Keyshawn Johnson is filing a daily diary during Super Bowl week.

We laughed a lot about old times and at one point it hit me how cool it was to be sitting with the guys I grew up with knowing I was playing in the game we all dreamed about playing in. Do you know how many times we all played the Super Bowl in the streets? This time it's real, and that's something. I've worked hard to get here, but I'm also very lucky and I know that.

San Diego is a real cool town. The Gaslamp Quarter is a great place to hang out and watch people. I saw all kinds of different looking cats. Some scary looking dudes, too. The Raider Nation is upon us, I guess. I got yelled at a little bit, but most of the people were pretty nice.

It was great to be out, so great that it killed me to get back in my car to drive back to the hotel for the midnight curfew. I know my guys weren't going home. They were just getting started.

I heard some of the Commissioner's remarks today about getting an NFL team back in L.A., something I've been wanting ever since they left. Growing up near the Coliseum and the Raiders and USC gave me a lot. When you're a little kid living in the inner city, you reach out for things you can touch, and for me, that was USC football and the Raiders.

Every afternoon I'd hop the fence around USC and go watch practice. Ronnie Lott, Sean Salisbury, who's now with ESPN, all those guys were great to me. They'd let me come with them to team dinners, let me stay at their apartments -- whatever I needed.

There was a time in my life when me and my mom were living in our car. Obviously times were very tough back then. But those guys would let me come and eat with them and then let me fix a plate for my mom, who'd pick me up and then we'd drive to some place to spend the night. Most often it was the cemetery not too far from USC; we figured nobody shoots up a cemetery and we'd be safe.

	“	San Diego is a real cool town. The Gaslamp Quarter is a great place to hang out and watch people. I saw all kinds of different looking cats. Some scary looking dudes, too. The Raider Nation is upon us, I guess. I got yelled at a little bit, but most of the people were pretty nice. ”
		— Keyshawn Johnson

Having those guys around and other guys like Marcus Allen when he was with the Raiders, made a difference in my life.

Football is fun and football is a business, for sure, but because of football in L.A. at the Coliseum near where I was staying, a lot of my dreams were born. Just to rub elbows a little bit with guys who were making it all happen was something that kept me on track. I saw that they were doing it and I figured, why not me? That's exactly when I decided what I wanted to do and that plan, for the most part, didn't change.

I had dreams, but I also had a vision and I worked on it -- sometimes harder than others -- but I worked hard. I had seen those guys do it -- and now look where I'm at.

I don't plan on doing much Saturday night (except trying to sleep), but I will go to a party the city of Los Angeles is throwing to help get us an NFL team again. The Coliseum is definitely the right place for any team looking for a great fan base and in an area that is redefining itself all the time.

The Lakers and Clippers and Kings playing downtown has added a great feel to the area and I can only imagine how cool it would become if someone brought an NFL team there and really invested in making the Coliseum a state of the art stadium without losing the history. I just hope they don't change the locks, because those are the ones I picked all the time to get in and just run around on the grass. I'd love the chance to do that again -- this time legally and in a uniform. Now that really would be a dream come true.

Keyshawn Johnson is filing a daily diary during Super Bowl week exclusively for ESPN.com.