Old School Football
Today the Superbowl participants will be decided. I'm happy to see this weekend's conference championship games played where playoff football was meant to be contested, outdoors in bone chilling weather. I hate indoor football and baseball stadiums and usually root against teams playing in them. In last year's Superbowl, two teams with roofs made the finale. I had no choice but pick a dome team.
Back in the day, when I was a diehard NFL football fan, my buddies and I attended the final regular season game in New England for many years. I would get tickets to an early season game, girlfriends and wives attended, and tickets to the season ending contest. Only the guys went to that game.
In the 80's the New England Patriots had a few good seasons but they mostly sucked. Getting tickets was no problem. Tickets to see a sad sack squad in freezing December weather was very easy. We saw some awful football in bad weather, snow, freezing rain, cold that made every breath hurt my lungs. We were young and foolish, full of phony bravado, and we loved it.
The Patriots were our home team, but not my team. If they lost it was no big deal. I went for the football and time spent with friends, tailgating, cooking on the grill, drinking beer ..... all that fun sports fan stuff.
On today's football menu ... pork ribs and a whole chicken smoked on pecan wood, cooked very slow.
Many years later the Patsies, as I like to call them, beat my team in Pittsburgh on route to their first Superbowl championship. A couple of years later they beat the Steelers, again in Pittsburgh, on the road to another championship. Now I hate the Patsies even with my history of rooting for the home team with my buddies.
The Patsies choked last week. Booo fucking Hooo. Had they won, my Steelers would be playing the Patriots in New England. I was hoping that would be the match-up. Instead, the New York Jets play in Pittsburgh for today's AFC Championship. It should be a great game. The Green Bay at Chicago game is on as I type. I have no dog in that fight but I prefer the Packers over da Bears.
I'm not the football fan I once was. I casually watch games, check scores and highlights, but don't spend an entire Sunday in front of the tube as I did for many years. I have not attended an NFL game since the Arizona Cardinals opened their new stadium on the other side of the city. They built a brand new dome. I'm not interested in paying big $$$ to see a team I don't care for indoors. I prefer football the old fashioned way, in the elements.
I hope Super Bowl XLV has The Pittsburgh Steelers vs The Green Bay Packers .... old school football clubs .... even though the game is being played in a sissy dome in Dallas.