OK Victor, I'm confused. That kinda sorta resembles the start to Don McClean's "Vincent", but, as usual, you've screwed up the letters.
Well done there blog reader, and with the Dolphins comin' to town Saturday, I kinda did it on porpoise.
Huh?
Saturday, 7pm, Chiefs vs Dolphins, Arrowhead, BrrrrrHA or GEHA whatever they call it. Wind chill at kickoff time BELOW ZERO.
Comprende', but, the "Vincent" attachment? Blue and gray night? Icy icy night?
Again, good catch.. and the message... this ain't the first frozen rodeo....... 1967, THE coldest NFL game EVA'! The NFL Championship. The Dallas Cowboys (9-5) visiting the Green Bay Packers (9-4-1), winner would then play the AFL Championship winner in what was then called 'the second AFL-NFL Championship Game (ie, it hadn't formally been labeled the Super Bowl yet.)
Why are you telling us about this old crap Victor? Because I know folks are gonna be cold Saturday, but mebbe hearing, reading about this 1967 game will allow the blood to flow a bit easier, you'll warm up a tad.......
How cold was it? I'm so glad you asked. The temperature at game time was 15 below zero. Really? Yep, 15 below zero. And had they had the wind chill formula dealybob in place back then, it woulda shown to be 46 degrees below zero. Yowzah, that'll make your red lips blue... and purple. Uh huh.
They actually had heating coils beneath the field, but when they took the tarp off, they malfunctioned, the moisture from the tarp soon turned to ice... The Cowboys later would accuse Vince (ie, Lombardi, Green Bay head coach, thus, the "Vincent" theme..) of doing it on purpose to fell the warmer climate 'America's team.' Field conditions = ice.
Imagine if you will "Carnac" (of course, Johnny Carson) saying "IT WAS SOOOOO COLD" to which sidekick Ed McMahon would then chime in "How cold was it?"... Carnac would say..............
"It was sooooo cold, many of the Green Bay player's cars wouldn't start so they could get them to the game. Linebacker Dave Robinson thumbed a ride with a fan. Willie Wood found his car battery frozen, called a local service station to help him start it.. told they guy "It's just too cold, they're gonna cancel it." Nope.
"It was soooooo cold, the Wisconsin State University - La Crosse band was scheduled to perform pre-game and at halftime... well.. the woodwinds froze and wouldn't play,... the mouthpieces of the bass instruments stuck to the players' lips, 7 members had to be transported to the hospital for hypothermia.. They never played a lick.. even no National Anthem.
The refs realized they were underdressed... got a sporting goods store to open early... got ear muffs, gloves, thermal undies... still.. when ref Norm Schacter blew the whistle to start play it stuck to his lips, his skin ripped off and bled the whole game....
CBS commentator Frank Gifford set his coffee momentarily on a ledge... it froze in no time, causing him to remark on TV "I'm going to take a bite of my coffee now,"
Steve Sabol, director of NFL films, joked "Dallas won the toss and elected to go home."
Funny ha ha Packer fans sitting on the front row kept reaching down to unplug the heated bench of the Cowboys...
Packers linebacker Ray Nitchke developed frostbite, his toenails fell off and his toes turned purple. Bart Starr and four members of the Cowboys got frostbite on their fingers.....
Sadly, one fan expired from the cold
Twas really a great game, the Packers won 21-17... Lambeau Field was donned "The Frozen Tundra".. Packer fans stormed the field knocking over both Cowboy and Packers players.. Gifford requested, and received permission to go into the loser's lockerroom (a first ever) to interview an exhausted, and emotionally choked Dandy Don Meridith, the Cowboy's QB... the interview went so well, it was said it earned Meridith a spot on ABC's Monday Night Football broadcast team some three years later.
The game has long since been labeled, "THE ICE BOWL"
Fast forward to this coming Saturday. Makes it a little more comfy, mebbe. It's offered (only, I heard) on the Peacock Network, a surmise that the NFL is looking for yet another way to dig into consumer pockets.
Just be sure, if you go, you put handwarmers in those pockets.
Go Chiefs.........
Love, Victurd
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