[ed. The '67 Championship was one of the best NFL games in history (and I watched it on tv in Honolulu. Yea!). Here's a short six-minute video.]
The Green Bay Packers' playoff game Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers could be one of the coldest in NFL history, rivaling the subzero temperatures of the 1967 Ice Bowl.
Temperatures at Lambeau Field are expected to be -2F (-19C) at kick off, and by the fourth quarter may reach -7F (-21C), with wind chills approaching -30F (-34 C), according to the National Weather Service. The so-called Ice Bowl, the 1967 NFL championship game in which the Packers beat the Dallas Cowboys to advance to Super Bowl II, saw cold as severe as -13F (-25C), with a wind chill of -46F (-43C).
In these temperatures, exposed skin can become frostbitten in minutes and hypothermia can equally quickly. Players can huddle around giant heaters on the sidelines, but fans will have to take extra safety measures, such as dressing in layers and sipping warm drinks. The Packers plan to pass free coffee, hot chocolate, and 70,000 hand warmers, which fans can slip into gloves and jackets to provide warmth for up to 10 hours. (...)
Lambeau Field has a heating system buried beneath the turf to keep the field from freezing, but it failed during the Ice Bowl, leaving the sod feeling as though "someone had taken a stucco wall and laid it on the ground", according to journalist David Maraniss. The system was upgraded in 1997 to include 30 miles of heating pipes, so players on Sunday can expect softer landings.
The field should be relatively clear Sunday, with no snow in the forecast. The stands had been filled with snow during the week, but the team, continuing a popular tradition, invited members of the public to help shovel it for $10 per hour. Though Packers' tickets sell notoriously quickly, the severe forecast scared off many from buying seats to the playoff game, and the NFL threatened not to air the game on local TV if the team failed to sell out. Corporate partners of the Packers stepped in to assist, however, and helped the team avert disaster for Wisconsin. (...)
The 1967 game took a major toll on players, said Ed Gruver, the author of a book called The Ice Bowl: The Cold Truth. Packers coach Vince Lombardi didn't let most of his players wear gloves, so several, including Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr, suffered varying degrees of frostbite, Gruver said. One Cowboys player had respiratory problems due to breathing in so much frigid air, he added, and Dallas quarterback Don Meredith's calls were inarticulate because his lips were frozen.
The Green Bay Packers' playoff game Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers could be one of the coldest in NFL history, rivaling the subzero temperatures of the 1967 Ice Bowl.
Temperatures at Lambeau Field are expected to be -2F (-19C) at kick off, and by the fourth quarter may reach -7F (-21C), with wind chills approaching -30F (-34 C), according to the National Weather Service. The so-called Ice Bowl, the 1967 NFL championship game in which the Packers beat the Dallas Cowboys to advance to Super Bowl II, saw cold as severe as -13F (-25C), with a wind chill of -46F (-43C).In these temperatures, exposed skin can become frostbitten in minutes and hypothermia can equally quickly. Players can huddle around giant heaters on the sidelines, but fans will have to take extra safety measures, such as dressing in layers and sipping warm drinks. The Packers plan to pass free coffee, hot chocolate, and 70,000 hand warmers, which fans can slip into gloves and jackets to provide warmth for up to 10 hours. (...)
Lambeau Field has a heating system buried beneath the turf to keep the field from freezing, but it failed during the Ice Bowl, leaving the sod feeling as though "someone had taken a stucco wall and laid it on the ground", according to journalist David Maraniss. The system was upgraded in 1997 to include 30 miles of heating pipes, so players on Sunday can expect softer landings.
The field should be relatively clear Sunday, with no snow in the forecast. The stands had been filled with snow during the week, but the team, continuing a popular tradition, invited members of the public to help shovel it for $10 per hour. Though Packers' tickets sell notoriously quickly, the severe forecast scared off many from buying seats to the playoff game, and the NFL threatened not to air the game on local TV if the team failed to sell out. Corporate partners of the Packers stepped in to assist, however, and helped the team avert disaster for Wisconsin. (...)
The 1967 game took a major toll on players, said Ed Gruver, the author of a book called The Ice Bowl: The Cold Truth. Packers coach Vince Lombardi didn't let most of his players wear gloves, so several, including Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr, suffered varying degrees of frostbite, Gruver said. One Cowboys player had respiratory problems due to breathing in so much frigid air, he added, and Dallas quarterback Don Meredith's calls were inarticulate because his lips were frozen.
by Alan Yuhas, Guardian | Read more:
Image: Wesley Hitt/Getty Images
