So the Governor of Pennsylvania called out the National Football League for postponing Sunday’s scheduled Minnesota-Philadelphia football game because the sky – for all practical purposes – was falling.

Heavy, heavy snow from a blizzard this side of apocalypse basically shut down air travel to and from the eastern side of the country. Layers of the white stuff left roadways impassable and cars and trucks sloshed their way along slickly coated bypasses because of ice (it never fails to amaze me that people don’t actually stay home in these situations). In New York, New York, residents requiring emergency assistance were told there would be a five-hour wait for said assistance. And this was after the full force of the blizzard had delivered its wrath upon both innocent and heathen alike.
So, anyway, back to the story at hand. Edward Rendell, the Governor of said aforementioned state, called us all, basically, a “nation of wusses.” He said the Chinese would have never cancelled Sunday’s football game because that’s the mindset of a culture that’s “kicking our butts” in everything.

Methinks the man has a point.

Now, granted, the NFL’s reasoning behind the cancellation seems pretty fair. They were taking into account public safety. Roads were bad and the situation appeared to be growing worse.

Rendell countered that the Interstate system (specifically I-95) and Philly’s own “excellent” public transportation network worked fine. People, he argued, should have been given a choice. (Of course, I would argue that some of these same people shouldn’t have a choice. See my above statement about people out and about in vehicles during all manner of natural disasters – blizzards, hurricanes, tornadoes.)

But, I mean, football is football. How many of us grew up on seeing Vince Lombardi leading those tough-as-old-shoe-leather Packers’ teams onto the “Frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field” for frigid fight after frigid fight? There’s something about football in snow that makes the game all that more interesting. Not only are the two teams battling each other, but also the cold, cold elements. Slips are common. Passes are, more often, dropped. And God forbid you bang your finger on a helmet.

So, yeah, the game should have been played. Not because of the fans, but because of the two teams. If the snow is such a concern, why even play football outdoors up north at all?
Build a dome instead.

Like Minnesota.

Oh, wait.