Bengals Banter: Super Bowl in New York/New Jersey Shouldn't Set Precedence

The NFL announced Tuesday that Super Bowl XLVIII will be played in New York's newest stadium in 2014. Or New Jersey. Whatever. Many believe that this could set a precedence, bringing the world's biggest game to other open-aired venues in cold-air cities in the future. Think of it. Snow, cold, all of the epic images form which football was born. Plus, each city that hosts the Super Bowl would see a massive injection of capital into their respective economies. Think Cincinnati could use between $300-400 million for hosting the Super Bowl? Maybe the Banks Project would be completed before we colonize Saturn's moon Titan.

I spoke about this for a bit at the Washington Post's The League, writing that while it would seem awesome for the city that hosts the game, along with the imagery of the big game played in the snow, I'm not certain if moving the big game to open-air cold-city venues is the best move. It's not really about the fans because let's face facts, who could reasonably afford Super Bowl tickets among us and not feel the sting of the purchase? No, it's more about the game. Would the product on the field suffer if the elements were bad. Bad weather games are no more entertaining than games played in ideal conditions. In fact, a game that ends in a 3-0 win with a last minute field goal because no one could generate an offense in those conditions would be quite boring. That's not to suggest that we're always embattled with snow storms every day of every winter. We're not. We get a few good ones, but it's also very unlikely that a snow storm would occur while the game is being played. And at that point, is there much of a different between a torrential rainstorm and a heavy snowstorm? Both are bad conditions and both could led to a very bad and boring product.

There's good arguments for it and good arguments against it. Either way, in the end, I really want the Super Bowl taken out of domes. Please. No more domes.

+ Jason pointed out Tuesday night of Jerome Simpson's OTAs this week. Coaches, media and the players are impressed so far with some ridiculous catches. It's great that the kid is growing and he's finally coming around. But I'm still cautious. Aside from the consistency, which is big, we've heard and seen great Simpson receptions before. But if he's going to make an impression, he's doing it right.

+ Dave argues that the Bengals offense has to do a better job adjusting.

+ The owners elected to table a vote of changing overtime rules for the regular season.

+ If you missed it, a playable version of Pacman was on Google's homepage on May 21 and May 22. As a result, a study concluded that Pacman cost companies $120 million in lost productivity.

+ Chad Ochocinco reportedly injured himself trying to "squat 420 without a warm was dumb of me."

+ A Florida high school coach was fired after he sent his girlfriend an inappropriate picture on his phone. The mother of the girlfriend sent that to the coach's boss and he was fired as a result. Let me break it down. Adult male sends an "inappropriate" photo to his adult girlfriend. Adult girlfriend's mother sees picture, tattles on the adult male and he's fired, most likely because EVERYONE overreacts to EVERYTHING these days.

+ Jared Allen cut his mullet. Noooo.

+ Mike Leake was DOMINATING again for the Cincinnati Reds. Unfortunately, Drew Stubbs lost a fly ball in center field that led to the game's first run last in the game during the Reds 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.