Basketball plays on a hardwood court inside an arena. Hockey plays in an arena, too, on a perfectly flat sheet of ice. Baseball plays outdoors, but if a few raindrops fall from the sky, they cover the grass with a giant tarp and everyone runs inside. Three of our four major sports in this country do everything possible to remove variables. The fourth major sport, football, does nothing of the sort, and is by far the most popular. Coincidence? I don't think so.
Weather is a part of life. We all deal with its ebbs and flows. We shovel snow, the rain soaks our clothes, our tires get stuck in the mud. We brave the elements to do what we have to do, to go out in the world and get the job done. As football season heads into November, the inclement weather starts to factor in. Snow, rain, freezing temperatures: how do you, as a football team, handle it, knowing that there are no men running out to cover your field with a tarp? You will be wet. You will be cold. And everyone in America will be watching.
As the first snow of the season blankets Denver, the Broncos head off to Kansas City to play the best football team in the world. The weather is supposed to be sunny and about 60 degrees, but the field will be wet and sloppy. And in this sloppiness, the game of football finds its home. Ex-Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is famous for forcing his team to practice outside when the snow was falling to prime them for any inclement weather that lay ahead. In advance of a rainy day, some teams will dip the footballs in buckets of water at practice so the quarterback gets used to throwing a wet ball, and the receivers get used to catching one. If the ball is too wet, the gloves that usually act as Spider Man webs, snaring any pigskin in touching distance, turn into a slick surfaces the ball slides off of. So you either take off those gloves, or you try to wipe them on a dry towel before every play. But then you have a new challenge: maintaining a dry towel.
Some teams are better built for the elements. Big, bruising linemen, a strong running game, a short passing game and hard-nosed players who like to be uncomfortable and grow stronger when the see their opponents struggling. The colder it is, the fewer undergarments we wear. Who needs a long-sleeve shirt? That shows that you are weak!
On colder days, the benches on the sidelines are heated and there is an industrial heater the size of a small car blowing towards the benches that guys will stand in front of to warm up. But don't stand too close; I've seen a player's parka go up in flames.
For a passing team, snow is easier to deal with than rain. Rain makes the ball wet, snow doesn't. But if it's a lot of snow, it gets stuck in your cleats, so much that there are no more cleats. Hard to run a crisp out route on a tip of snow cone. And when its really, really cold, the time you spend standing on the sideline stiffens up the muscles that you need to be warm and pliable, and when you run on the field, you feel like an old man. Then, when you get hit, you're sure it was by a truck. Even the ball, hardened by the freezing temperature, feels like a flying brick.
Heavy winds make the ball harder to track in the air. Hot days mean you have to drink more water and the ball can get lost in the sun. No matter what, if you are playing outdoors, the game is affected by the weather. But unlike the other major sports in this country, that weather won't stop the game. It will only make it more interesting. The only question will be, which team handles it better?
About the Author: Former NFL wide receiver and tight end Nate Jackson played six seasons for the Broncos and is the author of the New York Times Best Selling book "Slow Getting Up."
