🙀 Dedication Or Insanity 🙀

[JolyB]

I remember watching an NFL championship game in (I think) 1967 or so, played in frigid conditions in Green Bay. On the TV coverage, you could see the steam from the fans' breaths rising over the bleachers of Lambeau Field. The temps were worse than 10 below and the wind chill was something like 35 below zero. The game has ever since been referred to as the ice bowl. As I recall, the Cowboys were completely unaccustomed to the extreme cold, and the Packers won on final play quarterback sneak.

More than one announcer suggested that the fans who endured such cold were well fortified against the cold by large amounts of alcohol.

You mention watching the 2 minutes of the KY Derby. But the fans who pay the inflated prices for that privilege probably are at the stadium for the full day of racing, more than three times as long as a typical football game. As you say, to each his/her own.

[cal828]

^^^

You are right Joly. Remember that game well. Watched it from the NCO club at Lockport Radar station in New York when I was doing my patriotic duty for Uncle Sam. Bart Starr won the game for the Packers. I think they won back to back NFL championships against Dandy Don Meredith and the Cowboys, but I may be misremembering that. Super Bowl started about that time too, as I recall.

As for the Kentucky Derby, I don't think the average temp is anywhere near 100. Probably closer to 80 in early May.

[NJ Stinks]

I remember where I was for the Ice Bowl too - I was in my grandparents farmhouse in Pemberton, NJ. Even then I was rooting for the underdog (Cowboys) vs. the winning machine in Green Bay.

FYI, Dan Reeves threw a Dallas TD pass from his halfback position but that's about all I remember from the game other than Starr's winning QB sneak which has been shown many times over the years.

And because I'm an old grouch I'll add at least they had enough sense to play in the afternoon in GB back then!

[cal828]

I don't remember all that much from the game except the cold and Starr's quarterback sneak and I think a guy named Max McGee scored a TD on a pass from Starr, I think, but I may be confusing that with another battle between the Packers and Dallas. Seems like it was a very low scoring game which makes perfect sense. I don't imagine that the players even wanted to be there, it was so damn cold. My only other impressions from the game were that Vince Lombardi always seemed like the ultimate disciplinarian. Those were different times for sure. Players when they were in their street clothes always wore suits and ties which Lombardi seemed to insist on.

[DonGuido]

I'd do it for college footbal but not the pros. !00% college footbal fan, NFL 50/50.