Super Bowl XLI is XL Fun

 “It’s good to be rich — everything is free!”

In honor of Super Bowl XLI, Miami played host to an estimated 8.5 million parties (give or take a few) from South Beach to Seminole Hard Rock, and three or four of them were actually pretty good. There were also people walking up and down Ocean Drive at all hours for no apparent reason, numerous sports radio and television shows filming from our little town, loads of free stuff in tents and somewhere in the five days of celebrating, there were also 60 minutes of football, 1:44 or so (depending on how he bet) of Billy Joel’s version of the National Anthem and one second where I thought Prince was playing with himself behind a curtain. It was quite a week and it may take me another week to recover.

SUPER BOWL SWAG-ER

Daytime on South Beach was total madness. Tens of thousands of Bears fans and one weird guy in khakis from Indianapolis walked up and down the streets, boozing and soaking in the Mardi Gras-in-flip-flops atmosphere. On the sands of South Beach, ESPN filmed all of its shows, Ocean Drive conveniently hosted Volleypalooza and the popular Sprint Style Villa (and its beachfront location) actually created the term “8th and Ocean” among locals — oh wait, wasn’t that a TV show or something? Anyway, for celebrities daytime means free shit. At the glass house of Sprint, Scarlett Johansson “won” a year lease at a $1.5 million condo at SoBe University’s most popular dormitory, The Flamingo. Gabrielle Union and Stacy Keibler scooped up Morgan Miller shoes, celebs like Kevin Federline, Joey Fatone and Brooke Hogan cleaned up on Ed Hardy gear and over at the Raleigh’s Playstation Oasis, Ludacris, Matt Leinart and Terrence Howard scored free engraved gaming systems. It’s good to be rich — everything is free!

The secret of their success: free stuff! Gabrielle Union at the Flamingo. Photo by Mitchell Zachs/Magicalphotos.com

THE BAD AND THE UGLY

OK, I’ll get the bitching out of the way early. The week started off a bit slow, with K-Fed, Taye Diggs and Alex Rodriguez playing the role of first celebs on the scene. (Yeah, there were a bunch of football stars too, but unless they date supermodels who cares about them?) At the beginning of the week, it seemed like the Super Bowl was going to be a super bust. Thursday night was good at Mokai (more on that later) and supposedly there was a party at the former Versace Mansion hosted by the big guy on the Miami Heat, but the folks running the show there were less than helpful, so no one involved deserves any sort of credit or sponsor plugs or anything of that nature. Trust me, if you didn’t go near Casa Versace all weekend you didn’t miss a damn thing, other than 790 The Ticket’s Jon “Boog” Sciambi and producer Jon Zaslow coming to you live from an afternoon pool party. (Those guys are cool, so they get a shout-out.) Also sucking big time were the weekend parties on Star Island (Saturday night was canceled), a Nelly-hosted barbecue at Nikki Beach that was scratched last minute and any of the thousand parties around town that promised Prince and got nothing but paupers. But don’t worry sports fans, things turned around quickly.

CELEBRITES STORM THE BEACH

By Friday night (assuming you spent your money wisely) the party scene was fantabulous and not the testicle festival I expected. The Maxim party at Sagamore’s Social Miami totally lived up to the hype. The combination of easy-access bars, fake gambling, hot girls and 25 or so celebrities made the night tons of fun. Snoop Dogg roamed around with his posse, while Jeremy Piven traveled sans entourage. Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo did some serious hand-holding and Fergie (who performed) won her 800th date with Tad Hamilton. David Spade, Ryan Cabrera, Ludacris and Kid Rock all hit the party at one point or another and whether you were there at 9 p.m. or 1 a.m., you probably had a great time. At Chakra Lounge for the Snow Queen Vodka 4th annual Leather and Lace party on Friday night, Jenny McCarthy, Carmen Electra and Kelly Monaco all hung out together. Party-goers probably didn’t get more than a glimpse of the stars since they were tucked away in a VIP skybox, but they are hot, so even a glimpse is worth the ticket price. Over at Cameo, DJ AM worked the ones and twos and at this point I doubt you need me to tell you again how great that is. AM’s p.m. pal Mandy Moore was in town but not with him, which I thought was odd. She was also MIA when he spun at the MarketAmerica.com and Ocean Drive beach party on Saturday night, which featured performances by Fergie, Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez, and was one of the hottest tickets in the Magic City. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes sat stage-side and Scarlett Johansson, Leah Remini, Tara Reid, Gloria Estefan, Hulk Hogan, Cal Ripken Jr. and Jeff Gordon were also in the mix. It was a star-studded affair and by midnight all 2,000 guests had converted to Scientology.

MOKAI-MANIA

The truth is, if you hung out at Mokai all weekend you could have seen every celebrity in town without purchasing a thousand-dollar ticket. The catch, of course, was that you had to be super hooked up to get in. On Thursday night, new daddy Diddy held court at the corner table by the DJ booth, while the ladies were in heaven as Taye Diggs, Andy Roddick, Tom Brady and former Bachelor/Gators QB Jesse Palmer roamed around the club. Friday night, Mokai played host to the Smokin’ Aces soiree sponsored by Hennessy and Polaroid. Guests included Serena Williams, Kid Rock, Kanye West, Roddick, Brady, Milo Ventimiglia and Aces’ star Jeremy Piven. Just after 2 a.m., Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo snuck in through the back as Fergie, Will.I.Am and Lachey pal Matt Leinart arrived through the front. Leinart danced on the couches, Nick and Vanessa continued heavy hand-holding and Kid Rock partied like a, well, rock star. On Saturday, CAA took over the club and with the help of a giant tent in the parking lot was legally allowed to pack in even more people than usual. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes danced on top of the backside of the couches, while Cruise’s son Connor officially became the youngest Scientologist to go clubbing. Alec Baldwin, Billy Bob Thornton, David Spade, Greg Kinnear and, of course, Nick and Vanessa were all in the house. And on Sunday the Hennessy Game Night Party hosted by Pharrell Williams was literally the only show in town. Justin Timberlake created a buzz by showing up with Scarlett Johansson; Nicky Hilton hung with boyfriend David Katzenberg; and Tara Reid, Joey Fatone, John Legend, Paul Rudd, Nick Cannon, Snoop Dogg and Kevin Federline were among a celeb-filled crowd who partied until the lights went on at 5 a.m. So while the Colts may have won the big game, Mokai was certainly champion of the Super Bowl nightlife.

HANGIN’ WITH DESMOND HOWARD

Being a former Super Bowl MVP boosts Desmond Howard’s celebrity status — especially during Super Bowl week. Howard hosted a Friday evening party at the Ritz-Carlton that welcomed guests like O.J. Simpson, Bill Bellamy and Lorenz Tate, and he talked about being an MVP player and party host.

What’s the secret to throwing a good party?

First you have to have great and beautiful people at your party. You have to have wonderful music, and then a little star power never hurts. We’ve accomplished all three in an intimate setting, which is great.

How hard is it for a Super Bowl player to avoid the party scene and focus on the game?

It’s really difficult, but if you stay focused, I tell everybody that the parties after you win a Super Bowl is 10 times better than any party you go to before the Super Bowl, trust me.

What makes Miami a prime location for Super Bowl festivities?

Miami is sexy. Then when you bring a high-powered event like this, it just adds fuel to the flames.

SPOTTED…

• Alyssa Milano, Oscar De La Hoya and Michael Clarke Duncan checking out the LL Cool J performance at ESPN The Magazine’s Block Party on Friday.

• Actor Mark Wahlberg hosting a charity event at Ink that raised $200K on Friday night.

• Paris and Nicky Hilton, along with David Katzenberg, checking out the Snoop Dogg performance at the Penthouse “Goin’ Deep” party at Mansion on Saturday night.

• John Travolta and William H. Macy at the “Saturday Night Spectacular” soiree at the Bank of America Sky Terrace downtown.

• Kenny Chesney, Jimmy Buffett, Wyclef Jean and the Williams Sisters among the crowd at the Sports Illustrated party at The Fifth on Saturday night.

• Chris Rock, Spike Lee and Kelly Rowland at BED Saturday night for The AMES party hosted by Jamie Foxx.

• Queen Latifah, Gabrielle Union and Ludacris at Santo on Sunday night for a Super Bowl watch party and post-game bash.

Got the 411? Send comments, questions and news items to jon@miamisunpost.com.