Earlier this week, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell slammed the NFL for its decision to move the Eagles-Vikings game from Sunday night to Tuesday night because of expected blizzard-like conditions. Some fans even poked fun at the controversy during the Vikings' 24-14 win last night. Now that the game is over, was there any substance to this debate?
No snow? No reason not to play: "Unbelievably, the game was canceled Sunday morning before one flake of snow had fallen, based on forecasts of a significant snowstorm," says Gov. Ed Rendell in the Washington Times. And "the city had less than six inches" just before kickoff. "Canceling a game because of that amount of snow is unthinkable. Vince Lombardi must have been rolling over in his grave." The NFL was trying to protect its fans from the threat of terrible weather conditions. "Have we all become wimps?"
Pushing off the game was the right move: Even if Rendell is correct, "it was a wussy thing for him to say," says Mike Hendricks in the Kansas City Star. Those "who smirk and complain about the weaklings all around them usually have it pretty easy" themselves. That's why Rendell's assertion is wrong. He doesn't know what it's really like to deal with the recession. After all, "the last couple of years have been a reminder of how tough Americans can be." Thankfully for him, Rendell doesn't live in that America.
It was the Eagles' decision, not the NFL's: Our sources say that the Eagles "instigated and pushed aggressively the postponement," says NBC Sports' Mike Florio. The NFL "relented to the previously unthinkable notion of scuttling a game because of the threat of snow." The Eagles reportedly "wanted to avoid the rash of demands for refunds" had the game been played on Sunday night, which "probably was the right" decision. So it's only fair to approach this postponement on the "merits and not with spin." Let's "move on."