Lucky Oceansider wins Super Bowl trip

In 2007, when the Giants first beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl, Oceanside resident Jill Katz was so excited that she wet herself.

This year, she did not need a change of pants. She did, however, get to celebrate the Giants’ victory on the field with them at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

The 22-year-old Katz was one of two lucky fans who won tickets to the biggest sporting event of the year on the Ellen Degeneres Show. The show pitted a Giants fan against a Patriots fan in a contest to see who could stuff the most inflatable footballs into their clothes.

Before the game started, Ellen told Katz and the Patriots fan, Lennie, that there was only one ticket. Lennie won the contest, but Ellen had a surprise: a second ticket for Katz.

“It was just the most unbelievable experience I’ve ever had,” Katz said. “Words cannot describe what was going through my head when I found out I won.”

Katz had won a contest the show ran to find huge football fans. She was flown out to Los Angeles, Ca. (where the Ellen Show tapes) and was put up in a hotel — all expenses paid. “They flew me to California and told me to pack as if I was going to the Super Bowl,” said Katz. From LA, the two winners were flown to Indianapolis for the experience of their lives.

“I just couldn’t believe it was happening to me. I couldn’t believe that I was the lucky girl who got to be there as the Giants were winning Super Bowl XLVI,” she said. “I was on the field when they won and the confetti was pouring down. And I was looking up and I was thinking, ‘Is this actually happening to me? I couldn’t be luckier right now.’”

In Indianapolis for the big game, the two filmed some bits for the Ellen show. But the real experience was the game itself. Katz and Lennie spent about half the game up in their seats. The other half was spent down on the field, with Katz on the Giants’ sidelines. She was even down there for the half-time show and all of the post-game revelry.

“I watched the Vince Lombardi ceremony from the field,” Katz said. “The players and the families were right there, and I was just right in the middle of everything.” Katz also managed to sneak herself behind Eli Manning during an interview and get on television — again. She even went into the Giants locker room and met some of the players.

Katz said she was so grateful for the experience. As a college student, she never would have been able to afford to go to the Super Bowl, let alone watch her Giants win it.

The once-in-a-lifetime experience, she said, was probably the best of her life. She said her wedding day probably wouldn’t be able to stack up to it.

“I can’t put words to how excited I was,” she said. “I was so excited to be able to have the opportunity to experience that. I couldn’t believe it was happening. It was so surreal.”