CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - Fifty Marines got a special thanks for their service from the NFL’s Cleveland Browns - a free trip to Sunday’s Super Bowl.

The Browns donated 50 tickets to Sunday’s championship between the New York Giants and New England Patriots for Marines who have served or will serve in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Some of the tickets that cost $500 and $600 each were passed out to stunned Marines on Friday at Camp Lejeune, the East Coast’s largest Marine Corps base. Tickets also were given out at Parris Island, S.C., Reserve Command in New Orleans and Central Command in Tampa, Fla.

The lucky Marines will sit around the 50-yard line.

"I want you to think about what you’ve done and about your comrades. (But) I want you to go and have a good time have fun," Lt. Gen. James F. Amos, commander of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, said as the group boarded a bus for Jacksonville, Fla.

"I’ve been pinching myself all day," said Lance Cpl. Tony Agosto, 22, a heavy equipment mechanic from New York. "I feel like a kid on Christmas Day."

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