Tickets disbursed, Kaepernick family's ready for big trip to Big Easy

MODESTO -- Finding the Kaepernick clan at Super Bowl XLVII won't be difficult — they'll all be wearing Colin's No. 7 jerseys.

They're the fortunate ones, the lucky few after the family dealt with one of the headaches for every Super Bowl participant — ticket allocation.

Colin Kaepernick, the Turlock product and quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, was allotted 15 tickets — he scored an additional ticket from a teammate — for the Super Bowl, to be played Feb. 3 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

Rick and Teresa Kaepernick, Colin's parents, who now live in Modesto, completed all ticket arrangements Tuesday night. Colin basically told them, "Take care of it," and they did.

"As it turned out, we had exactly the right number of tickets for the people who could afford to go and wanted to go," Teresa said Wednesday. "We were very lucky. We didn't have to turn anybody down."

Colin's parents, both raised in New London, Wis. — a 30-minute drive from Lambeau Field in Green Bay — will join other relatives in New Orleans. The Super Bowl will become a family reunion for the Kaepernicks.

Colin's parents were, of course, tops on the ticket list, along with brother Kyle and sister Devon. From there, it breaks down to Rick's and Teresa's relatives and a few uncles and cousins.

The family has handled all chores and demands this week in good nature. Eventually, it will break down in New Orleans to some fun and a fingernail-biting football game against the Baltimore Ravens for the NFL title.

"It's a dream come true for him (Colin) and so surreal for us," Teresa said. "How many people does this happen to? He's been blessed in so many ways, and so are we.

"We're just trying not to have so much anxiety that we can't enjoy it as a family."

Bee staff writer Ron Agostini will be in New Orleans all next week to cover Kaepernick and the 49ers. He can be reached at ragostini@modbee.com or (209) 578-2302. Follow him on Twitter, @ModBeeSports.