on there.) 

At the hotel every national media outlet was there doing their broadcasts. We shot stories about their coverage, and while getting video of Jim Rome doing his radio broadcast I somehow pulled his audio board off the table. Very embarrassing to me but Rome could not have been more gracious. Fortunately, I did not knock them off the air.

The day before the game we were doing a story about the Super Bowl Experience, an event where they have exhibitions and games for kids to play relating to the NFL. Big Al and I finished up and were walking to our car when a motorcade of limos pulled up and out popped the King of Pop Michael Jackson, the halftime entertainment. Our brush with fame that day.

The Rose Bowl is still in my mind the most beautiful stadium that I have been to. Game day was a fantastic day - blue skies, warm temps, palm trees, mountains in the distance, and all that history. I just could not believe that I was able to be there and was being paid for it. 

We arrived eight hours before the game and the place was already packed with people tailgating. I shot so much video that day before the game started it was very difficult to edit. Too many good things going on to pare down to a two-minute story. 

The sidelines were crazy with people during the game. 

Photographers, ex players, movie stars it was very difficult to move around and get the action but luck was on my side and I was able to get all the big plays. It was all really a blur that day. All of the pageantry, people, noise was wonderful. It really is total mayhem for the inexperienced (me). Thank goodness I had Big Al there with me that day. He is able to deal with all of that and get the job done.

I could go on and on. I hope those of you reading can someday experience one of these events. It really is a once in lifetime experience.