I dare say everybody in the so-called civilized world, not counting those in comas, is aware Super Bowl XLVIII will be played this Sunday. Why the powers that be have always used Roman numerals when referring to this game is a good question. It's not like the Pope is going to sing the national anthem, though that would be interesting. Basically, it's Super Bowl 48, and it goes off on Feb.2, MMXIV. Sorry, but see how silly that is?
At any rate, it's going to be played in New Jersey. Bad Chris Christie and Jersey jokes in general aside -- how did this come to be? A couple reasons. Because some billionaires and their friends decided to build a luxurious new stadium right next door to the old one, even though the old one was still perfectly functional. And so what if a few hundred commoners had to be evicted and have their homes and businesses bulldozed to make room for it? Luxury suites and a big fancy jumbotron are more important -- right?
And of course, there was the wink-wink promise from the NFL itself that if the tycoons could pull off building a new palace, the league would definitely consider them to host a future Super Bowl. It didn't take long. The stadium opened on April 10, 2010, and merely a month and a half later on May 25, 2010, the league gave them the 2014 Super Bowl.
In one respect, it's business as usual. Venues for Super Bowls are locked in 3-4 years into the future. Next year, it will be in Phoenix. In 2016, at Levi's Stadium in San Fran, which hasn't even been built yet (see above reference to build a new palace -- get a Super Bowl.) 2017 will be in Houston. The finalists for 2018 are New Orleans, Indy, or Minneapolis. That will be announced in May of this year.
But in another respect, shiny new billion dollar palace or not -- it makes no sense to put a Super Bowl into a northern venue of an undomed stadium in the dead of winter. Too many things can go wrong.
Sure, it might be a balmy 30 degrees with clear skies and no wind at East Rutherford this Sunday. But it could also be 10 below with a howling blizzard going on. It all depends on Mother Nature.
Yours truly would submit there is something very wrong with this picture. Let's ignore the breathless talking heads that are so worried about whether wind or cold might have an effect on Peyton Manning's passing game. Hey, both teams have to play in the same elements -- so they can shut up about that.
More important is the fans. The fortunate few that haven't been displaced by celebrities and politicians, and can actually score tickets for this game have a potential problem. Security procedures being over the top these days, any fan wishing to attend the game would likely have to show up 2-3 hours in advance of kickoff to get through all the checkpoints. Then roughly another 4 hours sitting in an open-air stadium during the game itself. If Mother Nature decided to put the big chill on the whole works -- we're talking about people being exposed to severe elements for a long time, with no place to get warm. It could happen, and that's not even taking into account a possible blizzard shutting down the airports for incoming travelers that have already ponied up big bucks in advance. Though it's not currently projected this Sunday, that was always a possibility for a New Jersey Super Bowl. Yet given the brutal winter that has encompassed most of the country so far this year -- the Super Bowl's still 5 days hence, and who knows what might happen?
Thing is, even the majority of fans that will be watching it on TV want to see both Denver and Seattle show off their talents. They don't want to see the Broncos and Seahawks slogging their way through snow, and QBs thwarted by 30 MPH winds, while fighting off hypothermia themselves. And this is precisely why a Super Bowl should never be played in a great white north venue.
Even the colleges have had this right for a long time. Look at where the major bowl games are played. New Orleans, Miami, Tempe, Pasadena, etc. Warm places, where the worst that can happen is rain. Rain doesn't shut down airports and close highways like blizzards, much less have fans wondering if the feeling in their fingers and toes will ever come back. To boot, even a little rain wouldn't have such a drastic effect on the game itself.
But I would propose that the Super Bowl is too big and too important to even be subjected to that possibility. In the future, it should be played in a southern climate, in a domed stadium, or at least a stadium that has a retractable dome. If it's nice outside -- open it up. If it's raining -- close it. We don't want Mother Nature handicapping the teams that have made it to the promised land. We want to see everything they have in their arsenals, and may the best team win.
Finally, a question. Between the Jets and Giants themselves, and who knows how many rich donors chipping in -- the cost of building what is now Met Life stadium was around $1.6 billion dollars, eclipsing that of even Jerry Jones' famed recently new palace down in Big D.
So for a few extra measly million bucks -- wouldn't it have made sense to put a retractable dome on it? The upcoming Super Bowl aside, one would think that might come in handy here and there for future games when Mother Nature was in a bad mood.
Just seems dumb to me not to, but what do I know?
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