Whose Idea Was This, Anyway?

With the possible future exception of 2014, the Super Bowl has never been played in the snow. The NFL has rules about climate, average temperatures and stadiums with roofs, to ensure that fans paying thousands of dollars to enjoy the big game don't get snowed on. That's why the game is played either in cities like Miami (10 times) or Los Angeles (7 times) where it's reliably balmy in February, or Minneapolis, Detroit and Indianapolis, all of which have stadiums with retractable roofs. What's happening in 2014? In an exception to the rule, the Super Bowl will be played at Met Life Stadium in metro New York City, which doesn't have a roof and could possibly have a lot of snow on the ground. For now, however, that's a blog post for the future.  

So why am I banging on about Super Bowl site selection rules in the last week of August? The city of Tampa, the Republican National Convention and tropical storm/potential hurricane Isaac, of course. With the storm approaching and the so-called "cone of uncertainty" about where it will go including Tampa, day one of the Republican convention has been cancelled, out of an abundance of caution and concern for the safety of attendees. A last-minute change to an event of this size is a big deal, messy and inconvenient, no matter how the convention organizers try to spin it. It's also manna from heaven for snarky bloggers, so here goes:

Worst. Site. Selection. Decision. Ever.
WHAT ON EARTH WERE THEY THINKING???
Who can we blame this on????

The finger pointing and blame-shifting have already started, with some honcho from the site selection committee being quoted to the effect that they played the odds, i.e., Tampa hasn't been hit by a hurricane in the last week in August in a really long time. The Governor of Florida says, "We know how to deal with hurricanes," and announces he won't be attending the convention; Michael Steele, who was the RNC chairman at the time the site selection decision was made, says, in response to criticism of the decision, "Get over it." Oh, okay.

The show will go on, for sure, just one day later than originally planned and smushed into three days instead of four. The speakers will speak, the delegates will cheer, the bands will play and the balloons will drop. Hopefully everyone stays safe and dry and nothing else will disrupt the party. Next time in Boise, Idaho, perhaps?