Airport Ghost Town

I had the opportunity of being one of the few people not able to watch the Super Bowl last night. Instead, I was on a plane returning from New Mexico (where I'd been attending a publishing marketing conference -- more on that later). I had a lay-over in Minneapolis during the first half of the game, and it was an eerie feeling walking through a nearly deserted major airport at 6:30 on a Sunday evening. All of the fast food areas and waiting areas were empty. In fact, everywhere except the waiting areas with a television, or the bars with a television was empty.

People were crammed into the few areas that had the game on, and everyone was tuned in. It was the same odd sensation as walking through an airport at 1 am, or walking through the streets of a European city while that country's team is playing in the European Cup soccer championship game! It was nice seeing that everyone was focused on the TV and it wasn't some news coverage of some terrible disaster. Nothing to bring everyone together like the Super Bowl.