MY DAUGHTERS DO NOT LIKE FOOTBALL: Indeed, to ask them to surrender two minutes on a Sunday afternoon so that Dad can catch an update via NFL Red Zone constitutes one of the bigger asks I can make of them. "Do we have to? This is boring," is Lucy's typical response. But offer them a glimpse of football in the snow, and you'd have thought I had unearthed some special Yo Gabba Gabba! with Luke Skywalker as the Dancey Dance guest. (Lucy's not old enough yet to realize Han > Luke.)
But kids get the Playing In The Snow Is Awesome. Look: it sucks for the fans at the stadium -- winning or losing. On tv, however? I am a bit more geeked out for Super Bowl: Meadowlands after yesterday's Patriots-Bears game.
P.S. So why are the Patriots so good in the snow, year after year?
P.P.S. DeSean didn't deserve that penalty. He hadn't scored yet.
P.P.P.S. No, I can't stop watching the Metrodome roof collapse video.
Two things about the Vikings game are even more awesome (in some sense of the word):
ReplyDelete1) It will be played in Detroit, and it's free.
2) The Streak is very likely to end.
I'd watch that Yo Gabba Gabba. I really like the one with Jack Black.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it's Yo Gabba Gabba with Lewis Black that I'm really looking forward to... to which I'm really looking forward for all you grammarians.
ReplyDeleteBut why is it that everytime a dome's roof falters, the Giants benefit.
ReplyDeleteFrank Black?
ReplyDeleteThis may not work out for you, but when my sister was a youth in the 1980s, my dad had her convinced that Reggie White was Snow White's brother, which bought some quality football time.
ReplyDeleteNot sure how the Giants "benefit" from bouncing from K.C. to Minnesota to Detroit, but I guess the fans will probably not be rooting for the Vikings. Even if Favre can play, he almost certainly doesn't give the team the best chance to win. On that alone, he should sit.
DeSean shouldn't act surprised to score touchdowns by this point. At least the kickoff coverage team and Akers' super left leg kept the Cowboys from getting good field position. No penalty, but he shouldn't have done it. I'm still upset at the non-call when Vick got shoved into the Eagles' bench. Sorry Collinsworth, Spenser didn't touch Vick until he was already clearly out of bounds.
I love how the Vikings, who want to move to LA, are like "what did you expect? This building is 28 years old. Of course the roof was going to cave in as a result of a completely unforeseeable event like a snowstorm in Minnesota."
ReplyDeleteBlame those primitives of 1982 (when Brett Favre was a mere high school freshman), with their preindustrial technologies and their inability to process the concept of a time three decades in the future.
I don't believe the Giants ever made it to Minnesota. But, either way, they benefit (with or without quotations) from the NFL moving one of their road games to a neutral field. Particularly when that road game was originally scheduled to be played in one of the places where road teams experience a true disadvantage.
ReplyDeleteThe Patriots tend to play well in the snow because they tend to use a play action heavy system that emphasizes high percentage plays and running after the catch. Snow tends not to affect your top speed as much as it does your ability to change direction, and so it's much harder for the defense to recover after biting on a fake handoff or adjust their angle of pursuit when a receiver takes off down the field.
ReplyDeleteI posted this on Twitter yesterday and while I don't quite buy into it, I can see it happening in some imaginable reality.
ReplyDelete<span>"Crazy conspiracy theory: Vikings acted in bad faith to cause roof collapse to facilitate a move to the LA market. Also, to get Favre healthy"</span>
Ugh, that Bears game. Let us not speak of it again. (Except that Knox was pretty obviously down before that supposed fumble.) I will say that the Bears were outplayed in pretty much every aspect of the game and there is no whining involved from me. Simply outplayed.
ReplyDelete<span>P.S. So why are the Patriots so good in the snow, year after year?</span>
ReplyDeleteIt's either a source of power for them or kryptonite for other teams. I know that the Titans were horrible last year and are not much better last year (thanks Jeff Fisher, you know what's best for us, which is OBVIOUSLY Kerry Collins), but even the worst teams, even in the snow, don't lose a game 59-0.
DeSean deserved that penalty. Being a dick is being a dick, whether he'd scored or not.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure the Vikings don't operate the building. They share it with at least one other major tenant. Isn't it a municipal building?
ReplyDeletePer the Metrodome's web site, the Metrodome is operated by a commission established by legislative charter. Presumably the people who operate it are not actively trying to aid the Vikings in leaving.
ReplyDeleteThe Patriots tend to play well in the snow because they are more fond of white than any other NFL team.
ReplyDeleteMy conspiracy theory involves Cal Ripken's wife.<span> </span>
ReplyDeleteI really think the onus for that is on the fans. I live in Central Mass, and there's a certain segment of the population that just loves TAWMMY BRAY-DEE and WES WELKAH and DANNY FACKIN' WOODHEAD. All they need is a guy named Sean and it'd be perfect.
ReplyDeletehttp://backseatcuddler.com/2009/04/19/jack-black-yo-gabba-gabba-lmao-video/
ReplyDeleteI think the flag was appropriate under the rule, though I think the excessive celebration penalty itself is dumb. He was celebrating, and it was clearly the kind of celebration that the NFL deems excessive, so it's not like he should be surprised when he gets fined. Then again, this is a sport where people try to kill each other for 60 minutes, and we like it. But we're offended when somebody falls down happy?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Isaac. Given the rule, the penalty was appropriate, but the rule itself is completely ridiculous -- the NFL seems much less interested in preventing concussions or post-concussion syndrome than preventing gratuitous celebration. As much as I hate the Eagles (both the football team and the band), I do have to give DeSean mad props for both the run and the form on the TD. I can only imagine the scolding that would have come from the sanctimonious commentary of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman had this game been on Fox.
ReplyDeleteLe Favre <span>est mort, vive le Favre!</span>
ReplyDelete