Moderate weather fans were thrown a bone this week when the NFL announced the 2014 Super Bowl will be played in New Jersey.
On cue came the cries of the purists who believe that weather ought not to play a role in determining the outcome of the game. Since the first game was played back in 1968 the league has always chosen a warm climate – California, Florida, New Orleans, Atlanta - for the game.
The decision to play in New Jersey where the forecast for game day in 2014 is temperature in the low thirties, strong winds, and maybe snow, was in part a reward for the new stadium in New Jersey.
All of this is much ado about nothing. To really even things out for having favored warm weather teams these past 43 years the league should put the game in Green Bay.
Remember the NFL championship game between the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys played on the frozen tundra on December 31, 1967, when the pre-game wind-chill was minus 70 degrees? By kickoff time knowledgeable weather men in Green Bay were on the plane to the Fijis. The stout-hearted were in Lambeau Field.
With a little over four minutes to play in the fourth quarter, Bart Starr started the Packers on a drive to the end zone 68 ice covered yards away.
Did the weather influence the game? Green Bay fans say, nah: ‘both teams had to play in the same conditions.’ Dallas fans respond: ‘that’s like saying the swimmer and shark were equal since they were both in the water.’
When Starr dove into the South end zone with 13 seconds on the clock his winning touchdown created one of the most memorable moments in NFL history for the Packers, Starr and the fans.
This is what football is all about. Regular season games are played in warm climates, moderate (for football anyway) places like New Jersey and Pittsburgh, and then where real men get tested: Green Bay, Wisconsin.
The Super Bowl ought to get the same billing.
(From my blog.)
