Super Bowl 2014: Apparently there’s weather – TD Sports Debate p3
By Dan Salem
Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Its super week at the Super Bowl and our debate heads onto the field. Have you heard? Apparently there’s weather. And the teams are going to PLAY in it! The red hot NFL sports debate continues as Dan Salem and Todd Salem tackle this topic in part three of this week’s TD Sports Debate. Two brothers from New York yell, scream and debate sports.
[Part one – Heroes and Villains]
[Part two – Richard Sherman the Rockstar]
TODD:
Since you mentioned it, even if it was in sarcasm, why is the weather a concern for the Super Bowl? Did no one else watch week fourteen’s game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions? It was a blizzard, and it was awesome! Sure players were slipping, and Matt Stafford looked so bad that he probably got his coached fired, but the game looked amazing. Also, no one could get a finger on Shady McCoy. He was running wild to the tune of 217 yards. The game was sloppy and ugly at times, but it was not boring or low-scoring.
Unexpected or unusual weather doesn’t have to be a bad thing for the NY/NJ Super Bowl. It will be miserable for the fans in the stands of course. But what percentage of Super Bowl “fans” are actually diehards of one of the two teams? Is it 50%? Maybe 40%? Lower? It’s mostly corporate yahoos and bigwigs. Let them bundle up.
As for the product on the field in freezing temperatures, analysts are decreeing that this will give the Seattle Seahawks an unfair advantage. Forget the fact that it is easier for offenses if it actually does get slippery and snowy and the fact that the Denver Broncos are the offensive team, not Seattle. These analysts are really just saying the freezing temps are tough on poor, old Peyton Manning and his creaky limbs. Remind me again why this is an unfair advantage.
It remains to be seen if Manning will actually play any worse than Russell Wilson when dealing with the elements, but isn’t that just one of Peyton’s flaws? No player is perfect. Manning is usually great, except when it gets chilly and icy. Denver knew that when he was brought to town. As a side note, Denver, CO is not one of the warmer cities during the winter.
I guess what I’m getting at is this. Why does THIS Super Bowl weather seem different from any other outdoor Super Bowl? If there was a huge chance of rain for an outdoor game, we would talk about which team that gave an advantage to and move on. But for this Super Bowl, because it was scheduled in a northeastern city, it has somehow transformed from teams dealing with weather to teams overcoming this gargantuan slight that the league levied against them. Get over yourselves.
DAN:
Well I guess we’re going to talk about the weather now…
You trapped me in a corner and left me no option but to answer your barrage of weather related questions. I was trying to avoid this stupid and annoying topic. I was attempting to leave it in the slushy gutter where it belongs, but no. Here I am discussing the freaking weather instead of anything else! Enough of my cry baby tirade, weather is probably one of the MOST fun things about the game of football. I would rank hitting people first, then the weather second.
I had the pleasure and good fortune to play four years of football and my greatest memories are of games in the mud and the rain. Football in the cold isn’t exactly ‘fun’ for the players or the fans, but damn if it isn’t exciting. Add in the element of snow and the unpredictability index goes through the roof. Bottom line, I think I actually agree with you that there is NOTHING wrong with some weather to go with a side of football and hot wings on Super Bowl Sunday.
Now I get it, the purists want to see the best players playing at their best. Let me get my big boy voice out. It is February and the men left playing in the Super Bowl have been playing football for five straight months. Not a single one of them is at their best. Not one! Oh, you want ideal conditions to maximize their abilities. Well I love the idea of the smartest quarterback, Peyton Manning, having to out think the winter elements in order to get a decent spiral going down the field. The playing field doesn’t get skewed one way or the other, the game plan just changes.
The fans will have it rough, however. You can’t argue that playing the Super Bowl in a dome guarantees that every ticketed customer will be able to sit and enjoy the game. Their $5000 ticket (or whatever it costs) won’t feel like punishment. Yet this is only with a dome. Anywhere else and you just don’t know. What we did know was that it would be cold in New York this February. And I won’t call it the New York/New Jersey Super Bowl. No! Get over yourself New Jersey, you don’t get to have a professional football team and you don’t get a Super Bowl either.
[If you missed Part one – Heroes and Villains]
[If you missed Part two – Richard Sherman the Rockstar]