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The Fife and Drum band of the Old Barracks was offered to NFL for pre-game entertainment to celebrate New Jersey's 350th Anniversary, but the NFL wasn't interested.

(Star-Ledger file photo)

Can we get a little consideration here?

This year’s Jersey Super Bowl is the 48th, not a bad run for a Sunday evening TV show.

It’s being called historic. The first to be played outside in a cold-weather city; the first "mass transit" Super Bowl, in that most fans won’t be able drive or walk. (We’ll see how that works out.)

That’s what passes for history in the world of sports. That, and championship rings and records and statistics.

But while the NFL celebrates the XLVIIIth anniversary of its big game, the host state is hitting a historic milestone of its own. New Jersey turns 350.

It was 1664, the future King James II of England gave the land to Sir George Carteret and John Berkeley, the original Jersey boys. Both were rewarded for siding with him in the English Civil War, which explains a lot. We are a state born out of land use political corruption.

That deed is in the state archives and says the region is "is hereafter to be called by the name or names of New Cesarea or New Jersey."

The second stuck, and here we are, 350 years later.

So with the Super Bowl in town, Noreen Bodman had an idea to promote the big New Jersey birthday.

Bodman is a two-time director of New Jersey tourism dating back to Gov. Thomas Kean and she is current head of the Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area.

Since her job is to promote New Jersey’s rich Revolutionary War history, Bodman thought it would be "a nice idea" if somewhere in the pre-game hoopla, New Jersey’s authentic Colonial band had a chance to take the field.

The band’s official name is the Fifes and Drums of the Old Barracks and they dress and play like its 1776 all over again. Their uniforms and music are true to the times, specifically the musicians of the 2nd New Jersey Regiment, which had a home in the barracks before the Hessians came to town. It’s a first-class, well-traveled ensemble of 20 musicians that Bodman offered for free.

Bodman said she wasn’t asking for equal halftime billing with Bruno Mars or the Red Hot Chili Peppers, or the coveted National Anthem. She was just asking for ... a little something.

"Just something to acknowledge our history and birthday,’’ Bodman said.

She got nothing. Not a polite no. Not a "buzz off" no. Nothing.

Bodman took her idea directly to Wayne Hasenbalg, the boss of the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority, back in the summer of 2012. She also brought it to Grace Hanlon, director of state tourism. During a New Jersey Historic Commission conference on governors, she hit up Jim Florio and Christie Whitman. During a Crossroads meeting with Sen. Bob Menendez, she happened to mention it.

"I’m not the kind to sit around on these things," she said.

Despite mustering all that political firepower, the NFL didn’t bite.

"It’s their show," Hasenbalg said. "They control every aspect of it. It’s totally their decision. That’s not to say it wasn’t a good idea."

And so the only acknowledgement of New Jersey music will be the Rutgers marching band, and maybe they’ll play a little Count Basie, Frank or Bruce – unless the NFL gave them a songlist.

As for our 350th birthday, Bodman says it’s another lost opportunity to show the nation New Jersey’s colonial roots, and role in the Revolution.

"It’s too bad," she said. "How many chances like this do we get?"

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