SUPER BOWL SNOW

Well, I sit in the heart of the world's most publicized football game. Here in Arlington, Texas the local news has talked about nothing else for several weeks. That is until an ice storm hit the area last week, followed by six inches of snow. One hundred hours below freezing is a record in this area of the country. Schools were out for four straight days. Another rarity.

It was so cold here, that the Texas power grid couldn't provide enough electricity. The electric company announced there would be rolling blackouts. One school system, just east of Dallas, tried to hold classes on the third day. One hour after school started the power was shut off. After two hours in the cold and the dark, students were dismissed. I guess no one informed the town that schools would be part of the rolling blackouts.

The hotels where players from both teams were staying were exempt from the rolling blackouts. Cowboy stadium, or as we like to call it here, Jerry's Palace, was also exempt from any electric blackouts. Even if you are a football fanatic, you have to admit that priorities are just a little misguided.

Local news as well as ESPN, tried all week to broadcast outside. It was amusing to flip the television over to ESPN to see Hannah Storm blowing frigid air. Even borrowed snow plows from Amarillo wasn't enough to clear all the dangerous ice from the maze of highways in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

Well, the sun finally came out on Saturday. Fans began to fill the empty entertainment venues. Vendors with their overstocked Super Bowl memorabilia finally began to sell their trinkets. All was not lost.

My church is one mile from the world's largest stadium. As we approach the church we can see the place on the hill. It looks like a gigantic UFO has landed. To insure parishioners could worship and not be caught up in mass traffic jams, only one early service was held today instead of the usual four services. With the possibility of us meeting craziness while just trying to go to worship, I was willing to sit this week out. But after four days of cabin fever, I was going to church “come hell or high water!”

The misguided residents of Arlington approved the corporate welfare that assisted Jerry Jones in building his palace. The mayor and Mr. Jones have tried their darnest to inform the nation that the world's largest stadium is in Arlington and not Dallas. Arlington is a city of 400,000 people between Dallas and Fort Worth. We have no mass transit.

Unfortunately, with no new large hotels or large entertainment venues, most Super Bowl visitors spent their thick bankrolls in Dallas and Fort Worth. And the every day Joe, who voted for the building of the stadium, can't afford to enter the parking lot, much less attend a professional football game.

There is one positive to all this winter weather here. More snow is predicted this evening. It should hit around the time 100,000 people exit Cowboy Stadium. If massive traffic jams result, maybe the NFL will demand we provide mass transit before we try to host again!

I guess I'll go watch some. I hear the commercials are good!