ESPN's First Take

Noone's going to pin down Rendel. He was a prosecutor in Philly for years.

The forecast was for up to 20 inches of snow and blizzard conditions. The mayor of Philadelphia declared a snow emergency. He requested all non essential vehicles stay off the road.

The intense part of the blizzard was supposed to be from the afternoon to the end of the game. Public transportation was shut down. I believe the primary decision was the potential PR disaster of having 60,000 fans stranded in their cars (possibility of freezing to death) on high ways after the game.

The Eagles did not make the decision. They were the ones who stood to lose money with lost concession and parking money. The NFL made the decision. The advertising fees are already in the bank. Chances are the ratings would be higher for a Snow Bowl.

The interview I heard was with Mike Missanelli from The Fanatic 97.5. On the show today Missanelli was saying Rendell is out of his mind. Rendell is a post game commentator for Comcast television. His rant guarantees higher ratings. He'll still be ranting after the game. It's easy for Rendell to say the game should have been played. He's limo'ed in and out of the game. He sits in the Comcast box. He's the wuss.

Note: I just saw Rendell sitting in a regular seat. That's not where he normally sits. He sits in a box. Just like a typical politician he staged an event.

I believe, by tradition and history, the game should have been played. Games have been played in worse conditions without NFL management so much as issuing a release much less ordering a cancellation.

Tradition and history have now changed. It will be interesting to see what this leads to.

What I would be curious to know regarding history is ... Has a game ever been played with a 20 inch blizzard (that means heavy winds with white out conditions driving to and from the game) occuring all afternoon and evening? It's one thing to drive in heavy snow. It's an entirely different situation to drive in a blizzard where you can't see past the front of your car. The forecast was for snow in the morning with a blizzard occuring from afternoon into the night. It's easy to second guess when the storm changes course at the last minute.

When I was a kid my dad was dead set on getting home in a blizzard. We drove thirty miles in six hours. There were too many accidents and stranded cars to continue the trip. When a pickup truck with a plow finally managed one zig zag lane on the highway the police escorted us to the city hall where we had to stay for two days while the highway was cleared.

abandoned cars jam a highway

At least it wasn't the Storm of the Century ...

From Wikipedia: In March 2001, John Bolaris became infamous in Philadelphia at WCAU (NBC10) in Philadelphia for predicting the "Storm of the Century". That storm never happened.

By comparing the upcoming storm to a past storm, Bolaris made a prediction on a Wednesday that scared viewers into staying home and preparing for a major storm. Bolaris insisted that a "Breaking News" crawl be put up during Law and Order. It was the last night of the February sweeps ratings period and Bolaris was accused of hyping the storm for ratings. It was forecast to hit on Monday of the following week, but it missed Philadelphia. Bolaris's last broadcast was that Friday and he stuck with his forecast, even though others backed off. Bolaris, as chief meteorologist, never took the opportunity to change the forecast over the weekend. The lead weather people at every other station in town came into work and changed the forecast before Wednesday.

During the week leading up to the storm, Bolaris urged viewers to stay home and make alternate arrangements for an impending Monday storm that was to dump snowfall similar to the Blizzard of 1996 that hit Philadelphia. The storm only resulted in a couple of inches of snow for the area.

I think Rendel made some good points overall. Why not play the game on Monday instead of tonight? I didn't pay attention to the weather report for Philly but the storm was pretty much over by Sunday night. Could have easily played it last night to help the Eagles out.

RJM you make some good points but I still have agree with playing it on Sunday and definately playing on Monday.

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Why not play the game on Monday instead of tonight?

The game couldn't be played on Monday. ESPN and MNF have exclusive rights to Monday. NBC had the rights to this game.

The weather report was for a 10-20 inch blizzard in Philadelphia. A blizzard is 35+ mph winds sustained for at last three hours. The forecast for the Jersey side of the river was worse. I believe they got nailed.

I'll drive through almost anything but a blizzard. I've driven through heavy snow in scary places like the Rockies and Sierras. Based on the forecast, Christmas night I told my daughter to head back to DC (for work Monday) since traveling Sunday was expected to be difficult without considering Christmas traffic. My son and I left for Boston Christmas night. We were supposed to leave Monday morning.

Add: There are many mild winters in Philadelphia. The area does not have the equipment to handle a major storm.

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The game couldn't be played on Monday. ESPN and MNF have exclusive rights to Monday. NBC had the rights to this game.

That didn't stop them from playing the Vikings-Giants on Monday two weeks ago.

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Originally posted by Bulldog 19:

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The game couldn't be played on Monday. ESPN and MNF have exclusive rights to Monday. NBC had the rights to this game.

That didn't stop them from playing the Vikings-Giants on Monday two weeks ago.

That game only had regional coverage on FOX. This was NBC's nationally broadcast game of the week. ESPN's contract does not allow national coverage broadcast against MNF. ESPN is the only network who can go national on Monday.

I think it was a good idea to postpone the game. It could have been very ugly traveling to the game, parking while crews were trying to plow the parking lots and surrounding streets, and thousands of cars trying to exit at the same time. At a time when the city wants no cars on the streets palying the game would have accomplished the exact opposite.

As far as playing on Monday, I don't think the stadium would have been ready for the game by Monday night. They cleared alomost all of the snow out of the stands by Tuesday, working around the clock. That could not have been done by Monday.

Now that the Eagles lost the game maybe they should have waited until tonight.

The NFL is turning into a pansy sport. Fines for clean hits, quarterbacks wearing skirts and you can't touch them without getting flagged, receivers can't be covered by defensive backs in fear of getting a pass interference. Now they can't play football in the snow. None of this stuff would've happened years ago. It's pretty pathetic. The NFL may as well go back to leather helmets since helmet contact is all of a sudden a bad thing.

I can't even imagine John Facenda using poetry with today's players calling them warriors and gladiators etc. The whole league has been wussified and pretty soon, they'll outlaw tacking and take the refs flags and tie them to the players so they can play flag football.

And now, they can't play in the snow.

Although, travelling woud've been tough but seems for some reason, the region was unprepared for this blizzard even though the weather reports were tracking this for days and were right on the money, so go figure.

It should be fun to see what happens if we get this blizzard in 2014 when the super bowl comes to our neighborhood.

Two relevant points...

#1 Having made my living in the outdoors my whole life in the fishing biz, there is one Cardinal Rule about forecasts. Never cancel anything based on a forecast, it is too often wrong (proved again here in Philly). Forecasters love to throw out worst case scenario forecasts to cover their butts. A great majority of those forecasts are overblown, as it was Sunday.

#2 Only in recent years has the weather become news. Media outlets that have constantly looked for the next great disaster, frequently turn to the weather as its fallback for sensationalism. Weather is only news after it happens, and then if it's catastrophic. Todays media portrays a minor inconvenience with ALERTS!!! that flash across your TV screen notifying you of potential disasters and urging you not to go out. In this regard, we have become wussies because we allowed the media to turn us into Chicken Littles.

If I canceled every guided hunt or charter fishing trip based on the forecast for mega disaster, I'd have gone out of business long ago.

Let people make up their own minds about if they want to drive to the game and be hassled by snow. Who are we to tell them what their threshold for inconvenience or danger should be? We are not sheep that need to be guided by some greater being.

The snow forcast for Philly changed dramatically within 12 hours from late Christmas eve to mid day Christmas. It went from coating to an inch Christmas morning to 6" to a foot later in the day. The official snowfall was just over 12".

The game wasn't canceled until noon on Sunday after the blizzard had started. IMO this cancellaton had less to do with the players and playing the game than it did with the spectators traveling and their safety during the game, walking up and down snow covered steps.

cplz, are you using the local tv for your forecast? I would assume you would use national weather forecast or a paid service that look much more realistic at the weather, the forecast and probabilies as opposed to the local news that is just sensationalism when it comes to the weather.

I also think part of the decision be it right or wrong would be the concern for getting the support staff for the stadium to work.

How many of us grew up on hearing stories of this great winter storm and that winter storm and how people still went to work and life still continued on? I grew up in the mountains of WV and we didn't own a four wheel drive vehicle. We lived at the top of a hill that was a sheet of ice when it snowed. We still went to school, dad still went to work and mom still went to the store and it wasn't empty from panic. I went back to college one time in a blizzard and yes it took me longer than normal but there is nothing wrong with that.

We're worried about people's safety and that's not a bad thing but that can sometimes turn people into sheep because they can't think for themselves.

If I had a ticket for that game here is what I would have done -

I would have bought the ticket earlier in the season because I know Philly is probably going to get snow. I'm going to get a reservation at the closest hotel possible (hopefully walking distance but if not oh well) months in advance. I'm going to pack too many warm clothes and hope I'm not going to use them but if they are needed then so be it. Day of the game I would leave early enough that if the roads are clear I'm at the stadium too early or if the roads are bad I get there in a safe manner - if I'm late then so be it.

If for some reason it's a spur of the moment decision to go and I feel it's too bad then I'm staying home even if that means taking a hit on the tickets. I'm smart enough to know when it's too bad or not.

If I'm at the game and I see the weather getting worse as the game goes on then I'm leaving and getting out of there.

I drove a girls basketball team to a game a few years ago. When we got there not a drop of snow on the ground. At halftime of the JV game it started snowing and by halftime of the varsity game it was coming down hard. They finished the game and I drove a bus full of kids home in almost blizzard conditions. Normally the trip took about 35 - 40 minutes but the trip home took an hour and half. I took my sweet time on very bad roads that were two lane twisty / curvy roads.

When I was 15ish my family went to watch a professional wrestling event in a small town. Maybe 8000 people at this event and same thing - no snow going in but covered when we came out. We went to the local hotel and got a room and drove home the next day.

In the interview with the governor he said the subway system was still running. I'm going to assume that was true. Once again if people would plan ahead they could have taken advantage of that in their trip.

Snow is an inconvienece and it can shut things down but overall if you plan, take your time and be smart you can make it work in bad conditions.

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Originally posted by zombywoof:
The NFL is turning into a pansy sport. Fines for clean hits, quarterbacks wearing skirts and you can't touch them without getting flagged, receivers can't be covered by defensive backs in fear of getting a pass interference. Now they can't play football in the snow. None of this stuff would've happened years ago. It's pretty pathetic. The NFL may as well go back to leather helmets since helmet contact is all of a sudden a bad thing.

I can't even imagine John Facenda using poetry with today's players calling them warriors and gladiators etc. The whole league has been wussified and pretty soon, they'll outlaw tacking and take the refs flags and tie them to the players so they can play flag football.

And now, they can't play in the snow.

Although, travelling woud've been tough but seems for some reason, the region was unprepared for this blizzard even though the weather reports were tracking this for days and were right on the money, so go figure.

It should be fun to see what happens if we get this blizzard in 2014 when the super bowl comes to our neighborhood.

The players have become bigger, faster and stronger. John Mackey was considered a monster tight end at 6'3, 225. That's the size of a tailback now. Tight ends weigh 250-270. Merlin Olsen was a monter DT at 275. DT's now weigh 325-350. The field size hasn't changed. The rules have had to change to accomodate the change.

As for the snow the game wasn't cancelled for the players. The game was cancelled to prevent 65,000 fans from being stranded on the road with the possibility of freezing to death.

Fair point. There were lots of stranded motorists in this blizzard.

And yes, players have gotten much bigger, faster and stronger. At one time, Refrigerator Perry considered a freak. Now there's a league full of them that are athletic and can move some.

And while I understand some of these violent collisions need to be addressed, it should be for the late and unnessary hits. I've seen too much incidental contact go as fouls and fines. As for the receivers, today's DB's can barely defend against the pass and this has nothing to do with size and speed. It's the NFL wanting a pass league with little contact on its receivers.

I think a big part of thre problem is today's players don't know how to tackle. All they know how to do is ram heads and swat the football. Go watch some old film and you'll see how they used to tackle. You never saw Lawrence Taylor head ram anyone and he was as violent a hitter there was. He hit them low, wrap them up and bring them down. Perhaps in part that is why the rules are what they are but then this goes back to coaching.

The big issue is we get to see plays on instant replay in slow motion from every possible angle while a game official has to make an instantaneous decision at game speed from whatever angle he has at the moment and regardless of any field obstruction/players.

12" fell from 7 p.m. on that night.

I ask, what would've happened if that game had been played?

60,000 people in the stadium, their cars getting jammed in with snow as they watched the game. They emerge at 11:30 p.m. to find that they cannot exit the parking lots, much less the city. You can't plow the lots without burying huge numbers of cars. Mass transit not available due to the snow and the lateness of the hour on a Sunday night.

I'm thinking this turns into the Superdome after Katrina, except everyone's outdoors in the bitter cold.

How many people do you think would have to die or end up in the hospital with frostbite or worse before someone would've asked, "Why didn't they just postpone the game?"

The great thing about being a TV talking head is, you get to second guess after the fact without any responsibility for what would've happened if people had actually done what you now say. And if the decision is made the other direction, you still get to rant and rave and criticize. But you never have to take any real responsibility.

Which makes THEM the wusses, if you ask me.

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The great thing about being a TV talking head is, you get to second guess after the fact without any responsibility for what would've happened if people had actually done what you now say. And if the decision is made the other direction, you still get to rant and rave and criticize. But you never have to take any real responsibility.

I think the one complaining the loudest was the governor. Not some talking head like the one who said that Vick should have been executed..

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Originally posted by Bulldog 19:

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The great thing about being a TV talking head is, you get to second guess after the fact without any responsibility for what would've happened if people had actually done what you now say. And if the decision is made the other direction, you still get to rant and rave and criticize. But you never have to take any real responsibility.

I think the one complaining the loudest was the governor. Not some talking head like the one who said that Vick should have been executed..

The governor is a talking head. He's part of a post game show on Comcast. Without the show he's still a talking head. Or should I say a hot air gas bag. He's your typical say anything to get ahead politician. At one point he nearly switched parties to Republican. Then to secure him the Democrats made him chairman of the DNC. He proceeded to contradict his previous positions in favor of the party mantra.

Thank God we had better choices in the election this time. Last time it was this gas bag or Lynn Swann who was running on an "I'm a winner" because I played for the Steelers platform. Rendell annihilated Swann in the debates.

I genuinely believe Rendell's rant was calculated to gain national attention. And he got it. Rendell gets limo'ed to the game. If he had to leave there would be a plow in front of his limo. He normally sits in a box. He sat in a regular seat to validate his rant. What a phony.

Tucker Carlson is yesterday's news if he was ever news at all. At least he was yesterday's news until he made an inane comment. I'd suggest his comment was calculated as well for national exposure. And he got it. He recently started an online political newspaper. He just got more advertising free of charge than he ever could have paid for. Carlson would be a nobody if not for his parents fame and fortune. The closest he came to fame is being on CNN's Crossfire.

Note: hsbaseballweb didn't approve of me referring to Carlson as a bunch of steel to be bound together by welding at a high temperature.

All this has me thinking. What is the NFL going to do when they hold the 2014 Super Bowl in the "New Meadowlands" and a similar storm is predicted?

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Originally posted by birdman14:
All this has me thinking. What is the NFL going to do when they hold the 2014 Super Bowl in the "New Meadowlands" and a similar storm is predicted?

It would be interesting to see. One difference with the Super Bowl is typically a majority of fans are staying in nearby hotels. Picture a socialite attending "the event" with her corporate husband who doesn't a football from foie gras stuck on public transportation in a blizzard with Vinnie from Queens on her way back to one of the posh Manhattan hotels. I can't picture the wealthy staying in Secaucus. Actually I can .... ROTFLMAO.