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Lamenting the "wussification of America," Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (apparently one of the few "John Waynes" left out there) probably put it best when he noted, "Vince Lombardi would be spinning in his grave."
He also added: "If this was China, do you think the Chinese would have called off the game?"
If this were another sport, of course, it might be easy to avoid predicting this as a sign of the apocalypse. But football is supposed to be played in bad weather conditions.
The NFL, after all, should be praying for more snow games not less. Bad weather games are good for the sport's "brand," and fun to watch (on TV, if not in person).
In his famous skit juxtaposing football and baseball, the late comedian George Carlin observed:
Until now, Carlin was right about football. Professional football has a long and storied tradition of playing in bad weather. As the Philadelphia Daily News' Will Bunch recently noted:Football is played in any kind of weather: Rain, sleet, snow, hail, mud -- can't read the numbers on the field, can't read the yard markers, can't read the player's numbers -- the struggle will continue. . . .
In baseball, if it rains, we don't come out to play.
And it's not like this happened in San Diego or Jacksonville. Philadelphia is a tough sports town. These are the fans, after all, who necessitated building a jail in Veterans Stadium, who booed Santa, and who throw batteries at people, for crying out loud.
Is this the moment we all finally realize namby-pamby, politically correct "nanny staters" have taken over football, too?
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I would like to think that they did this for the reasons they stated but here's food for thought. Could the case be made that they were concerned that they wouldn't sell as many tickets if people couldn't/wouldn't come to the stadium due to the weather?
December 29 2010 at 11:46 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyYou know, I heard their going to quit keeping score next.
December 28 2010 at 3:35 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI totally agree with you on this one. Who would have ever guessed the NFL would have cancelled a game due to weather. Particularly the teams you're referring to. Now I would have more understood San Francisco or San Diego, but real football teams?
December 28 2010 at 3:33 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyPleeeease, Philly isn't Green Bay or Minnesota. They aren't set up to cope with nasty winter weather like Mid-Westerners. If you haven't lived in someplace like Buffalo or Chicago, just shut up. At least Philly plays outdoors.
December 28 2010 at 1:54 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI couldn't agree more! Here in Denver, when they built the new stadium, there was a lot of conversation about dome or no dome. Why? Because with a dome we may have had the Super Bowl here someday...without it, no chance. Super Bowl be damned we built an outdoor stadium and will continue to play in all the weather. Like football should be played...especially the biggest game of all. Carlin would be spinning in his grave too.
December 28 2010 at 12:23 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThe Governor is correct ... unfortunately, this is yet another sign of the downward spiral of traditional "norms" we previously held in the USA -- it's like neartly everything is being "dummied down" to protect ourselves from ourselves - rediculous!
Look at Green Bay - bad weather - yes, cold, snow, sleet, hail -- yes on all counts - frequently.
Do fans go to Packers games no matter what? yes ... do they whine and moan about the weather or driving conditions? nope
How do Packer fans get to/from their stadium on game days? There are NO wimps in Green Bay. Somehow they seem to manage their own destiny! Apparently the NFL isn't concerned about those fans' "safety" .. nor have they for decades!
What a joke (a bad one at that) -- let's hope that this Tuesday night game is the LAST.
Retire the NFL wimps who made this decision ... let's play football on time and on schedule - like it SHOULD be!
Hell NO! The game should have been played Sunday!!!
December 28 2010 at 10:24 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
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