One place I will never be

[wiredgeorge]

Clicking around today as the missus was napping and the Longhorns were not playing nor the Spurs. Caught a minute of the Buffalo/Cincy football game (I have pretty much given up on pro football) and noted I would never want to be in Buffalo. SNOW SNOW SNOW. I find it amazing that those big ol' linemen can run around with bare arms. I find snow depressing. I also couldn't figure out how they kept the yardage lines thawed... must have heating elements beneath?

[sourdough]

Come on George, snow has it's place....somewhere.

Coming from a part of the country that rarely had snow it was always a novelty when I was a kid. When I grew up and had to work in it I didn't like it much but it again was novel and went away quick. That's the way it was for many years of my life then we bought a vacation home in the mountains at 9000'. Ah, winters, Christmas etc. in the snow..what a great change! Trekking the mountains with the grandgirls looking for the perfect Christmas tree...perfection. Thousands of dollars for specialized cold weather gear and tools made it seem pretty fun. But, it was a novelty, something we had never done. After about 10-15 years the glow began to fade, we began to get older, kids grew up and the magic faded; fall down the side of a hill with the chainsaw buzzing.... The fun for us went away and we got extremely tired of clearing snow to park, to get in, frozen water lines etc. etc. - we quit going in the winter. Then we just quit going at all so I sold it. Snow is now a novelty again and if I want to see it I'll go find it - so far that urge has not hit either of us.

[gearhead]

Had to go to Buffalo to inspect an oilfield compressor under construction. It was depressing in the summer, I can only guess in the winter.

[fjr vfr]

Growing up in New England I loved the snow...when I was a kid! It was fun sledding, jumping off the roof into a big snow pile, building snow forts and having snowball fights with the neighbor kids, skating, etc. Kids don't feel the cold.
Then things changed. I got older and had to really deal with it. Getting up at 4 in the morning to dig the car out in order to go to work, driving home in a blizzard following the snow plows, freezing my butt of, etc.
These days I love going back north...in the summer when the weather is cool getting away from the heat. We make sure to leave again before winter.

[NH_Bulldog]

George, I think that Green Bay may the only field that has an imbedded turf “warming” system. Even then, it is only designed to keep the ground from freezing solid and causing injuries as players fall.

In Buffalo, what you don’t see on TV is the army of caretakers on the sidelines with squeegee-like tools that run out after every few plays and clear the snow off the lines on the field.

It’s sort of like the sign boards behind home plate at a MLB baseball game. In person, they are often a plain green panel but on TV you see an ad for something projected there. It’s all smoke and mirrors.

I have lived in New England my entire life and while I have learned to tolerate the snow (we don’t get nearly the amount of snow that Buffalo does), especially since we are so close to the ocean, as I get older I find myself spending more and more time in warmer climates like Arizona or the Bahamas…

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by NH_Bulldog

George, I think that Green Bay may the only field that has an imbedded turf “warming” system. Even then, it is only designed to keep the ground from freezing solid and causing injuries as players fall.

In Buffalo, what you don’t see on TV is the army of caretakers on the sidelines with squeegee-like tools that run out after every few plays and clear the snow off the lines on the field.

It’s sort of like the sign boards behind home plate at a MLB baseball game. In person, they are often a plain green panel but on TV you see an ad for something projected there. It’s all smoke and mirrors.

I have lived in New England my entire life and while I have learned to tolerate the snow (we don’t get nearly the amount of snow that Buffalo does), especially since we are so close to the ocean, as I get older I find myself spending more and more time in warmer climates like Arizona or the Bahamas…

I did my training after basic at Ft. Devans. Was there 4-5 months as I recall (very early 70s). We lived in an apartment in Fitchburg; that is the missus, our #1 kiddo and myself. When leaving before going overseas we packed up a small U-Haul trailer and hitched it to my Dodge Demon and headed west out of Massachusetts into a huge snow storm. I had no snow tires and little money. We stayed at a motel in western Mass. for a couple days and they took my gas credit card as collateral and I paid them back when the Army decided to pay me. That place was wonderful and it might have been because I was with a scared young girl (missus), a tiny baby (she was born in FT. Devans hospital) and a stupid kid in a military uniform. What a sight we must have been... in any case, we survived but today snow is not my friend.

[jxnbbl]

For some...we crave snow. It won't be until the ski lifts close that we prep the trailer and get a good trip in during "mud season"! Setup the rope tow in the field yesterday....pic attached.

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by jxnbbl

For some...we crave snow. It won't be until the ski lifts close that we prep the trailer and get a good trip in during "mud season"! Setup the rope tow in the field yesterday....pic attached.

"TOW ROPE"??? Are you dragging that person while on skis with a rope? That sounds like a precursor for America's Funniest Home Videos! What could go wrong?

[jxnbbl]

HAHA How they work is there is a motor that turns a wheel at the top of a hill that pulls a continuous a rope spliced into a loop and a wheel a the bottom of the hill that just acts both as an anchor and harness/return for the rope. Ours is a built a bit fancier with an emergency switch at the top/bottom as well as a switched "wand" 20 ft before the motor that will turn off the motor immediately if someone goes through the wand. Additionally there is a speed controller on it



You hold the rope and it pulls you up the hill.

[johnnybadger]

Originally Posted by wiredgeorge

I did my training after basic at Ft. Devans.

George, thank you for your service.

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by johnnybadger

George, thank you for your service.

Thanks. Did 3 1/2 years in the Regular Army then 24 years working for a govt agency I can't say the name or initials of.... mostly overseas. I was hesitant to retire thinking the govt would fall apart if I left and it didn't and only seemed to have gotten much bigger. Guess I was holding the bloat back!

[fjr vfr]

[QUOTE=NH_Bulldog;526747]George, I think that Green Bay may the only field that has an imbedded turf “warming” system. Even then, it is only designed to keep the ground from freezing solid and causing injuries as players fall.

In Buffalo, what you don’t see on TV is the army of caretakers on the sidelines with squeegee-like tools that run out after every few plays and clear the snow off the lines on the field.

Actually New England also has heated turf and I wouldn't be surprised if a few others do. It all started after the famous "snow plow game" back in 1982 when they brought a snow blower out to clear a spot for the field goal kicker, which won the game. They since changed the rules against it and northern teams started looking into heating the fields. Domes are also getting more popular these days.
Back in those earlier days I had a friend who used to work at clearing the stands at the then Schaefer Stadium in Foxborough before the games.

[wiredgeorge]

[QUOTE=fjr vfr;526791]

Originally Posted by NH_Bulldog

George, I think that Green Bay may the only field that has an imbedded turf “warming” system. Even then, it is only designed to keep the ground from freezing solid and causing injuries as players fall.

In Buffalo, what you don’t see on TV is the army of caretakers on the sidelines with squeegee-like tools that run out after every few plays and clear the snow off the lines on the field.

Actually New England also has heated turf and I wouldn't be surprised if a few others do. It all started after the famous "snow plow game" back in 1982 when they brought a snow blower out to clear a spot for the field goal kicker, which won the game. They since changed the rules against it and northern teams started looking into heating the fields. Domes are also getting more popular these days.
Back in those earlier days I had a friend who used to work at clearing the stands at the then Schaefer Stadium in Foxborough before the games.

The field seemed to be snow covered except the yardage line. Doubt the whole field was heated... but of course, I am no expert.

[fjr vfr]

The field seemed to be snow covered except the yardage line. Doubt the whole field was heated... but of course, I am no expert.[/QUOTE]

That's because it was played in Buffalo not Green Bay or New England. They aren't all heated.

[travelin texans]

We've been in Southern Arizona the past several years year round & people from the north ask "how to you stand the summer heat there?" & I reply that the extreme heat is only a couple months. I then ask them how they can stand their 6-9 month long winters bundled up like the Michelin Man every time they go out the door?
We can look out back & see the top of Mt Lemmon in Tucson covered in snow if I have the need to see snow & that's as close as I care to be to snow.

[travelin texans]

There's not now nor ever will be a team that I'd pay to sit in stadium in that kind of weather to watch, even if my kid or grandkid was playing.

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by travelin texans

There's not now nor ever will be a team that I'd pay to sit in stadium in that kind of weather to watch, even if my kid or grandkid was playing.

Half the fans were all painted up and half naked. I haven't seen a live football game for decades and that weather would have told me that if I was interested, get a good seat from the 50 yd line on my couch.

[dutchmensport]

I think the folks in Aspen, Colorado have a different opinion about snow!..

Um ... according to the doom-and-gloom weather forecast for central Indiana, we are suppose to get up to 8 inches of snow, starting this after noon. We haven't had any snow yet this Winter season except for a couple of very light dustings so far. So, I suppose it finally time we got some snow. Snow and cold help kill off all the over population of bugs so in the Spring and Summer, it's actually possible to go outside without being eaten alive by tiny critters. So, snow does serve it's purpose besides only for skiing.

And somehow, the snow still does not kill off the bug population completely, otherwise the bats that fly around in the Summer months after dark would starve to death.

[Canonman]

Snow Day = Play Day!!
A little different take on "Snowbird"

[flybouy]

I watched that game as well while perched in my recliner. The view was great (75" Samsung tv) the sound was great (Onkyo 7.1 surround sys) and if the pics of the snow made me chill I just pushed a button to fire up the gas logs in the fireplace.

My BIL has "nose bleed" seats for Ravens games at home. He's always bugging me to go with him. Sure, ride in a school bus full of drunks, stand in a parking lot with a group of drunks for several hours before the game, then walk a mile (about 150' of that vertically up stairs) so I can set in the cold with my knees in my chin and watch a TV screen in the stadium. Not for me, at least not anymore.

DW and I record the game on the dvr. Then after about 45 min after kickoff we start watching the recording. We ff thru commercials, rewind and watch plays and can go frame by frame or zoom in if desire. So the days of people screaming in my ears and spilling beer on me are long over. And BTW, the bathroom is only about 30' away and there's no line!