Once there was a golden age of freebies in sports writing, before we became all responsible and professional and everything. Al Davis infamously once offered TVs to beat writers in L.A. Don't think it worked out for him.
The Super Bowl was never exactly a haven for all this, but at least you used to get a nice travel or laptop bag. Food was plentiful in at the media lounge. There would be a nifty Super Bowl baseball cap and boxed pens. Ah, those were the days.
Now you get a not-so-nice pen and a notebook. So good to be on the inside.
Food has been reduced to chips and salsa, though water, soda and __ don't tell the boss __ beer remain available without coin.
The media center has various sponsors giving out Alicia Keys' new CD and NFL videos of the Pats and Giants. The host committee is the mother lode, though, offering Cold Stone ice cream, a media pin, some kinda stuffed animal mascot thingy, some kinda ipod charger and a jump-start flashcard.
Next year's host committee offers chocolate and orange lip balm. Wait check that, that's the one in Florida in 2010, not to be confused with the one in Florida in 2009, which offered a cigar.
I'd go on, but Cold Stone calls. You do what you can.