Deep Freeze In The Heart Of Texas: Yesterday was media day in Cowboys Stadium, site of Super Bowl 45 between the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers. Among the invited particpants were a correspondant from a children's station dressed a superhero, a guy wearing a cardboard television set, and scantily clad Telemundo reporters.
An univited and unwelcome participant were the ice storms and sub-zero temperatures brought by the massive snow storm, that's blanketing North America right now. How cold was it? Even with the retractable dome closed, members of the Steelers and Packers were complaining. If someone who makes his living in Heinz field or Lambaugh complains about the cold? It's cold.
The storm has made it difficult for Dallas/Fort Worth to roll out the welcome mat the way they had envisioned. Instead, they're rolling out the sand trucks, hoping to keep the streets passable. Of course with air travel next to impossible throughout most of the country, a lot of fans have spent the early part of Super Bowl week in airport Ramadas, waiting for flights to resume.
The weather report for the Dallas area is only somewhat encouraging with temperatures expected to stay below freezing, at least until Friday. Game day highs are anticipated to be in 50's.
It makes you wonder how smart a decision it is to have Indianapolis host the game next year. A midwest winter storm could easily make travel to an isolated locale like Indy impossible by any means. It could shape up as a huge financial loss for all involved.
And no matter what the league says, I believe that most fans who make the trip want to wear shorts, drink outside, and watch girls in swimwear dance to live music on the beach. Not that battling wind chills, manuevering a rental car through snow covered streets and parking lots, and watching girls in parkas shiver from frostbite doesn't have it's own innate charm.
But I can do that at home.
Condolences: it's been a very difficult week for the Chicago Bears family. On Sunday it was announced that Bears VP Tim McCaskey lost his battle with cancer. Today we learn that head coach Lovie Smith's mother, Mae Evelyn Chalk Smith, has passed on at the age of 77. Mrs. Smith was a long-time diabetes sufferer.
Our thoughts are with coach Smith and the McCaskey family.