2014 Coldest Super Bowl Ever. Bet On It.

First thing I thought of when I heard that the NFL had awarded the 2014 Super Bowl to New York/New Jersey was...."That's very funny.  You're kidding, right?"  Apparently they're not.  Now I do understand why they want to play the game in the Big Apple.  New York, is afterall, New York.  And they'll have a brand new 1.6 billion dollar stadium up and running to show off. 

The Apple is the meida, entertainment and business capital of the the world, although a lot of those companies are owned by Japanese, Chinese and European multinationals.  It actually amazes me that the city that houses the financial institutions that banrupted the US economy has enough cash stashed to cover the cost of a billion and a half dollar play pen.

Thing is, the NFL doesn't need gimmicks. It's gold. The players play with diamonds on the soles of their cleats.  The Super Bow is platinum.  The most watched tv program annually.  This is a league that survies, no thrives, without a team in Los Angeles, number 2 on the American pop poll.  So why would play your showcase game in an open air stadium in February on the American east coast. 

Now I get a couple of New York stations on satellite and my US network outlets are from Boston.  I see the weather they get in February.  It makes Buffalo look like Tupelo.  But this really isn't about the folks in the stadium.  It's you and I sitting at home with our Super Bowl repast of pork rinds and chili dogs ready to watch the title tiff.  And that's 99 per cent of the audience.

Have you ever watched a tv game when it's snowing.   Make that blizzarding.  It's interesting, even though you have no idea what's going on between the end zones.  Neither can the announcers.  There was a time when  we were use to snow on tv.  That was back in the day before cable and sattelite. Snow was something you lived with if the wind blew the antenna an inch off kilter.  Saturday night, Maple Leaf games, the screen went snowy.  My father would look at my brother and I.  We'd flip a coin to see who was climbing on the roof to tilt the tin until it could pull in the signal again. Probably why I was never a Leaf fan. 

I also think your showcase game shouldn't be decided by the elements.  When Buffalo ruled the AFC (it actually happened in my life time kids) the great fear of the other teams was that the road to the Super Bowl was through Rich Stadium, in January.  Same deal with Green Bay.  You think teams from the US south wanted to book into Lambeau Field a couple of weeks after New Years?  But, the Bill and the Packers won the right to host the conference title games.  The Super Bowl is on neutral ground.  Why make it difficult?  You've got domes, you've got stadiums in the desert, you've got parks within spitting distance of the Gulf of Mexico.  Summer weather during a New York winter.  Why make it difficult on the players.  Why turn what should be an exciting game into a freeze fest.  Why take the finest athletes in the game and make them play in conditions that you'd only see outdoors on...well on Grey Cup Sunday in Edmonton, in November.  Okay, we're a tougher bunch up here. 

I just don't see the point in throwing the dice and turning what could have been the perfect game in perfect conditions into a perfect storm.  And you know it's going to happend.  Unless of course the NFL has some inside info on global warming and figure by 2014 they'll be growing oranges in East Orange and they'll have palm trees in Plassic.  You might want to be on hoare frost in Hoboken.

p.s. If you can get to Las Vegas place bets on:  Coldest kickoff temperature in Super Bowl history.  Shortest half time show in Super Bowl history.  Most frost bitten fingers in a quarter.  Least skimpiest cheerleader outfits in Super Bowl history.  Fewest body painters in Super Bowl history.  Most game day pregnancies in Super Bowl history.  You know something will be going on under those blankets.