I know the look you’re giving me as someone who lives in southwest Ontario complaining about the weather. But, I did do my time in the snowbelt so I do have my experience of road closings, being storm stayed, school cancellations, etc. So, I do have a bit of background.
Last night, which would be Saturday since I’m writing this post on Sunday morning, I went into town to take a walk around our beautiful downtown park and I didn’t have Jaimie. I thought his was an opportunity to take my daughters out for some nachos and did take advantage of it.
The first football game was at the end of the first quarter when I left home and the plan was to do the walk and get home for the fourth quarter. It turns out that we (or rather I) watched football while enjoying the company of my girls.
The game was played inside and was interesting.
I did get home and watched the second game and it was outdoors with temperatures of -4F and wind chill of -27F. There was discussion about where it ranked in terms of all time low temperature games. Of course, if you’re a singing superstar, you’ll get a private nicely heated skybox.
This morning, as I was planning my football viewing schedule, I learned that the Bills/Steelers’ game would be postponed until Monday afternoon because of the weather in Buffalo. Leading up to the game, there were all kinds of reports of Highmark Stadium looking for volunteers to show up and help clean the snow from the inside of the stadium.
People who have lived in the Kitchener-Waterloo or Toronto or surrounding areas and get the Buffalo news stations know that this isn’t the first time that the stadium has had to rely on the community to make it ready for football. One report I read said that those that show up can make $20 an hour. You won’t get rich but you’ll get a few dollars and the satisfaction of doing something good.
But, it did get me thinking though. The NFL puts all kinds of effort into the scheduling of its season, the ranking of the teams, and then the Wild Card games and scheduling for the playoffs. The goal is to get the two very best teams in position for the Super Bowl.
It’s all admirable, but …
It seems to me that it’s all based on a level playing field for the most part, so to speak. The league starts playing early in the fall and ends up playing the Super Bowl in February. The Super Bowl is always scheduled to be played inside or in a warm place where the elements don’t have a say.
Depending upon the season, a lot of different things can happen with heat, rain, and snow but they affect the stadiums which are outdoors. If you have a nice covered place like my Minnesota Vikings do, you have a dry field and temperature of 72F to get the job done.
There was a time when the Vikings did play outdoors and we’ve heard of the Ice Bowl and the mess last night in Kansas City. Over and over we heard about one icy area of the stadium.
I can’t help but wonder about all the planning that goes into the scheduling and the playoffs and then it gets derailed in the four hours it takes to play the big game because of the weather.
“But it’s the same for both teams!” There’s no argument there. But playing under better conditions would be the same for both and they could use the skills that got them to the playoffs.
Isn’t it time that every team is mandated to have a covered stadium? Or, at the very least, organize the playoffs like College Football does and play in covered stadiums or at least in a warm climate.
We learned our lesson in education. I can remember the last class before exams where we were required to carry desks from our classroom to the gymnasium. Throughout the course, we had quizzes, tests, assignments, collaborations, projects, etc. At the end of the course though, the rules change. We were on our own in the gym for two hours or three hours at university doing things in a completely different setting. It wasn’t all or nothing like in football but it still was 30-50% of the final mark done in a totally different setting. We learned our lessons in education and that doesn’t happen anymore.
Don’t get me wrong; I enjoy watching a single game in bad weather. You see effort and things happening that you couldn’t predict. In fact, the year that the team I coached won it all, it was during a snow storm – no Buffalo, but it sure was cold and wet. We just forgot half our offence of passing and adjusted by running the ball most of the time.
The weather even affected the equipment.
But, if the ultimate goal is to end up with the two best teams playing for the championship, there needs to be a way found to take bad weather, the great unleveler, out of the mix.
doug -- off the record 
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