I was listening to a certain sports radio station in my car this morning and heard a discussion about how the game in Lambeau Field tomorrow could be the second coldest in NFL history. Did I miss something? The last time I checked I heard the temperature was going to be around -5 or -10 with the wind chill. That is by no means the second coldest game in NFL history.
The common folktale among the NFL is the infamous Ice Bowl of 1967 when the Dallas Cowboys played the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau when it was -13. You may not know the game but you certainly know the nickname “frozen tundra” given to Lambeau after the game. Thanks in large part to the NFL Films franchise, the phrase is recognized in every household.
The problem is I know for a fact that these are not really the coldest games. I’ve been a season ticket holder at Soldier Field for many years and I have sat through some sickening weather. Just a few years ago the wind was whipping through the field so bad off the lake that the jumbotron actually read that we were all sitting outside when it was -20 with the wind chill. That is damn cold my friends.
Have you ever seen beer freeze? I have….at that game. If you picked your beer up to take a drink out of it the top was completely frozen and required poking a hole to take a drink. This was easy compared to getting a new beer, which upon being poured by the vendor would have all the foam almost immediately freeze solid into a more literal interpretation of the word foam.
The funny part is I sat through that entire game. When you know it’s going to be cold you dress appropriately, which means basically everything in your wardrobe made with wool, fleece, or a thick cotton material. I sat with my frozen beer, my flask of Crown Royal, and approximately 3 square inches of exposed skin and watched my Bears play. That’s what you do when you love your football team, you go out and brave the extreme cold. Certain fans get exempt from having to brave the cold elements like children or older fans that can no longer take the physical abuse. But any Bears fan of proper age should be considered less of a fan if they can’t take a little cold. I don’t want to hear about girls not be able to handle it because I’ve seen several girls put on a brave face for a football game, including my own girlfriend.
It’s football. You play it in the winter. It’s cold during the winter. So quit your bitching.
I’m sick of seeing the major news stations and papers talking about how cold it will be this weekend. I’ve sat in worse and I will continue to sit in worse. The game in December between the Packers and Bears was described by Brett Favre as the worst weather he has ever experienced in all his years in the league. Yeah, I was sitting at that game too.
I’d offer you a swig of my Crown Royal but I save that for the real fans that show up to the game.