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Handful of isle residents
enjoying trek to Super City

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. » John Clivio of Hawaii Kai is such a big Boston sports fan that he named his first son Curt -- after Curt Gowdy, the Red Sox's longtime baseball voice.

"Or, it could be for (Boston star pitcher) Curt Schilling now," Clivio said.

At the Super Bowl Star-Bulletin writer Dave Reardon will report on the festivities surrounding the big game, his first as a fan and a reporter

But baseball season is over. Boston's 2004 World Series victory was sweet for Clivio, even though he had to watch it in a Honolulu Airport lounge since he only had tickets for Games 6 and 7, which the Sox ended up not needing, and he was waiting for his flight to Boston.

"(Former Red Sox pitcher) Bill Lee's daughter was there watching it with us because she just got married on Maui," Clivio said. "That was pretty cool, but it would have been cooler to be there."

Clivio was there, however, when the Patriots beat Carolina in last year's Super Bowl in Houston. And he will be there tomorrow at Alltel Stadium when New England tries to repeat against the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX.

Clivio, a 42-year-old real estate appraiser, is among a handful of Hawaii residents who traveled across half the Pacific Ocean and the entire continent of North America for tomorrow's game.

He has an advantage when it comes to booking tickets for sports events Boston teams play in. His mother, Mary, was a secretary at the Boston Garden for 25 years. John, a teenager in the Hub when she took the job, remembers what he told her when she got hired: "I love you, Mom."

It's no free ride for Clivio, though.

"I still gotta pay, but it's only $575 (face value plus a handling charge), rather than what tickets are going for on the Internet now, like $3,000," he said.

If Red Sox and Patriot fans know about anything, it's delayed gratification. New England had never won a Super Bowl until three years ago, and the Red Sox suffered a World Series victory drought of 86 years until last October. That's why 9-year-old Curt isn't with his dad in Jacksonville.

"He asked to come, but I told him, 'Sorry, son. I love you dearly but you haven't suffered enough yet.'"

Clivio is not alone, though. He is joined by his brother, Paul, who lives in Fort Lauderdale, and Gary Gaspar of Kapolei.

Gaspar, 38, is attending his first Super Bowl.

"I've been a Patriots fan a long time, so this is a dream come true for me. It's priceless," said Gaspar, also a real estate appraiser. "Back in the day, I started following the Patriots because they had local boys -- Mosi Tatupu, Russ Francis. Liking them became liking the team. Then liking the team became loving the team."

Matt Buchmann, 42, didn't have to pay anything for his first Super Bowl ticket. It was awarded to him for doing a good job as a sales director at Anheuser- Busch Hawaii. A total of 27 Budweiser sales directors nationwide won tickets to the game as part of an incentive program.

"I'm definitely excited. This is a chance of a lifetime," said Buchmann, who has hosted Super Bowl parties at his Hawaii Kai home and is rooting for the Patriots. "It's especially exhilarating because I'll be with people who are as enthusiastic as I am."

Buchmann said he owes a lot to his team of between 40 and 50 Anheuser-Busch employees in Hawaii who helped him achieve the sales goals to win the trip.

"I had to bring an extra suitcase," said Buchmann, who arrived in Florida yesterday. "I'm going to have to bring back a lot of souvenirs for a lot of people."

Buchmann's trip here included long layovers in San Francisco and Atlanta, turning it into a 19-hour ordeal.

"But when we got to Jacksonville, we were welcomed so warmly it was like Hawaii's aloha spirit," he said. "It didn't really sink in to me that I'm going to the Super Bowl until all those people greeted us at the airport, welcoming us to their city. It was overwhelming."

Buchmann and his fellow awardees are being treated to a golf tournament today and a concert by country-western star Sara Evans tonight.

"Everything's great here so far," Buchmann said, "except it's too cold."

This is also the first Super Bowl for Harry Yamamoto.

"And my last," the 64-year-old Hawaii Kai resident said -- unless he wins a ticket to another one in a contest, like he did at the Shack.

"I've always loved to watch football, even when my team -- the 49ers -- is down in the doldrums, so I'm at the Shack every Monday night. I was very surprised when I won the drawing, because I enter a lot of things but I never win," said Yamamoto, who recently retired from the U.S. Postal Service.

Yamamoto wanted to give the two tickets he won to his sons, but the prize is nontransferable, so he and his wife, Irene, are here.

Well, not quite "here." The Yamamotos are lodging in Brunswick, Ga., about 60 miles from Jacksonville. There is a hotel shortage here.

"I initially wasn't that excited, but my friends reminded me this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I should enjoy it," said Yamamoto, who normally vacations in Las Vegas to play golf.

He also is cheering for the Patriots. "They seem to me to be not bragging, humble," Yamamoto said. "Their defense is excellent and their offense plays within themselves."