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Sports Arena
The Wussification of America, NFL-Style
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell is an honest man who has spoken truth to power.
(Page 2 of 3)
The San Diego Chargers and the Cincinnati Bengals played an AFC Championship Game in a minus-64-degree wind chill. Nobody cared about the fans. They let the fans make the judgment whether they were going to go to that game or not go to that game. At the time the game ended, there were about 5.5 inches of snow on the ground.
People go to games in New England, [they] go to games in Chicago, [they] go to games in New York routinely with that amount of snow on the ground…
Rendell is absolutely right. Why, one of the most memorable NFL games in recent history is the 2001-2002 AFC divisional playoff game between the New England Patriots and the Oakland Raiders.
The game was played in Foxboro, Massachusetts, in the midst of a veritable winter wonderland of heavily falling nighttime snow. And the fans — those in attendance at the game, as well as those watching on TV nationwide — loved it!
The snow added to the romance and mystique of the event, which now lives in football lore.
The Pats, of course, escaped with a narrow three-point win, thanks to the infamous “Tuck rule,” which transmogrified a clear late fourth-quarter fumble by New England quarterback Tom Brady into an inexplicable “incomplete pass.”
The “incomplete pass” allowed New England to keep the ball and to kick a game-tying field goal. The game then went into overtime and the Pats won. Soon thereafter, the Patriots would win their first of three Super Bowls within a four-year time span.
So you can hardly blame Rendell for being peeved and ticked. So, too, was every football fan in America. And the governor spoke for them. He spoke for us.
I for one — and I’ve been stopped by tons of Eagles’ fans today. We were looking forward to sitting in the snow. It would have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And we could have made the judgment for ourselves [about] whether it was safe or not…
But behold the liberal-corporate paternalism voiced by Mike Missanelli, who hosts The Fanatic radio show. Missanelli was dismissive of NFL players who have denounced the league for canceling the game.
“The players are going to say that because they’re filled with machismo!” Missanelli cried. “How could you shirk the public safety angle of this, Governor?”
Rendell was incredulous. “The public safety [angle]?” he responded. “Mike, [there were] five inches of snow… People drive in that all the time… That’s their choice.”
Not according to Missanelli! You see, to liberal-corporate paternalists, choice is a bad and dangerous thing — a very bad and dangerous thing!
“OK,” he said.
But you know when you give people a choice — and you know what you’re doing: You’re testing them, OK? They’re going to think the same way: “Ah, it’s not so bad… You go down there.” And you know that it’s like having a gun to their head…
About the Author
John R. Guardiano blogs at www.ResCon1.com, and you can follow him on Twitter: @ResCon1.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (101) | Leave a comment
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Clint| 12.29.10 @ 6:37AM
The message and the messenger.
The Wussification of America should be addressed.
Fast Eddie, the human hairy cannonball city pool opener, hoagie eatin' machine & "expert" pseudo-pundit, who said McNabb & The Skins would make the playoffs & The Eagles wouldn't, shouldn't be the messenger.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 12.29.10 @ 7:16AM
The NFL is becoming more like the military each and every day.
You saw it clearly when the players were directed (And I'm assuming many were forced) to wear pink.
The chickification of America continues with standards of strength and masculinity and personal independence rejected, while group think and passive mind sets rule the day.
Soon: Don't play, don't tell if you're afraid of getting a bruise.
Not Me| 12.29.10 @ 10:31AM
Isn't pink the Raiders' traveling color?
Lionel Hutz| 12.29.10 @ 7:47AM
Rendell and his trial lawyer funded party are the problem, not the solution. The risk that Roger Wussell fears isn't from people hurting themselves in the snow, it is the risk of lawsuit by the ambulance chasers who will blame everyone with deep pockets for the injuries.
JimP| 12.29.10 @ 8:44AM
So true. How ironic that big Ed the die hard Dem is now decrying what he and his liberal cohorts have spent decades creating/destroying.
tdiinva| 12.29.10 @ 7:49AM
Not so fast Gov! The game would have been played in Green Bay, Chicago, Denver, Cleveland, and New England. If the Vikings played in a outdoor stadium the game would have been played. Oh, that's right they ended up playing the Bears in snow and cold in the University of Minnesota's TCF stadium!
The game was cancelled because the effete Eastern liberals who run the NFL are a bunch of pussies.
And a side note: looks like the Obama effect works in sports as well as it does in politics. After the Prez's gushing call to the owner of the Eagles, the lowly Vikings led by a third string no-name QB beat the mighty Eagles led by Michael "pit bull" Vick giving my Bears the bye in playoffs. Way to go Barry!
Bob K.| 12.29.10 @ 9:05AM
The game was called with this lame excuse as the reason to take the Eagles home crowd out of the game after their exciting last second victory over the Giants the previous week!
The home crowd would have been crazy on Sunday--every one knew that!
There is no way that the people who run the NFL want Michael Vick in the Superbowl! Count on it!
They want "nancy girls" like Brady and the Mannings in it!
tdiinva| 12.29.10 @ 9:20AM
You got it backwards dumbass. The diversity hungry NFL want Vick to be the MVP and win the super bowl. The conditions on Sunday weren't conducive for Vick to put up big numbers so he could improve his chances for selection. They thought the Vick would shine in Tuesday night's pristine conditions. Vick flopped anyway.
Bob K.| 12.29.10 @ 9:33AM
Hey Genius!
The NFL doesn't want this puppy dog killer anywhere near the stupor bowl. He might make it exciting!
tdiinva| 12.29.10 @ 9:46AM
Clearly you are an illiterate. Ever read Dostoyevsky or listen to Wagner? Vick as the sinner redeemed by heroic effort is the stuff of great literature/opera. His hero status to the liberal elite was confirmed by Obama's phonecall.
And Vick is only exciting when playing mediocre teams. The Bears showed how to beat him and everybody studies game films. All you need is a Bryan Urlacher and Julius Peppers and Vick is anything but exciting.
Clint| 12.29.10 @ 10:17AM
Yeah, Da Bears really showed Brady & The Pats what their made of.
tdiinva| 12.29.10 @ 10:29AM
Clint:
We are talking about the Vick led Eagles...I am suffering from PTSD and don't remember any such drubbing....
Bob K.| 12.29.10 @ 10:40AM
Of course I've read them and listened to them, you boob!
You might be the only person without a sense of irony on this website but you aren't the only one without an education!
Get a life!
Bob K.| 12.29.10 @ 10:41AM
Make that "You aren't the only one with an education!"
tdiinva| 12.29.10 @ 11:31AM
I think your "irony" was lost to most of us here since your statement looks like a serious argument.
Who was Stavrogen?
Bob K.| 12.29.10 @ 11:32AM
Who cares?
tdiinva| 12.29.10 @ 1:11PM
Just checking to see if you are as literate as you claim.
You fail.
David T| 12.29.10 @ 5:13PM
It was Stavrogin, smartypants
JimP| 12.29.10 @ 12:25PM
LOL Good point. Seems Obama is a bad luck charm in elections and football.
Darin| 12.29.10 @ 8:12AM
Suppose the game had been played and dozens of people were killed on their way to the game. How many of the same people whining about the game being postponed would be whining about the NFL not caring about fans? You can't have it both ways. Note the same applies to airport security, health care, welfare programs, and so forth.
John Guardiano | 12.29.10 @ 8:20AM
Darin,
Thanks for your comment, but you can't live life in constant fear of distant and extremely unlikely hypotheticals. Life is all about calculated risk.
And in any case, in a free society, people are -- or at least ought to be -- responsible for themselves and their own safety.
Here's your logic at work:
"Suppose the game had been played on a clear and crisp day and dozens of people were killed by a car as they crossed the street en route to the stadium. How many of the same people whining about the game being postponed would now be whining about the NFL not caring about fans?"
Nonsense. The roads were clear, and there was the public transit system. The game should have been played Sunday night.
Regards,
John
Bob K.| 12.29.10 @ 8:34AM
Over the years I've been to at least 10 Eagle games in worse snowstorms than this past one. And I traveled to them and back from them on the Turnpike and the Schuylkill Expressway!
Suppose you quit your whimpering about your fellow man? You have Obama to take care of them now. Why aren't you happy?
Old Soldier| 12.29.10 @ 9:58AM
Pretend for a moment that you are a free man - responsible for your own health and safety. Then you would make the choice on what is safe and what is risky behavior.
Sheep don't have to make those choices - they wait for the shepard and his dogs to direct them.
DG in GA| 12.31.10 @ 9:35AM
I could understand this kind of decision if the game was being played in Atlanta or Tampa and the forecast was for 5 - 8" of snow. Good Heavens! The entire REGION would be shut down. But this is PENNSYLVANIA for heaven's sake! Like they never get snow? Those people know how to drive in it.
This was all about lawsuits, make no mistake about it.
donserge| 12.29.10 @ 8:21AM
Virtually the entire NFL heirachy are liberal wussies as are, by the way, most of the network and ESPN announcers and commentators. Why should the decision surprise anyone?
Karl Lucifer Mars| 12.29.10 @ 8:35AM
Apparently Rush Limbaugh's comment that the media wants a black hero, is actually true in the sense that diversity and multicultural coverage is destroying the NFL.
John Guardiano | 12.29.10 @ 8:44AM
Karl,
Rush Limbaugh was unfairly and unconscionably maligned and smeared. But "diversity and multicultural coverage" have absolutely nothing to do with the cancelation of Sunday night's game.
And "diversity and multicultural coverage" aren't "destroying the NFL." Instead, as I note in this piece, liberal corporate paternalism is undermining the sport and denying us fans legitimate football enjoyment.
Regards,
John
Bob Grant| 12.29.10 @ 10:47AM
I think I agree with you but could you expand on defining what is Liberal Corporate Paternalism (LCP)?
Karl Lucifer Marx| 12.29.10 @ 11:44AM
Liberal Corporate Paternalism is the diversity crowd in all it's glory including an elitist attitude towards the public.
As far as Limbaugh he hit the ball out of the park with his comment. It was dead on.
Bob Grant| 12.29.10 @ 12:01PM
Awww, sports and race. An interesting yet combustible topic. Lots of interesting psychology behind it.
The black quarterback is especially unique and interesting.
Karl Lucifer Marx| 12.30.10 @ 5:57AM
Here's the exact quote, it was about race, it was dead on, and it almost predicted the state of affairs of the NFL today. It's all about the squeegee perceptions of the left wing media.
Limbaugh quote:
Let's review: McNabb, he said, is "overrated ... what we have here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback can do well—black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well.
Penguins Fan| 12.29.10 @ 8:43AM
Ed $pendell....the author of an income tax increase, the gambling operations he personally oversaw that ruined the Penguins' plan to build a new arena at no taxpayer expense, the man who ran up Pennsylvania debt and left a huge budget hole, the man who sped at 100 MPH from Harrisburg to Philly so he could host an Eagles' post game TV show.....
$pendell is a corrupt blowhard. I don't need $pendell to tell me that the NFL has been taken over by a bunch of effeminate wusses.
Roger Bad-dell has made an example of Steelers linebacker James Harrison this year, making Harrison pay fines for hits that were not penalites while the games were being played, and that led to phantom penalties being called on Harrison later in the season.
Mr. Guardino, God can bless $pendell, but we in Western Pennsylvania will bless Tom Corbett's inauguration. $pendell sucked as governor and the Eastern Pennsylvania idiots who elected him twice can keep him.
John Guardiano | 12.29.10 @ 8:47AM
Penguins Fan,
Understand. I'm not defending Rendell's record as governor (you know far more about that than I do), just his sharp and insightful comments re football and the wussification of America.
Regards,
John
Douver3| 12.29.10 @ 8:55AM
$pendell was echoing the misfits who were deprived of their bread and circuses,going along with the crowd. He was just trying to make himself look good.I suggest Mayor Rendell would not have shot his mouth off that way.
Penguins Fan| 12.30.10 @ 6:08PM
Mr. Guardino,
The editorial board of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review takes issue with your point. Not long ago, before Snowmageddon, Interstate 78 in eastern Pennsylvania was badly mishandled during a snowfall. Thousands of motorists were stuck on the highway for several hours. Ed $pendell is a completely incompetent twit that was propped up by the dufuses who dwell in suburban Philadelphia as well as the dimwits who live in Philadelphia City and the dyed in the wool brain dead Democrats of Allegheny County - who would not vote for Dan Onorato in the last election.
$pendell was talking out his keester. Nothing more. Everyone - even those who support $pendell - know what a horse's ass $pendell really is.
Ryan| 12.29.10 @ 9:00AM
Several of Harrison's hits SHOULD have been penalties and were made with bad form.
A helmet is NOT a weapon in football. Helmet-to-helmet contact against someone NOT running the football (a receiver going for a pass or the QB in the pocket) is BAD TACKLING FORM.
A viscious hit that sends someone to the hospital was done improperly.
Penguins Fan| 12.30.10 @ 6:04PM
Harrison's hits were not worthy of fines. Harrison has been penalized for making clean hits that the dimwit officials called "helmet to helmet" when no such contact was made.
Harrison caught grief because he clobbered two Cleveland Browns. One was incidental contact (Josh Cribbs) and the other was when Massaquoi ducked into Harrison after dropping a pass.
I saw football in the 1970s. Harrison would not have been the roughest of them had he played then.
Negro X| 12.29.10 @ 5:32PM
Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Rendell is a POS.
MoeBlotz| 12.29.10 @ 8:49AM
At 14.00 Sunday 26 December Mayor Nutter declared a snow emergency in Philadelphia and suburbs. The forecast from NWS included winds of 35 mph or higher with snow fall of one to four inches per hour. That is considered to be a blizzard. The heaviest accumulation on the Sunday occurred during the period when the postponed game would have been played and amounted to over seven inches of snow. Youse can all second guess the city and NFL now,but at the time a decision had to be made the information at hand indicated a worse storm than what actually hit. The Iggles lost anyway,so tough @*#$){/.
tdiinva| 12.29.10 @ 8:56AM
BS. I have seen many games played in the cold, snow and wind at Soldier's Field which sits on the shores of Lake Michigan. Unlike other sports, football is played in every kind of weather. The greatest game in NFL history was played in arctic conditions in 1967.
The real reason that the cancelled the game was that it would have hamstung Michael Vick's flashy game. Well isn't karma a b***h? He sucked yesterday and got beat by the loser Vikings.
MoeBlotz| 12.29.10 @ 10:44AM
NFL title game,Cowboys v.Packers in Green Bay? I saw that game as well and the air temperature was in the teens. The big difference: no snow. Yesterday the Vikings dinna' look like losers,did they?
tdiinva| 12.29.10 @ 1:14PM
The ambient air temperature was in the teens...the negative teens with a wind chill of -36 on the revised scale.
John Guardiano | 12.29.10 @ 8:59AM
MoeBlotz,
Not so fast. The weather forecasts were all over the lot. No every meteorologist was predicting a blizzard; far from it.
And, as the governor said, you can't let the weathermen control and dictate when and where football is played. The weather is fickle and unpredictable; it changes by the minute.
There was no "snow emergency" in Philadelphia. And the fact that our "leaders" quickly resort to this type of overblown, apocalyptical language says much more about us and our society than it does about the weather.
Regards,
John
Curly Smith| 12.29.10 @ 8:54AM
So you're saying that the NFL should have disregarded the "snow emergency" declared by the Mayor of Philly? That the NFL should have recognized that the weather forecast was wrong, that a mere 2-5 inches of snow would fall instead of the predicted 8-12". http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/st.....id=7864643
Mayor Michael Nutter declared a snow emergency in Philadelphia beginning at 2 p.m. Sunday and urged residents to stay off roads expected to see 8 to 12 inches of snow and perhaps more, along with strong winds that would make for dangerous driving conditions.
"We are urging all Philadelphians, please be careful, please be safe," the mayor told reporters at City Hall. Nutter urged residents and travelers to get an early start and be off the roads by the time the storm hit because "when it happens, it will hit very hard."
It's all well and good to come in after the fact and call people wimps but, in doing so, aren't you also saying that the dead in New Orleans were courageous to ignore the evacuation order?
John Guardiano | 12.29.10 @ 9:08AM
Curly Smith,
The mayor overreacted by declaring a "snow emergency" prematurely. He probably did this for financial reasons (to secure federal and state money); but that doesn't negate the fact that there was no "snow emergency" in Phily.
The weather forecasts changed by the minute and were hardly unanimous in predicting a "blizzard."
And are you really comparing a hurricane with a heavy snowfall? Please.
A hurricane wrecks and destroys all in its wake and can't really be controlled or contained. A heavy snowfall, by contrast, is something that we can and do control and contain. In fact, we do so every winter in every Northeast and Midwest city in America.
Regards,
John
Curly Smith| 12.29.10 @ 10:44AM
So, you know after-the-fact that the Mayor over-reacted? Man, that's some leap of faith. And you ascribe ulterior motives to his reasoning but you fully buy "Fast Eddie" Rendell's comment that "the people can make their own judgments about their safety"? You call that "straight shooting" even though it completely repudiates his ideology? You know, the liberal ideology that says people are utterly incapable of taking care of themselves?
And yeah, I can compare a snow storm to a hurricane. I've been in both. Neither are bad until they're bad. And the forecasts for both are often very wrong. But I suppose a stadium full of trapped freezing, but BRAVE!!, souls would have looked good to you because Philly would then be wimp-free? Yeah, it wouldn't have mattered if the 8-12" became 24" with power lines down around the city, cars and buses stranded, and 15 people died frozen in the bleachers. But that wouldn't have happened because you know, after-the-fact, that there wasn't a real snowstorm.
FYI - you should reread your comment on the hurricane wrecking havoc and recall that the people in New Orleans didn't leave because the prior forecasts of havoc wreaking never happened. You should be very careful when you disregard the potency of nature's fury. There's a line between not being a wimp and in being stupid. Take care that you don't cross it.
MoeBlotz| 12.29.10 @ 10:52AM
Right in Curly. Armchair quarterbacks are always good at analysing the game after it ends.
ejp| 12.29.10 @ 11:17AM
No one has to question my conservative credentials. And I am entirely on the side of those who simply acted from prudence regarding a storm that was a monster on all levels in terms of how it impacted my own state of New Jersey (shutting down all three airports) and where the *potential* for the same existed in Philly. Okay, it didn't come to pass there, but if so much as ONE life was spared as a result of that, it was worth it as far as I'm concerned. And those who condemn that decision who had ZERO intention of being at the game themself in those conditions and having to handle the driving conditions across highways and bridges in potentially unsafe conditions but who in all likelihood were just anxious to see a blizzard game from the cozy warm confines of their den, feeling so safe, fat and comfortable IMO protesteth way too much.
John Guardiano | 12.29.10 @ 12:50PM
ejp,
Based on your logic of zero tolerance for the risk of even one life, we should ban driving.
After all, we know with absolute certainty that a certain number of people every year will die in traffic accidents. Therefore, we should ban driving: Because, as you say, "if so much as ONE life [is] spared as a result of that it [will be] worth it."
Sorry, but no thanks. That's a recipe for living in a bubble, if not a police state. I much prefer freedom, even though it requires some internal fortitude and yes, risk.
Regards,
John
ejp| 12.29.10 @ 2:49PM
John, with all due respect you are now substituting the circumstances of the purely generic (driving in general) for what should apply for the *specific* nature of this one *specific* event. The two situations are apples and oranges in the classic sense. And in this case, the "freedom" you are talking about also means placing the DEMAND of a lot of underpaid workers in the concession stands and elsewhere to put their *own* lives and well-being potentially at risk *without* any say-so on their part for the sake of putting on an entertainment spectacle that only those watching in the safe, fat comfortable environment of home would be able to enjoy because I guarantee the people in the stands would not have taken much enjoyment from it.
Bob K.| 12.29.10 @ 9:17AM
I'm saying that the REAL reason Mayor Nutter called a snow emergency which wasn't needed was to give overtime to the city workers! Double time for working on Sunday too! The Unions were big contributors to him.
believer| 12.29.10 @ 8:54AM
Hollywood is way ahead of the NFL in terms or the wussification of America, when was the last time you saw a man beat a woman at anything in the movies or on T.V.? Fighting, basketball, football,baseball, anything! 75 years ago Americans grew up learning to respect and defend the weaker sex, now Feminists would have our women in a role that is against their nature and God's law. So a little wussification by the NFL is hardly an issue.
Willis| 12.29.10 @ 10:43AM
There may not be a direct line between cause and effect here, but I think the wussification of football started when the only qualification for a sideline reporter became two X chromosones. Pathetic. I hit mute the moment they appear on screen.
Tim the Enchanter| 12.29.10 @ 10:59AM
You too?
Ryan| 12.29.10 @ 8:58AM
I think they saw the chance to make some money, actually, and wanted to find an excuse to move the game to primetime Tuesday night.
dc| 12.29.10 @ 9:34AM
I've spent enough time in Philly and around Philly/S. Jersey people to know that (1) most fans would have made it to that Sunday night game, easily and happily; and (2) Rendell was and is pandering to that majority, which is mostly a blue collar, F-you, tough-minded bunch, even though they inexplicably vote mainly for leftist kleptocrats and socialists.
Goodell is as many above have said, a candyass lawyer, a cheater, liar, and corrupt to the core. He's in bed with certain teams and their owners (e.g., the Patsies and their cheating coach and pretty boy QB), and arbitrarily sanctions those teams and players whom he doesn't like. He directs the refs like a puppeteer, he licks Maobama's toes any chance he gets, and ultimately, he's nothing more or less than a petty dictator abusing his power to the extent he can get away with it. Most lawyers (I know, as I am one) are just the same--petty, cowardly little pukes who will bully those they can, and lie and shriek when anyone accuses them of being corrupt and unethical (which most of them are).
For all we know, Goodell might have done this just because he had the power to do so. It had nothing to do with ratings--a Sunday night game will always get better ratings than anything on a Tuesday night (any NFL fan will tell you that). Some group of people were paid off, and paid off well, to effect this schedule change, and Goodell pocketed his cut of it.
Probably most NFL players disagreed with the move, but they have no voice and no clout except through their union stooge reps, with whom Goodell and the owners are about to fight to the death. Again, it was an opportunity for Goodell to say to everyone, look how powerful I am, look how "caring" I am--worship me. What a piece of dogsh*t.
To the larger point, yes the NFL and U.S. society generally (now to include the military--thanks RINOs) is wussified. Men are encouraged not to be men. Kids play video games instead of sports and think they're real (there are TV shows that show people playing video games...think about that). The gun and hunting-ban lobby is relentless in demonizing what ought to be natural pursuits for men and women alike--anyone who thinks the NFL suits aren't sympathetic to the various leftists and anti-American jackasses who want to tear down this country by tearing down what small citadels of actual manhood that remain is delusional. There's so little left to truly celebrate in or about this country, and Goodell is about to preside over the removal and destruction of one more of those things--not only through arbitrariness and obvious, blatant corruption (which turns off real fans) but through the upcoming strike. Get used to cancellations and postponements, soon that will be the rule rather than the exception.
NavyBrat | 12.29.10 @ 9:45AM
Rendell's on his way out. That's why he said this. He knows he's got nothing to loose. I too, am a Pittsburgher & know that "The Governor of Philly" is one of those who's helped to bring about this wussification that he's moaning about.
"Such praise, coming from so degraded a source, was degrading to me, its recipient."...Cicero
Kent Lyon| 12.29.10 @ 9:55AM
Rendell is in the vanguard of those engineering the wussification of America. It's his own damn fault. He has aided and abetted liberals at every turn. His hypocrisy is blatant. That he's right once does not an American leader make. Give me Andy Jackson. When Rendell can beat the best troops in the world (the ones that defeated Napoleon at Waterloo--the Ox and the Bucks) with a rag-tag militia that is outnumbered 3 to 1, and not only wins, but crushes the enemy, inflicting 30% casualties while suffering under 2% casualties, then Rendell can talk about the wussification of America. When he takes a bullet in the chest, shrugs it off, and kills his opponent, he can talk about the wussification of America. When he gives the order to execute KSM after a 30 minute military tribunal (as Jackson did to British miscreants stirring up the Seminole in Florida against American settlements in Georgia), he can talk about the wussification of America. When he builds the equivilent of the Hoover Dam ahead of schedule and under budget he can talk about the wussification of America. When he does the equivilent of taking Fallujah he can talk about the wussification of America. When he does the equivilent of taking Iwo Jima, or the Bataan death march, he can talk about the wussification of America. When he does the equivilent of scaling the cliffs at Point Du Hoc, he can talk about the wussification of America. Harry Truman, who commanded an artillery unit in WWI and nuked Hiroshima and Nagasaki could talk about the wussification of America. Even John Kennedy, who fought in the Pacific, albeit incompetently, could. Not Ed Rendell. What has Rendell ever done to reverse that wussification? Or to demonstrate that he's not part and parcel of it? Nothing. How great is Pennsylvania doing? What marvelous achievements has he effected in his own state? Not much that I know of. He's the ultimate place-holder who has done nothing for his state. Wuss!
tdiinva| 12.29.10 @ 10:02AM
You left off, take a bullet and come quipping "I forgot to duck" like President Reagan...
dc| 12.29.10 @ 11:42AM
NavyBrat, Lyon, etc, please don't interpret my rant above as praising Fast Eddie even faintly--he's a greasy, lying bastard who is pandering to what he (reasonably) thinks is the sentiment of most of his constituents. I hope he's on his way out and one dollop of "straight shooting" in this limited case does not give him moral authority to inconvenience a homeless dog, much less lecture Americans about who is and isn't a wussy.
Funny that some of the whiners below (but, it really did snow, and gee I wouldn't want to have to scrape my car off, and what about the accidents?) completely miss the points you're making.
Nobody with any sense is saying the NFL didn't have the RIGHT to make the choice it did. What many are saying is that it was a weak, stupid, short-sighted and corruptly made decision that shows what kinds of manicured lawyer pussies are in charge of the NFL (and, don't forget, most major US cities as well). It's a small symptom of a much more virulent and advanced disease that will kill this country (at least, that part of this country that doesn't secede along with Texas).
Clint| 12.29.10 @ 10:01AM
On the one hand, Wussification & Chickafication are neutering down American men. On the other hand, hired short term guns payed big money, who come in & outta of teams & towns to entertain people sittin'in the stands and at home on the couch ain't doin' all that much to reverse American men's Wussification & Chickafication either.
Also, by the time, The NFL & other Pro-Sports get done pandering to get a women's audience & stopping the big bad men from hurtin' each other, many of We Un-Wussified & Un-Chickafied ain't gonna wanna watch it anyhow.
tdiinva| 12.29.10 @ 10:04AM
There is alway hockey. Hockey players are much tougher then any other team athletes.
Clint| 12.29.10 @ 10:33AM
Of course, the people who watch them ain't necessarily tougher & about 52 % are still canucks, while about 22 % are Americans.
Bob Grant| 12.29.10 @ 11:05AM
Nice synopsis of the current state of the NFL. I agree with all of it!
Being a long-time fan of the sport, I don't necessarily follow the game any more, but mostly it's demise.
I just don't think most people understand how the game has changed in every conceivable way, mostly for the worse; from how the game's covered on television and radio, the style of play, the economics of running a team, to it's political/socio aspects.
Bob Grant| 12.29.10 @ 10:07AM
The NFL is sh***ing in it's own nest and is just a shell of what it used to be a mere 15 years ago. Case in point:
* Cancelling a game because of weather...unprecedented
* Not only do many teams play in domed stadiums, most now PRACTICE in indoor facilities. The factor of weather has almost been eliminated
* Performance enhancing drugs
* Yes. The chickification of football is ruining the game. Honoring the Susan G. Komen foundation is one thing but for an entire month is over the top to the extreme. We know why it's done but should it?...No
* Unnecessary stoppages in play. The biggest offender is instant replay followed by head injury timeouts
* The increase in head injuries. Why is this happening?...Because players are coached at an early age to use their heads as a means to bring down a player. Players hit with much more force than before but helmet technology has reached it's limit protecting player's heads...How to resolve? (a) make the penalites more harsh than they currently are (b) remove facemasks or make the helmets "softer"...never happen
* Most NFL owners are P.T. Barnum types who only care about revenue streams, thus taking away the enjoyment from fans. How (a) testing the limits on how much stupid fans will pay for parking, concessions, merchandise, etc. (b) removing signs fans used to hang over railings and decks in favor of those FRIGGIN LED corporate sign boards...fans are an afterthought these days
* Those same PT Barnum-type owners who put cities' budget at risk by building BILLION dollar stadiums
I could go on but...
Howard| 12.29.10 @ 12:03PM
I think it is fair to extrapolate that in 10 years the NFL will be a touch football league. Girls can play as well. And every game will end in a tie; so there are no hurt feelings. And Hillary Clinton will be the Commissioner.
Bob Grant| 12.29.10 @ 7:36PM
Hitlery is more suited to be on the field.
wbheff| 12.29.10 @ 10:37AM
Every once in a great while, someone has a truly appropriate last name, such as does the current mayour of Philadelphia.
A. C. Santore| 12.29.10 @ 10:45AM
I never thought I'd say this, but here it is.
What a load of naturally-produced fertilizer!
The game was postponed because the weather forecast called for about four inches an hour to fall while the game was going on. Assuming that Nature follows her inimitable patterns, that snow would have fallen not only on the playing field and the fans in their seats, and not only on all of the roadways the fans would have to take to get home after the game, but also on the parking lot.
For three hours. Three hours at four inches an hour is twelve inches.
The game was postponed because an estimated 70,000 fans and employees would have found their cars buried under a foot of snow, along with the lanes in the parking lots.
I've watched and enjoyed many a game in the snow. I've never had to shovel a foot of snow off my car in a lot filled with tens of thousands of other cars covered with a foot of snow.
The weather forecast was correct, by the way.
Groad| 12.29.10 @ 11:00AM
Ditto. THe congestion around the stadiums is bad enough during clear weather. With a nice layer of snow and ice and the construction on I-95 by the ramps, that would have been a nightmare. It's bad enough that the city gummint is broke and incompetent. 50,000 fans stranded in that area would have raised more hell than Fast Eddy Spendell had when he canceled plowing contracts a few years ago and stranded all this people on the interstate after that blizzard. Ed Spendell is a blowhard. The fans coming and leaving from NJ would have had it worse. More snow than the city got and MAJOR construction on I-295. Porkulus projects.
John Guardiano | 12.29.10 @ 12:36PM
A.C. Santore,
Wow, I wonder how people in every other Northeast and Midwest city cope with having "their cars buried under a foot of snow..." And I wonder how the people in upstate New York, New England, Chicago and the Midwest manage to cope with snow.
If 70,000 fans don't want to cope with the snow, they have two choices: 1) stay home (no one is forcing them, after all to attend the game); or 2) move to a warmer place without snow.
But please spare us the whining about the horrors of having to trek through the snow to watch a football game. Big deal.
Regards,
John
ejp| 12.29.10 @ 7:49PM
John, let me ask a blunt question. Would YOU have gone to this game and sat in a blizzard in uncomfortable seats for several hours wondering if you were going to have to dig a foot of snow off your car in the parking lot afterwards AND run the risk of who knows what kind of disaster might happen just getting out of the parking lot, let alone on the highways? Or are you just speaking as the kind of fan who feels gypped about not getting to see an old style 60s NFL blizzard game live but from the comfort of your warm living room?
PattyMor| 12.29.10 @ 10:50AM
Well it was the Demon party that wrecked our institutions. They wrecked public education by their alliance with the public unions. They wrecked the playground by their alliances with the slip and fall lawyers and class action lawsuits.
They wrecked the housing industry by passing laws mandating housing for unqualified people. They wrecked the banking industry by forcing banks to make the loans. They wrecked the intercities and their families by doling out welfare and chasing off the men. Now all the men & boys inhabit the prisions.
Now they are wrecking the currency before our eyes. They are wrecking the energy industry by banning any exploration; now cap & trade by fiat.
Next up: your food. Stock up now before the prices skyrocket and food becomes scarce. The Internet will be censored by fiat.
We now have an almost totally illegal government that rules by decree, worse that King George could have ever been.
Joe Oliva| 12.29.10 @ 11:56AM
Patty,
Your comment and the ones below from buckeyeman, Eric Damon, and Michael Tomlinson are right on target. The Democrats are the ultimate wussifiers and Rendell is one of the biggest wussifiers ever.
I can hardly wait for our 2012 Tea Party.
Eric Damon| 12.29.10 @ 11:01AM
What is the big deal about postponing a game in the NFL, and how does that have anything to do with the "wussification of America"? The game was moved from Sunday night to Tuesday night...big deal.
Too many people are acting like the NFL is something other than an entertainment corporation that seeks the best way to present its product, but that is exactly what it is. And their fear of lawsuits over accidents and the like are totally justified because at this very moment they are a party to a suit filed by some woman who was hurt by a falling drunk at a Bengals game. Somehow the NFL has been dragged into the suit because it was an NFL game I suppose, but they are in position where they have to defend themselves as a party to something they had nothing to do with!
And you know what, listening to Ed Rendell yammer about this and hearing conservatives jump on this bandwagon is really annoying me. Ed Rendell is not this straight shooter that he is being portrayed as, because this same alleged straight shooter was all for the Obama agenda and he never once recognized that he and his fellow liberals are serious blame bearers in this situation. The liberals are the ones who don't want to keep score, give out participation trophies to everyone, and try to assure that no one ever gets their feelings hurt. Funny that Mr. Straight Shooter failed to mention any of that!
And what was with the talk of China in his initial rant about? Sure the Chinese would have played the game in the government said so, because the people would have no freedom to do differently. But just because the government can coerce someone into doing something doesn't mean it's a great idea. And why are people ignoring the fact that Mr. Straight Shooter couldn't keep his rampant big government leanings out of the rant when he was saying that the NFL, a private corporation, should have asked his blessing to make a private business decision? Or is that now okay with my fellow conservatives, so long as there is still a platform to whine about a private business making what they felt was the best decision for them?
Pat| 12.29.10 @ 2:12PM
Eric, you saw straight through the silliness and went right to the heart of the matter. Football is nothing more than entertainment - fans are paying ridiculous prices to watch incredible athletes play a game - so we feel the need to complicate matters by introducing inclement weather - and all in the name of some great American tradition? But, does anyone complain when we no longer take young Bobby and cute little Cathy to watch the clowns and trapeze artists under a giant canvas tent called the Big Top? And we play professional hockey indoors – a game most players learned by hosing down a freshly shoveled patch in the local park and anxiously waiting for the ice to form.
Owners spend hundreds of millions on player salaries but these poor blue collar workers toiling on the gridiron each Sunday may demand their union plan a strike before the start of next season. Keep in mind we’re viewing immature males, some in their 50’s and 60’s, first playing, and later coaching, a child’s game where critical penalties are levied because of an overenthusiastic touchdown celebration in the end zone or a key player is thrown out of a game for spitting on another player – this is supposedly a game played by mature professionals? An ex-felon on parole is currently one of the premier quarterbacks within the league, but the NFL publicly agonizes over the conduct of its young male athletes when encountering young women within nightclubs? The logical absurdity of the NFL is a key factor in what makes it so very entertaining.
But too much sugar in the diet prompts some author to pen a nonsense essay about professional football. And “speaking truth to power” – who talks like that anymore – outside of some neurotic lesbian organizing a Save the Whales rally in San Francisco? Fans are urged to pay half a week’s salary for tickets in the bleachers to watch skill players slip and slide around a field or to witness a 50 million dollar quarterback blowing on his hands to ease the numbness – and all in the name of what? And exactly how does sitting in his overstuffed Lazy Boy chugging a Bud while watching players shiver in 10 degree weather turn every red blooded American male into a “macho man”?
Evanston2| 12.29.10 @ 7:10PM
Eric & Pat, I hate to break up your lovefest but football is entertaining because it's physically tough. Put another way, challenging conditions are what fans (whether there in person, or sitting on the couch) are often looking for. Your comments are equally applicable to ballet: are its fans acrobatic and elegant? No, appreciation for those qualities doesn't mean that you, personally, have to be tough. If "truth to power" doesn't work for you, here's another: STFU.
Eric Damon| 12.30.10 @ 11:46AM
Look clown, this has nothing to do with why football is popular, since my comment made no mention of that issue. My point is that the NFL is a private entertainment company that is based around the sport of football, so at the end of the day decisions are not made on the basis of the sport but of the entertainment value of the game being presented.
As for what fans want, personally I don't watch games as a fan to see "challenging conditions", but to see a well played game. The weather conditions are simply a part of the package, not the central element in the show.
Further, I still don't see what "truth" Ed Rendell was speaking to the NFL or anyone else. He goes on a rant because the NFL made a decision that postponing the game was better than risking having teams, fans, and crews stuck at the Linc in a snowstorm...then morphs it into a further rant about how it is a microcosm of America and conservatives leap to join the bandwagon. But everyone conveniently misses how he acts as though Chinese style coercion is a good thing and how he believes that the NFL should have consulted with him, ie the state government, on a purely private business decision...as if he had some standing in the matter.
Maybe that's the type of conservatism you like, that type that searches for ways to praise people on the other side of the aisle. If so, more power to you; but I refuse to pretend that Ed Rendell was right about this just because it sounds like something I might have liked hearing.
Tim the Enchanter| 12.29.10 @ 11:04AM
I cannot believe that we have an entire thread about football and bad weather, and no mention of Buffalo, NY!
Michael Tomlinson| 12.29.10 @ 11:12AM
The wussification of America is a gift of Rendell's Democrat party embodied in the first vaginal President Barack Obama.
buckeyeman| 12.29.10 @ 11:22AM
For me the real issue isn't whether the game should have been postponed or not. The pros and cons are all over the map. The real issue is how a far left socialist politician can say with a straight face that the folks are "wusses" when every act of his public life has contributed to that social diseases of risk avoidance, dependance, and refusal to accept responsibility for one's own acts.
The author of this article describes Rendell as a "straight shooter". Really? I've seen him on TV many times and can't remember a truthful word ever passing his lips. A hard left socialist, redistributionist, statist politician hardly fits MY definition of a straight shooter. I don't really give a rip about what he thinks about a football game.
Anthony| 12.29.10 @ 11:27AM
No offense, Mr. Guardiano, but it appears it takes very little to impress you.
Your gushing praise of fast Eddie Rendell, albeit, correct on the insignificant issue of when a damn football game gets played, nonetheless does not warrant this type of praise for him.
Fast Eddie is a D hack of the first order, and as Messrs. Lyon and Tomlinson said, has contributed to the wussification of America.
Let's hope it takes more than this when you decide who to vote for in 2012. If this is all it takes to impress you, then please stay home.
Goofus| 12.29.10 @ 11:36AM
So they postponed the game to Teusday. The Egos didn't bother to show up anyway. According to the press headline from Monday they clinched the title by not playing on Sunday. I guess they figured that would work on Teusday also.
Jim Woodward| 12.29.10 @ 12:15PM
Football is a fall/winter sport to be played outdoors in the cold, rain, mud and snow, with the fans enjoying the rain, cold and snow.
Heck, I played in my teens and sat in Memorial Stadium in all kinds of weather watching the Baltimore Colts.
I wonder how good the stats of the domed stadium, astro turf players would be if they had been playing
manly football?
Just sayin'.
R Martin| 12.29.10 @ 12:41PM
Football wussification is a mere symptom of the broader, toxic changes taking place in our society. One small group of politically active people has successfully engineered everyone else's contracts, social relations, diets, habits and even moral sentiments. We are educating our children in a curriculum of multicultural fairy tales and looking away as it happens. This country better toughen-up quickly in many, many ways. Are there enough tough politicians to lead us in that direction?
NavyBrat | 12.29.10 @ 1:00PM
This reminds me of when I first moved to Memphis when my Dad was still in the Navy. My second year there, I was in 5th grade. The news was predicting 5-6 inches of snow as possible for the next day. School was canceled the night before. Guess what? No snow the next day.
Same pile of shat, just a different bunch of flies in this situation.
Bad Albino Bob| 12.29.10 @ 1:54PM
I wonder what they would have done if they were in the Maine ice storm of 2000 when we were cut off without power for three weeks? My guess is die.
People, weather is going to do this to you once in awhile. It isn't global warming or government or incompetence. If you're not ready for it, maybe that's just nature's way of blowing her whistle and telling you to get out of the gene pool.
Richard Baker| 12.29.10 @ 3:51PM
Lombardi, Halas, and Curly Lambeau, among others, would be shocked at the thought of not playing in snow. Watched a Buffalo Bills game from Buffalo in the late '60s on WRC TV Channel 4 from DC. It was snowing so hard that you could barely see the players and the stands, which were filled, looked as if a snowman convention was in town. And the game was played. I agree with Rendell on this issue and only this one. Dick Butkus, Sam Huff, Mike Ditka, or Mike Singletary for Commissioner.
Jim McAlister| 12.29.10 @ 3:59PM
I can't agree with your analysis of Rendell's macho -- what the "tough" Ed Rendell is talking is forcing the reversal of a freely made decision by a private party. What Rendell went on to say was, "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." Yes, Ed, what's needed is a command economy and forced marches of fans. Kick butt, take names, throw 'em in the Gulag. Politics, Dem-style.
John Guardiano | 12.29.10 @ 6:33PM
Mr. McAlister,
Neither I nor the governor has ever suggested that the government "reverse" the decision made by a private-sector entity.
What we have done is recognize that that private-sector entity has the right to make that decision (re the game), and then we've criticized that decision.
In short, the NFL has the right to make a boneheaded decision; and we have the right to criticize that boneheaded decision.
Regards,
John
David| 12.29.10 @ 4:23PM
Im from Canada, so three words from me.
The Fog Bowl
Go look it up. Thats how football should be played.
Bill Sundling| 12.29.10 @ 6:26PM
The article is incredibly stupid. The roads would be impassable when the game was over. People wouldn't be able to leave. Some would die. It's just a football game. It's better to wait until everyone can get there and get home safely. The NFL made a smart business decision.
Pete| 12.29.10 @ 6:36PM
Goodell has turned the league into the WWF. Vegas knows it...check out the odds on NE. Kraft got Goodell his job. Goodell, like Obama, has created lawyerly worded rules that can be arbitrarily enforced to influence outcomes.
Dan| 12.29.10 @ 7:44PM
In the next published dictionary next to Peter Principle will be a picture of fast Eddie as Governor of Pa. He has spent his adult life drinking from the public trough and has never met a tax he didn't like and now that he is not running for office he will say anything to keep his name in the spotlight. I object to anyone who does not drive his own car, who has a State Trooper drive him directly to the stadium gate and who watches the game from a heated box seat talk about wussification. He is the wuss.
Sir Winston| 12.29.10 @ 8:02PM
What about the predictions made by Sports Illustrated about the changes in professional sports due to Global Warming in 2007? Are these cancelled/postponed games the result of seawater pouring into the fields?
Frank DeMartini | 12.29.10 @ 8:20PM
This is a very humorous look at the situation but it really does say a lot about the state of our country right now. The current administration believes that the American people cannot do anything for themselves. The Government is the answer to everything. Well, I say, like Ronald Reagan, "Government is not the answer, it is the problem."
RavenFan| 12.30.10 @ 10:47PM
Ever think they cancelled the game because Philly fans would have delighted in throwing snowballs during the game that could have injured someone? But like all fans, I was looking forward to watching a snowgame.
Richard Baker| 12.31.10 @ 11:16AM
Man up, America!
somnolence| 1.1.11 @ 2:56PM
I'm much more concerned with the "mainstreaming" of such a vile word or term into American society. Football is really just a game in the end analysis(apologies to my nephew, who is a very successful defensive coach at a high school in Florida). If there is a blame game, blame new age psychology, which has reached the tumult of all nonsense with males getting in touch with their feminine side, etc. Roger Goodell perhaps overreacted, as do many individuals in management/proprietary positions in assessing the public safety and potential consequences in cancelling the game. Life goes on, even in the world of giant human behemoths banging up on each other.
ExPat| 1.1.11 @ 8:02PM
Sure, in retrospect it was a dumb decision, but let's face it we have little ability to predict a major storm, let alone climate change. I think you give Rendell too much credit. He's a great Monday morning quarterback but would no doubt have been among the first to condemn the NFL for going ahead with the game and a fatal accident had occurred during a blizzard on the highways leading to the Stadium.
victony@atlanticbb.net| 1.1.11 @ 8:15PM
As a PA resident who has lived under Rendell, I can say this is the absolutely worst article I have ever read on Spectator.
The main reason the game was postponed is that it takes time to move 12" of snow from urban streets. If something like a fire occurs and the roads are snow covered and clogged with 50,000 football fans, rescue vehicles can't get where they have to go. You would think the former mayor of Philly would know this, but I can testify that this man has no common sense.