Talking Sports: Super woes

I hope there’s snow, freezing rain, hail storms, record low temperatures and the first ever monsoon to hit the east coast of the United States on Feb. 2.

I hope the islands of Manhattan, Staten, Long, Bedloe’s and all the rest of them float out to sea for several hours on that day leaving everyone high and wet in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

I don’t like the idea that they’re going to hold the Super Bowl in a cold-weather city in an outdoor Stadium. Feb. 2, of course is the date of the 2014 Super Bowl.

I know it’s not called the 2014 Super Bowl. It’s called Super Bowl with some capital letters after it. But I can’t read Roman so I’ll just call it 2014. I’ve been lost as to which Super Bowl it’s been since the numbers - or letters - went beyond the early XXs.

For the first time in the history of that championship, the game will be played in the north and subject to weather. It was bad enough they had to hold the game in Detroit one year - or was it two. The Super Bowl is more than a game - it’s an event. People don’t go just for the game. They go for several days or a week, and spend a lot of money doing so.

So now the rich and famous Hollywood types and business tycoons are going to be spending a week in beautiful down town East Rutherford, New Jersey - a former swamp.

OK, so most of the big shots will stay in Manhattan. But the New Jersey side is the focal point of the weekend.

According to the 2010 Census, East Rutherford has a population of less than 9,000. That census also reports that the “borough” is heavily Democratic. The borough voted for Democrat Barack Obama for president and against Republican Chris Christie for governor. Somehow the mayor and entire city council is republican. I don’t know why that should puzzle me, but it does. I guess Mayor James L. Cassella doesn’t have any trouble getting his initiatives through.

I’ve been to East Rutherford a few times, just for a few New Jersey Jets games. I’ve taken very little note of anything in or around East Rutherford. Actually, there’s very little to take note of. It’s little more than a bunch of parking lots and stadiums from what I could tell. As far as I know its entire industry is the sports complex and catering to those who attend.

The New Jersey Devils of the NHL have their home arena located there and, of course, MetLife Stadium is the site of the New Jersey Jets and Giants home games. The former New Jersey Nets played there until they moved to Brooklyn last year. Great move Nets.

I’m not completely dense. I understand the draw to East Rutherford is New York City, just a few miles away on the other side of the Hudson River. Too bad they can’t hold the Super Bowl in Madison Square Garden--right smack in the middle of New York’s West Side.

Of course getting to Manhattan from Jersey means you’ll have to risk sinking in the Hackensack River or the Overpeck Creek on the way. Or maybe it’s not possible to sink in the Hackensack. It’s probably so thick with sludge you could stay afloat for a week. Maybe you could walk across? OK. Not fair. I have no idea on the cleanliness of the Hackensack River. But just the same, I won’t be swimming in it any time soon.

I can’t help hoping that a big snow storm will hit just before game time and bring transportation to a complete halt. Then nobody could get to Manhattan. What would all those people do in East Rutherford?

Maybe they’d like to check out the East Rutherford Operations Center? The EROC is a place where billions of dollars in currency flow through every year. It’s a regional cash handling center for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. On its 13 acres is a one million cubic foot vault that can hold up to 60 billion dollars in U.S. currency. I hope Goldfinger doesn’t hear about the EROC.

One of the functions of the Operations Center is to destroy over five million currency notes a day. Billions of dollars in bills that are tired, worn out and old are incinerated there every year. The operation is likely so efficient the bills are destroyed without even a trace. I suppose if the Super Bowl attendees are stranded in East Rutherford they could check out the EROC.

Pehaps in a snow storm the New York Federal Reserve Bank wouldn’t mind opening up their operations for a tour. You know, keep those Super Bowl attendees and their chauffeurs from getting too shiftless. But I suppose it would be more exciting to go to Washington, D.C. and watch the U.S. Government burn millions of dollars every day without a trace. Or is it billions.

Cruel? I just want the spectacle of weather hampering the big game. It would be news. Criticism would flow.

I started out with something to say about not having the championship of the NFL decided or influenced by bad weather. Somehow I digressed.

Oh well. Like I said, criticism will flow, no matter what.