MARKET WATCH COLUMNIST
“This bowl’s a little less than super”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, January 26 2014
So is the NFL already regretting bringing the Super Bowl north? It’s certainly starting to sound that way. And understandably so. How many more days like this one will it take?
Fox Sports president Eric Shanks just told The Hollywood Reporter, choosing his words with nervous caution: “We have been preparing along with the league for multiple scenarios.”
What Shanks meant was that network and league officials have been tracking the ambient air temperature around the New Jersey Meadowlands, the lack of a roof at MetLife Stadium and the Feb. 2 date that was picked for Super Bowl XLVIII. What choice does commissioner Roger Goodell have but to weigh worst-case scenarios? Those include shifting Sunday’s game anywhere from Friday, Jan. 31, to Monday, Feb. 3.
New Orleans is sounding pretty good about now. Or Miami. Or Phoenix. Heck, Tupelo, Miss., is sounding good, and all they have is a high-school stadium on the outskirts of town.
Even a date change could bring cold comfort. Wouldn’t May be better for the Seahawks and the Broncos? Spring is still two months away.
League officials should admit the obvious. This was a dumb idea, holding the Super Bowl up here.
The venue is uninspiring. The weather totally stinks. No one wants to travel up here now. Chris Christie’s an embarrassment. East Rutherford Mayor James Cassella complains he’s being ignored. All the good parties are being held in New York.
If this is what the NFL means by Super, they might as well rename the game the Polar Vortex Bowl. At least they’d be telling the truth.
NOT SO GOOD
1. OldFellas
2. AllegedFellas
3. NabbedFellas
4. ShockedFellas
5. JailedFellas
THE NEWS IN SONG
Maybe tomorrow will be better/Can I call you then?
“Colder Weather”
by
Zac Brown
ASKED AND UNANSWERED
Like Mafia revenge, is a high-profile bust for a 35-year-old, $6-million JFK-cargo heist a dish best served cold? Some patient FBI agents are nodding to themselves: “Yes, and I’ll have red sauce with that” . . . How did LI become the talk of the National Multifamily Housing Council’s annual meeting in Boca Raton? Can we call that the AvalonBay Effect? . . . LI’s animal-rights activists and sport hunters are now both opposing next month’s state-funded East End deer cull? When was the last time they agreed on anything? . . . How is Mineola Superintendent Michael Nagler’s new deal such a belt-tightener? Isn’t his base salary jumping from $210,912 to $242,735? Is it because he traded a fatter one-year raise for a five-year extension? . . . Is William Berroyer the first person ever to leave a federal tax audit $862,000 richer? That’s what Judge Arthur Spatt says the Nesconset taxpayer deserves after tripping on a phone cord in the IRS’ Hauppauge audit room . . . With no NY teams to root for next Sunday, is the Kitten Bowl our Big Game? Wantagh’s “Last Hope Lions” take on other teams of adoptable shelter cats on the Hallmark Channel. The Tailgate Adopt-a-thon starts at noon, Saturday and Sunday, 3300 Beltagh Ave.
LONG ISLANDERS OF THE WEEK
OUR INTEL KIDS
We’ve always had more than our share of science heads around here, but this is getting almost embarrassing for the rest of America: Six of the 40 finalists in the 2014 Intel Science Talent Search have genuine ties to LI. Congrats to Aron Coraor (Huntington High), Preeti Kakani (Jericho High), Kaitlyn Shin (Jericho High), John Clarke (Syosset resident), Kathy Camenzind (who did her research at Stony Brook U) and Emily Pang (another Stony Brook researcher). Six of 40! I’m no math-and-science whiz. But isn’t that, like, 15 percent of the whole country? Do high schools even teach science in other places any more?
E-mail ellis@henican.com
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