I read a blurb today (can't remember where) and have to totally agree -- the state of the field at Giants / Jets Stadium yesterday for the Steeler game -- plus the awful conditions out at FedEx Field in the DC burbs -- should put to rest -- for once and for all -- the notion of playing the Super Bowl in cold locations.

Keep it South ... Go West! ... Stay indoors!

And beyond just the condition of the field, a Super Bowl in a cold/coldish weather location could be a nightmare if snow, etc, limited travel in some way, or limited travel to and from the stadium once the teams/fans got here. DC is a train wreck in even minor snow storms.

I disagree. I watched a lot more of the Steelers-Jets game than I would have, only because of the snow. And the play in DC looked bad because the home team is a disaster and the visiting team isn't all that spectacular. Football is meant to be played outdoors, even in the rain or snow.

My friend and I watched a grand total of two plays in the Cowboys v. Redskins game on the Dish. Couldn't have cared less. The Jets v. Steelers was interesting for about the first quarter, but after that it was "Right. got it. they're slipping and sliding and are unable to complete simple passes".

I remember after the game at the old, not-at-all-missed Pontiac Silverdome that the NFL had said "No more cold weather sites". The two week gap between the A/NFC championship games is to allow the NFL to wine-and-dine-and-provide-hookers for all of their corporate sponsors, but at that game, a lot of those people flew in on Saturday and left Sunday night. I think that's still a factor in the NFL's considerations.

[ December 15, 2003, 01:54 PM: Message edited by: Jim Allen ]

Au contraire. I'd rather see the league contest the Super Bowl in the cold weather.

Imagine playing a Super Bowl at Lambeau Field.

Putting the Super Bowl in warm weather almost defeats the purpose of playoff football, where you are rewarded for playing well in awful conditions as you should be, instead of allowing some wimpy dome team (*cough* St. Louis *cough*) to win the Super Bowl without having to put on so much as a glove.

Part of the mystique of the old Ice Bowl was the elements that led to the frozen quarterback sneak by Bart Starr.

That's just because we suck at cleaning out so much as our front yards.

Until that blizzard hit last year, I was all ready to say that D.C. did much better at clearing the roads. It looked like the seven inches of snow we got before the blizzard didn't even faze us.

If you're only going to play in the warmth, why not also take
off the pads and play flag football? Give me a break.

If footballs players and fans want to call themselves tough,
play the Superbowl in crappy weather once in a while. As a
Canadian who has seen some great Grey Cups played in cold
and snow, and I find this wimping out to be laughable. Small
wonder the Dolphins tank it in December when they go north.

As for the field being crappy, that's the fault of management
at Giants Stadium, not the weather. The grass as Commonwealth
Stadium in Edmonton is considered by many as good as the Rose
Bowl for quality, and that's in *November*.

I remember Brent Pusburger whining and moaning about the cold
when the Super Bowl was held in Detroit. The NFL should act
like real men and have a game in Denver or Green Bay. Don't
tell me the Packer fans wouldn't show up for a Super Bowl and
have tailgate parties in the snow. Ask them; they would.


Bob Dog

Sure -- this Packer fan absolutely would -- the same with fans of the Eagles, Pats, and (holding back a chortle) Vikings ... but they would prefer to head out of the frozen north in Feburary for places like Miami, Pasadena or New Orleans. No doubt about it!

Canada's not a good example to follow -- Windsor is about your southernmost city -- hardly the tropics. And look at all the Quebecois who snow bird it down to Fort Lauderdale when they start seeing their breath! Don't tell me they wouldn't kill to play the Grey Cup in Tampa!

Obviously you need to see some of the games that have been hosted outdoors
in Calgary, Regina, or Winterpeg (nee Winnipeg). Hell, I went to an outdoor
party in my old city where we watched the game on *TV* in -20C weather
(that's -4F for you) while the game was in Calgary, more than a thousand
miles away.

As for Canadian weather, we're not a frozen wasteland; Halifax has a
green xmas half the time, and Victoria and Vancouver have rain during
the winter, not snow. Vancouver's winter is milder than Chicago's.


Bob Dog

I'm all for cold weather play, and so is the NFL - after all they will play a game in Minnesota as long as there is a dome, so the travel issues really are not the point here.

I say let's get the Super Bowl out of the sterile air and fake fields and back to its traditional roots. If New England, Buffalo, both New York teams AND Green Bay can play every home game in the cold (and snow a lot of the time), then the Super Bowl can be played in those conditions too.

However, I would not put it in DC, because we are a Southern city stuck in a Northern climate, and the people here are idiots about the snow - go far up north where the locals can handle a plow.