A Boxing Day Short
In some sporting contests, the individual or team, victorious in a competition, may not necessarily be the best at the sport, but the one who was the best at competing under certain weather conditions. We have all seen sports played in torrential rains, heavy snows squalls, high winds and serious heat or cold. Unlike most sports, football is rarely, if ever cancelled or postponed due to inclement weather.
As the Green Bay Packers football team looked over their 2022-23 season schedule, I’m sure a few smiled when they saw that their Christmas Day game was going to be played against the Miami Dolphins in the warmth of Hardrock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
On Christmas morning, while the tots enjoyed opening presents around the Christmas tree, the Green Bay temperature was a balmy -20°, while in Miami the palm trees were happy to have some protection from Christmas lights with a temperature in the mid40’s. The game was played almost entirely in the 48° range - an unanticipated chill, especially for native Floridians.
This same cold has walloped much of the country with extreme temperatures, snow and heavy winds. As of Monday December 26, 2022, there have been 48 fatalities nationwide, with New York state accounting for 27 of them. The storm lingers in many locations.
Many hardened climate change advocates and doomsters dutifully, but erroneously accept extreme cold and snows as an inheritance of global warming or suggest that these are merely minor bleeps in the large scale of nature’s wrath. Other climate hucksters simply remain muted during periods of cold, but shout to the heavens as heat waves develop.
Many more people parish from the cold versus days of heat, but that is often hushed as well.