Cold weather means good football
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, June 3, 2008
The NFL division championships are coming up this weekend, and even if you’re not a pro football fan, it may be worth it to tune in.
The forecast for both games puts high temperatures well below 20 degrees.
The high in Foxboro, Mass. will be around 16 degrees, and the high in Green Bay will only be four degrees.
Let me say that again.
Four degrees.
Many times these games turn out to be classics.
For an example, you only need to look as far as last week.
Green Bay was playing at Lambeau Field against the Seahawks, and it wasn’t bad to start the game.
Then the flurries started, and by the third quarter, it was sometimes tough to see the action on the field for all the snow.
In the midst of it all, Brett Favre was proving why he’s one of the best quarterback of all time.
Not only did he have a dominant day passing, but he also had an underhanded flip of a pass as he was falling down that will surely go down on his career highlight film.
Whenever you think of cold weather football, the Packers will always come to mind.
In fact, the Packers played in the coldest game in NFL history on New Year’s Eve in 1967 against Dallas in the NFL championship.
The temperature was 13 below with a wind chill of minus 48.
I heard Bart Starr speak one time, and he remarked that that game was the coldest he’s ever been in his life.
He also said many of the players on that team still have joint pain when the temperature drops because of the hours they spent out there playing that game.
Starr ended up scoring the game-winning touchdown on a quarterback sneak as time ran out.
In 1982, the actual temperature was four degrees warmer than the Green Bay – Dallas game, but the wind chill was worse.
It registered at minus-59 degrees.
Then there was the playoff game several years ago between Oakland and New England where several inches of snow had fallen.
That game also came down to the final minutes.
Like I said earlier, it seems like these horrible conditions sometimes bring out some of the best football.
As for me, you couldn’t pay me enough to go to one of those games.
I’ve been in Alabama all my life, and any time it gets below 45 degrees, it’s cold.
I would like to go to a Green Bay snow game just for the experience, but I’m pretty sure once would be enough for me.
However, cold weather isn’t limited to the NFL.
It seems like we always get a cold front around the first or second week in November, when the high school playoffs start.
Sometimes, it just wouldn’t be the playoffs unless you’re bundled up and still can’t feel your feet.
I’d also like to point out that one of the coldest times of my life was spent at a playoff football game five or six years ago.
I was still in high school, and we went up to see McKenzie play in the second or third round.
I put on every kind of insulation I could and it still wasn’t enough to keep me warm.
But it was a good game.
So whether you’re an NFL fan or not, you may want to briefly stop on the football games this weekend because you may be seeing a classic in the making.