PORTLAND — Dani Wilford was hoping to make an undercover pre-Super Bowl run to Rosemont Market & Bakery. She didn’t even don her New England Patriots hat.
“I didn’t want to wear it because I didn’t want to talk to anyone,” she said with a chuckle as she approached the checkout.
She had an assemblage of vegetables and crackers in her arms — the makings of her own Super Bowl platter.
Not since 2019, the end of the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick dynasty, have the Patriots been a contender for the Lombardi Trophy.
Mark Benton, 68, didn’t expect the team’s return to be this quick. Rocking a well-loved Patriots hoodie, Benton parked himself at the end of the bar at Cowbell Rock Row in Westbrook for a pre-game beer.
“I’m still pinching myself,” he said. “I can’t believe this.”
Benton’s son, rock guitarist Rob Benton, sound checked for the set he would play Sunday evening. The elder Benton lives in Hanson, Massachusetts, and has held Patriots season tickets since 1989. His only superstition, he said, is to post to social media that he’s in the parking lot when to he attends a game in person.
While Benton was happy, if not taken by surprise by his team’s return to the big game, other Pats fans in Portland felt it was all in due time.
The wait might’ve been expected for fans of a lesser team. But not in New England, said Sam Shanahan. He knows that might sound snobby.
“Most other places don’t get it, though,” he said. “They don’t have what we have.”
The 23-year-old fan originally from Boston stopped by Joe’s Super Variety on Congress Street to grab a few last minute items — creamer and Coca-Cola — midday Sunday.
Shanahan is among the Mainers betting what experts estimate to be roughly $6 million on the game.
His bet of choice?
“Anything that is not against the Patriots.”
Joe’s was slow. A few last-minute shoppers stopped by for game-day staples, including Frank’s RedHot sauce and beer. Some were big fans; others said they’d tune into the Puppy Bowl, or the Bad Bunny half-time show.
Back at Cowbell, however, staff were prepping for a big night. A Patriots Super Bowl is the biggest night of year for the sports bar.
The bar sold 200 tickets for its viewing party, starting primarily in the fourth quarter of the Jan. 25 AFC championship game, when it became clear the Patriots would be headed to the Bay Area.
“This is like, our Christmas and New Year’s Day here at here at Cowbell,” said bar manager Chris Fitzpatrick.
Like many football fan across the Greater Portland area, Fitzpatrick had just this say about the game: “Go Pats.”
Not in the bar, nor the grocery store, nor Joe’s was there a Seahawks jersey to be found.
