I hate football.
Whether it is college, the pros, or even the Pop Warner league, I don't see what people get all riled up about when it comes to this game.
Some say it is our national pastime; I disagree, baseball is, but I will agree that it has become our national obsession.
With the NFL's Super Bowl coming this Sunday, a quandary has been created by having the game in its first cold weather environ.
The game is being played at Met Life Stadium, which just happens to be in New Jersey.
However, New York City, with the help of the NFL, has co-opted the game for itself, and although it is being marketed as a New York/New Jersey metropolitan area-held event, New Jersey appears to be getting the short end of the stick.
All the events that are being held in New York City are sanctioned by the NFL, whether it be concerts or the events in Times Square, which really have little or nothing to do with football, but are linked to the game, anyway, to get the peon fans involved.
No way they could afford tickets to the game, so this is a way to get those fans as involved as possible.
Anyway, the game is being played in Met Life Stadium, and areas like Secaucus and Jersey City are being short-sighted by the NFL with their events.
From what I have heard, not only can't they get these events sanctioned by the NFL, but they can't even use the term "Super Bowl" because that has been copyrighted by the NFL and cannot be used without permission, permission that they do not have.
Look, we know that New York City, and primarily Manhattan, is sexier than Secaucus. Nobody is going to argue that.
But the game IS being played in New Jersey, and the NFL, which has never acknowledged the existence of this state in its hallowed history, refuses to acknowledge this fact.
Just look at two teams that aren't in the Super Bowl.
The NEW YORK Jets and the NEW YORK Giants have as much to do with New York City as I do.
They haven't played in New York City in decades.
The NFL does not have a New York City team, although they would like you to believe that they do.
They have one, single New York team, and that is the Buffalo Bills.
It is a completely ridiculous situation that the NFL has yet to come to grips with.
Why not name the Dallas Cowboys for a neighboring state? How about the Green Bay Packers?
How about name the Minnesota Vikings the North Dakota Vikings, but keep the Minnesota on the helmets?
This is the situation that we have here in New York.
It got an exclamation point when years ago, then-Mayor Bloomberg thought that people would buy into his absolutely idiotic plan to draw the Olympics here and build a stadium on the West Side for it, which then could be used as the home of the New York Jets.
What he forgot is that by and large, people really don't care that much about the Olympics, the project died, and New York City lost its last hope for a homegrown team.
There have never been talks about another New York City team in the NFL, because the league figures that with the two New Jersey teams using the New York monicker, no one would notice.
Perhaps they still don't.
But the Super Bowl has really put the focus on this ridiculous situation, and it appears that New Jerseyians, fresh from the controversies engendered by their full of you know what governor, Chris Christie, are really feeling the pain now.
And you can blame the NFL and New York City for this fiasco.
And with weather reports either showing a decent day or a debacle right now, you can bet that the NFL won't ever put itself in this position again.
So New York City, enjoy this nonsense while you can, because I seriously doubt that a "New York" Super Bowl will ever be held in the future.
And while you are at it, please change the names of the Jets and Giants to the state that they actually play in.
How this has been allowed to go on so long is anyone's guess.
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