Carlos RogersIt still hasn’t hit me yet that I’m going to New Orleans for the first time, arriving Monday and sticking around for a week. It’s also hard to believe the San Francisco 49ers are in the Super Bowl. Not that they didn’t seem like a championship-level team heading into this season, but they were so bad from 2003-10. Also, so many very good 49ers teams have fallen short. Including last year’s.

Carlos Rogers doesn’t know misery in San Francisco. He showed up last season, had the best year of his career and decided to return. I asked him if he thought this season would unfold this way when he re-signed with San Francisco.

“I thought we had a really good team, that was my main reason for coming back. To say that we would go to the Super Bowl, that didn’t really register in my head. I just thought we had a good chance to put something together that was going to be really special. But this is really special.”

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Since like the 49ers, I’m treating my journey to New Orleans as a “business trip” (except for maybe one or two parties where I’ll be focused 100% on accumulating important information to use for my weblog), I got a room on airbnb and found the cheapest plane flight possible (and by that I mean my wife found these things for me). But if I knew the 49ers were going to make it to the Super Bowl, my wife and I might have planned a trip for the ages. Maybe even gone with some friends and family.

KDBut there are plenty of other incredible sports events to attend with a group of friends. Even though my horse racing expertise consists of a few times losing $25-$40 at Golden Gate Fields, the Kentucky Derby is at the top of my list. It’s a one-day event (not a seven-game series), and the idea of spending an entire day betting on horses and drinking mint juleps while surrounded by 165,000 people just seems like something I have to do at least once.

Today’s Contest, with a prize from GoTickets.com

One of the cool things about GoTickets is that they provide travel packages centered on sporting events, something I really need to start adding into my life. GoTickets’ parent company, Premiere Global Sports, is a top full-service tour operator for fans wanting to travel to their favorite sporting events, including The Masters, Final Four, and Super Bowl. They currently offer official travel packages for dozens of college athletic departments and alumni, NASCAR tracks including Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Daytona International Speedways, and in December 2011, Premiere Global Sports was named the Official Fan Travel Provider of StubHub. Their sports travel packages can include tickets, hotel accommodations, airfare, exclusive hospitality events, behind the scenes access, and much more. They also sell individual tickets to pretty much every sporting event and concert you can think of.

Congratulations to Carolyn, who wins 20% off a future order from GoTickets and two BASG “Who’s Got it Better Than Us?” koozies.

One person will win a code good for 20% off a purchase from GoTickets (20% off code is not good for Super Bowl tickets) and two BASG “Who’s Got it Better Than Us” Koozies for answering the following question in the comments:

If you could choose one sporting event to attend for the first time, what would it be?

For example: “I’d want to attend the US Open, because I really like screaming ‘GET IN THE HOLE’ after people hit drives on Par 5′s.”

Good luck!