Should That Game Have Been Played?

[Cosima___J]

I'm talking about the Eagles/Vikings game that was postponed because of the bad, snowy weather.

On the one hand, the powers that be were concerned for the safety of fans attempting to get to the football stadium. They felt that lives should not be put at risk in dangerous travel conditions.

On the other hand, football games are never cancelled because of bad weather. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell was on the NBC world news tonight declaring that we've become a nation of wusses. We have lost the sense of adventure and the risk taking that made this country great. People venturing to The New World and people starting new businesses were taking risks and making the country what it is today.

If I could talk to the Governor, I would point out that those people were taking risks to accomplish great things, not to watch some guys move a ball down a field.

[lennygoran]

>Ed Rendell<

As I pointed out in another thread just what does this guy know about Philadelphia traffic! His comments are imo disgraceful! Regards, Len

[Barry]

I agree with you Cosima. The storm actually turned out to be not quite as bad as it was predicted it might be in Philadelphia, but we still got a foot of snow and very high winds. The driving was very bad in some spots and a lot of fans would have been heading east, into New Jersey, where the storm was worse, after the game.

It would have been no problem for the players to get to the stadium. But the risk of having drunk fans going out onto those roads late at night wasn't worth it.

To Len ... while I disagree with Rendell, he lived here for many years, and still spends a lot of time in Philly. So I have no doubt that he has a decent knowledge of traffic in the area. That's something he must have also had to deal with in various ways in his capacity as mayor. Of course, all of that makes his comments arguably even less excusable.

[lennygoran]

>So I have no doubt that he has a decent knowledge of traffic in the area.<

Barry, thanks--as you say that makes his comments even worse--shame on him! Wonder what his chauffeur thinks? Regards, Len

[Barry]

>So I have no doubt that he has a decent knowledge of traffic in the area.<

Barry, thanks--as you say that makes his comments even worse--shame on him! Wonder what his chauffeur thinks? Regards, Len

I actually agree with him with regard to the U.S. having become a nation of wusses, but I don't think expecting people to drive in a major storm with poor driving conditions is a good measure of that; especially when you know some of them would be drunk.

[John F]

Some in Europe and Australia might say that American football is a game for wusses anyway. Unlimited substitutions, all that body armor, stopping play every few seconds, etc. You want a game for really tough guys, it's Rugby or Aussie Football.

[lennygoran]

>but I don't think expecting people to drive in a major storm with poor driving conditions is a good measure of that; especially when you know some of them would be drunk.<

Well said! Regards, Len

[lennygoran]

>You want a game for really tough guys, it's Rugby or Aussie Football.<

Forget those, baseball--way to go!!! Regards, Len [go Yankees!]

[Ricordanza]

I agree with the decision to postpone the game, and disagree with Rendell on this issue. However, I wish the Eagles had shown up at last night's game.

[John F]

>You want a game for really tough guys, it's Rugby or Aussie Football.<

Forget those, baseball--way to go!!! Regards, Len [go Yankees!]

Come on, Lenny, baseball is a fair-weather game that's even more for wusses than American football. It's actually softer than its English equivalent, cricket, in which everyone but the "catcher" (wicket keeper) has to catch the ball with their bare hands. Hey, I played baseball, so it can't be all that hard.

[lennygoran]

>Come on, Lenny, baseball is a fair-weather game that's even more for wusses than American football.<

Yeah it's a fair weather game just like my favorite fair-weather game of all--gardening--now you have to admit that's not one you've given the proper attention to! Regards, Len [fleeing]

[John F]

Yeah, but if it weren't for foul weather, where would you gardeners be? No plants ever called off the growing season because of rain.

[lennygoran]

No plants ever called off the growing season because of rain.<

Well that's true but a blizzard and bad weather conditions can even cause trouble for plants that refuse to cancel a season--beautiful valuable trees we treasured decided against becoming wusses and kept their leaves on despite a freak form--about 3 years ago on Oct 29 we had a freak snow storm and an aristocratic pear fell and took a kousa dogwood down with it--one second there was fall foliage and the next second there was 7 inches of snow and trees and other shrubs all down and out--awful! Sort of the gardening equivalent to what could have happened with traffic had they played the Eagle-Viking game on sunday. So a snow event even in October with all the leaves on the trees can be a disastrous gardening event--those trees should have cancelled their season Oct 29! But then Rendell might have called them wusses too!

The local newspaper described the event this way:

"It's still tied 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth with the Phillies up three games to one in a World Series beset with Mother Nature's destructive wrath. The suspended game is now scheduled to resume at 8 tonight.

The same weather system, a low-pressure front off the coast of New Jersey, brought unusually high snowfall amounts and wind-driven rain to the region Tuesday, prompting one Warren County township to declare a state of emergency.

"We got beat up by this one," Warren County Emergency Management Coordinator Frank Wheatley said. "Especially hard hit are Allamuchy, Hackettstown, Liberty, Mansfield and Independence."

About 20,000 Jersey Central Power & Light customers in Warren County were without electricity Tuesday, Wheatley said. Most of the outages were in the Hackettstown area. "

So who said gardening isn't tougher than rugby!

Regards, Len

[Barry]

I agree with the decision to postpone the game, and disagree with Rendell on this issue. However, I wish the Eagles had shown up at last night's game.

Really. The offense picked a bad time to have their worst game since early in the season. It's going to be tough to get to the Super Bowl now that they'll have to play the extra game.

[Cosima___J]

Don't feel bad Barry. My Falcons lost their game this week too. Our birds still may meet in the playoffs.

Pro football is the only sport I really love. In fact, my firstborn son just about got born at home because I was engrossed in a football game and didn't want to leave for the hospital until the game was over. After every labor pain, my husband was getting frantic that we go, but I wouldn't budge from in front of the TV. And my son, bless his little heart, hates football. Ha!

[living_stradivarius]

I guess you can add giving birth at the hospital to Rendell's list of wussdoms.

"We've become a nation of wusses. The Chinese are kicking our butt in everything. If this was in China do you think the Chinese would have called off the game? People would have been marching down to the stadium, they would have walked and they would have been doing calculus on the way down."

Uhh, China doesn't have real football.

[John F]

Uhh, China doesn't have real football.

Yes it does. It just doesn't have American football.



According to a piece I've just found (http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?it ... ubcatid=78), there are over 600 million soccer fans in China. Too bad the Chinese aren't much good at actually playing the game.