Remembering the old Met

[BD Sullivan]

I honestly don't know how any human being could have played in the Ice Bowl for that length of time. In my mind every player on both teams should have been honored with some type of endurance award for courage and bravery. It's impossible to describe to someone who hasn't been in it how cold that is.

While he said it after the play was successful, Lombardi stated that it was because of the brutal conditions that he chose not to try a FG that would have sent the game into OT.

I recall just prior to the Freezer Bowl, Mike Adamle said on the air that it felt colder than one year earlier in Cleveland for the Raiders-Brown playoff game, which was an absurd statement given that the earlier game "only" had a temperature of 0--and was played right off of Lake Erie. Forrest Gregg, who played in the Ice Bowl, and was Bengals HC in the Freezer Bowl, said the latter was colder, which is almost as absurd,

[MIKEBENNIDICT]

I agree with Mark that the -9°F & -59°F WC readings were inaccurate for all the reasons he listed. However, the sliding panels at Riverfront Stadium were left open during the Chargers' drives into the wind. That might have created a vortex thus a colder than reported WC factor. It was an incredibly cold game. Without a doubt the second-coldest game ever played in NFL history.

Still, it was nothing like the Ice Bowl (-13°F, -36°F WC). The CFL has never even witnessed a game that cold.

How can that be?

[JWL]

I agree with Mark that the -9°F & -59°F WC readings were inaccurate for all the reasons he listed. However, the sliding panels at Riverfront Stadium were left open during the Chargers' drives into the wind. That might have created a vortex thus a colder than reported WC factor. It was an incredibly cold game. Without a doubt the second-coldest game ever played in NFL history.

Still, it was nothing like the Ice Bowl (-13°F, -36°F WC). The CFL has never even witnessed a game that cold.

How can that be?

A key reason is probably because the Canadian Football League season ends in the autumn. I am not good with the history of that league. Maybe at one time the season ended in the winter. I am not sure.

[John Grasso]

"Cold" is relative, I guess. Minnesota is colder in the winter than Ohio. I'm originally from North Dakota. When we moved to Minnesota we were surprised how mild the winters were. Granted, this was the Twin Cities vs. far northern Minnesota, which would equal North Dakota for cruelly cold temperatures.

My first winter living year-round in upstate New York (1980) on Christmas morning I looked out at the thermometer
behind our house and it showed no mercury - the temperature was -25F.

[JWL]

"Cold" is relative, I guess. Minnesota is colder in the winter than Ohio. I'm originally from North Dakota. When we moved to Minnesota we were surprised how mild the winters were. Granted, this was the Twin Cities vs. far northern Minnesota, which would equal North Dakota for cruelly cold temperatures.

My first winter living year-round in upstate New York (1980) on Christmas morning I looked out at the thermometer
behind our house and it showed no mercury - the temperature was -25F.

My sister was born that next day. According to my parents, the front cover of the New York Post or Daily News read, "Baby, It's Cold Outside."

[mwald]

Regarding the Freezer bowl, based on the new wind chill index the game was between -28 and -33 degrees wind chill; and the air temp -6. This game will go down in history as being inaccurately reported. I have an article on the Freezer Bowl I should dust off. If I recall, they based the weather on the temp an hour before the game from a weather station further away when there was an alternate station nearer. Also almost certain they didn't base the temp on temperatures taken in the stadium that day (which, if they did, should be immediately ruled out for a variety of reasons) because the game telecast mentions they got the temp "from the meteorologists." One newspaper writer reported the accurate temp of -6 in his game summary. Can't remember his name. When I get home I'll find it.

It was Bill Dwyre of the Los Angeles Times who reported the accurate temp of -6 the day after the game. Give that man a see-gar.

Dick Enberg (no fault of his) reported a temp of -9 degrees during the telecast, and it's been that way ever since. Eat your heart out, Winston Churchill.

[Andrew McKillop]

I agree with Mark that the -9°F & -59°F WC readings were inaccurate for all the reasons he listed. However, the sliding panels at Riverfront Stadium were left open during the Chargers' drives into the wind. That might have created a vortex thus a colder than reported WC factor. It was an incredibly cold game. Without a doubt the second-coldest game ever played in NFL history.

Still, it was nothing like the Ice Bowl (-13°F, -36°F WC). The CFL has never even witnessed a game that cold.

How can that be?

A key reason is probably because the Canadian Football League season ends in the autumn. I am not good with the history of that league. Maybe at one time the season ended in the winter. I am not sure.

Exactly! The CFL season is usually over by the end of November. Since at least 1946 there have been only four CFL games (all Grey Cups) that were played into early December. None of them being all that cold. Although one of those games was rather foggy.

The coldest CFL game I've found was the 1993 West Division Final in Calgary. Edmonton beat the Stamps 29-15 in temps. that dipped to -6°F with a -26°F WC. To make matters worse it was snowing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YejbtO_Jlac

[Rupert Patrick]

I honestly don't know how any human being could have played in the Ice Bowl for that length of time. In my mind every player on both teams should have been honored with some type of endurance award for courage and bravery. It's impossible to describe to someone who hasn't been in it how cold that is.

While he said it after the play was successful, Lombardi stated that it was because of the brutal conditions that he chose not to try a FG that would have sent the game into OT.

I recall just prior to the Freezer Bowl, Mike Adamle said on the air that it felt colder than one year earlier in Cleveland for the Raiders-Brown playoff game, which was an absurd statement given that the earlier game "only" had a temperature of 0--and was played right off of Lake Erie. Forrest Gregg, who played in the Ice Bowl, and was Bengals HC in the Freezer Bowl, said the latter was colder, which is almost as absurd,

I remember Steve Sabol said on one of those NFL Films shows he thought the 1980 Raiders Browns game was colder than the Ice Bowl.

[Jay Z]

I honestly don't know how any human being could have played in the Ice Bowl for that length of time. In my mind every player on both teams should have been honored with some type of endurance award for courage and bravery. It's impossible to describe to someone who hasn't been in it how cold that is.

While he said it after the play was successful, Lombardi stated that it was because of the brutal conditions that he chose not to try a FG that would have sent the game into OT.

I recall just prior to the Freezer Bowl, Mike Adamle said on the air that it felt colder than one year earlier in Cleveland for the Raiders-Brown playoff game, which was an absurd statement given that the earlier game "only" had a temperature of 0--and was played right off of Lake Erie. Forrest Gregg, who played in the Ice Bowl, and was Bengals HC in the Freezer Bowl, said the latter was colder, which is almost as absurd,

I remember Steve Sabol said on one of those NFL Films shows he thought the 1980 Raiders Browns game was colder than the Ice Bowl.

Watching replays of the game, the Raiders Browns field conditions looked just as bad as the Ice Bowl. Maybe 1975 AFC Championship was a little better.

[Rupert Patrick]

Watching replays of the game, the Raiders Browns field conditions looked just as bad as the Ice Bowl. Maybe 1975 AFC Championship was a little better.

I was 11 and living in Pittsburgh when the 1975 Championship was played and remember that day well. It was very cold and windy, a few flurries, but there was nowhere near the threat of frostbite that the players faced in Cleveland or Green Bay. The main conditions in Pittsburgh that day were the wind and the ice along the sidelines. Madden still contends to this day that the Steelers intentionally watered down the edges of the sidelines the night before so they would freeze and it would cut down on the Raiders vertical passing game. That was perhaps the most physically brutal game I have ever seen.