Maginnes: A 'Super' weekend in store

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Scottsdale is primed this week for a perfect storm of chaos and fun. The FBR Open has become the biggest party in golf, and the 16th hole has become the game's loudest.

2007's FBR champion Aaron Baddeley celebrates his win at TPC Scottsdale last year. (Feldman/GettyImages)

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Video: Baddeley looks to defend
Video: 2008 FBR Open preview

Trying to describe the 16th hole is like trying to describe Las Vegas to a third grader. You can't really get within a pit bosses glance of the truth without your true colors poking through. But once you witness it, you either love it or hate it, and my argument is that 150,000 beer-soaked golf fans can't be wrong.

Granted, the FBR Open is not your traditional golf tournament, and you certainly wouldn't want golf to turn into Ultimate Fighting -- but once a year, it makes perfect sense. Once a year, the sky boxes and tents go up, and hundreds of thousands descend on the TPC Scottsdale. Some of them are actually there to watch golf. But this year, the party is expected to be the largest ever. With New York and New England playing in the big game on Sunday, this town is ready to explode.

The Super Bowl has laid claim the title of largest event in sports, and who's to argue? It generates tens of millions of dollars for the local economy of any host city. According to an ESPN report, the media alone will generate $11 million in greater Phoenix this week.

There just isn't that much to cover on the Saturday before the Super Bowl, though. As a matter of fact, it is one of the slowest days of the week with the teams hunkered down making their last-minute preparations and the front offices finished talking for the week. It just so happens that the very same Saturday just up the road is the biggest day of golf every year in terms of spectators.

The FBR Open has always said that it never sells out, but, this yea,r tournament officials may actually have to limit the number of people on property on Saturday. That limit will come somewhere north of 200,000 people. Think of that, 200,000 people -- a small city coming to a golf tournament -- and you-know-who isn't even playing.

Of course, a year ago on Saturday, I was standing by the entrance when a group of college students walked past. One young lady in totally inappropriate footwear for the golf course said loudly to her boisterous group that she couldn't wait to see Tiger Woods. As the day's events wound down and I was once again in my XM perch near the entrance, the same gaggle of coeds came floating by my tent. Obviously, they had not seen Tiger, but I can say that they didn't look the least bit disappointed. They were headed to the Bird's Nest to continue the party well into the wee hours. K.C. and the Sunshine Band will be there again this year -- oh, what a night.

To call the Bird's Nest a tent party is one of the great understatements of the year. I don't know exactly how many it will hold, but the VIP area has a dozen bars and holds several thousand. The main floor is at least 10 times that size and will be teeming with people of all shapes and sizes by dark on Friday night.

The Best Damn Sports Show Period will be doing its show from the Bird's Nest all week with its usual shenanigans. As if the FBR Open needed a boost in exposure and popularity, a national sports outlet that spends little time covering golf and almost none when Tiger is not around is going to put the FBR Open front and center.

If you are a traditionalist, then you are probably skipping this week all together in both sports that will be on display this week. My only question is this: Will that woman who showed up in the wedding dress at Tuesday's Super Bowl media day and asked Tom Brady to marry her show up at the FBR Open and try again? She will have plenty to choose from, and stranger things have happened at the FBR Open. That outfit will only be slightly out of place. If she really wants to fit in, she will need to wear higher heels.