NEW YORK --Thursday evening, family members of some of the Broncos players and staff arrived in New Jersey.

With so much going on this week, there hasn't been a lot of time to just soak in some of the Super Bowl festivities.

With family here now, there's been a little been of time for fun. One of the big parties leading up to the big game is always the Madden Bowl.

This year's 20th edition of the affair featured a championship game of EA Sports' Madden 25 between Carolina's Cam Newton and Philadelphia's LeSean McCoy -- and the running back came out victorious.

From there, the venue -- part of the Bud Light Hotel -- turned into a concert featuring The Roots, followed by Busta Rhymes and Run DMC.

Festivities like that help you realize that this is the Super Bowl, and the cold-weather host makes it feel even more like a once-in-a-lifetime experience. That makes the build-up all the more exciting. So far, New York and New Jersey have been excellent hosts, and it hasn't been too freezing -- mostly thanks to my Costanza-worthy puffy coat.