Home Is Where the Super Bowl Should Be

The Super Bowl should be played in Indianapolis instead of Miami.

It just does not sit well with me the Indianapolis Colts will be wearing their home blue jerseys during Super Bowl XLIV and not really be the home team.

Now that I contemplate it more, there really isn’t a traditional visiting team either.

This next installment of the NFL championship would be more intriguing if the Colts had home-field advantage instead of competing for the Vince Lombardi Trophy against the New Orleans Saints at Sun Life Stadium in the shadows of South Beach and palm trees.

Sure, it is nice for fans, entertainers, sponsors and members of the media to experience the Super Bowl at a warm weather site away from the frigid temperatures and snow fall currently gripping much of the country.

However, it is a little unfair to the Colts who worked so hard all season to secure the best record in the league only to play the most important game at a neutral site. By no means am I a Colts fan. A little piece of me died when Indianapolis whitewashed my beloved Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI three years ago. That is tough to forget.

What also can’t be easily removed from the memory bank was that long ago before million dollar TV advertisements and elaborate halftime shows, the Green Bay Packers won the world championship in front of their home fans at Lambeau Field in the winter of 1965. 

It was the last time the NFL title was decided under those circumstances. The time is now for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to seriously consider revamping the format.  The league has already been proactive in scheduling the regular season opener prior to Sunday, playing regular season games on Thursday nights, and even holding standings changing match ups in England.

Goodell even has said it would not be out of the realm of possibility that the Super Bowl could be played overseas in the not-too-distant future.  Why not every other year can’t we see the Super Bowl have a chance at being played in Pittsburgh, New York, Philadelphia or Green Bay again?

How would Cubs fans feel if they finally got to a World Series after 100 years only to have all seven games played at Tropicana Field in Tampa, Turner Field in Atlanta or Angel Stadium in Anaheim?

Home-field advantage is the most cherished entity in all of team sports. Crowd noise, rowdy fans and quirky field conditions all homogenized come February.

And to have that taken away in a legacy deciding game is an oversight uncharacteristic of the NFL.

The atmosphere at Solider Field, Lucas Oil Stadium or a FedEx Field Super Bowl would be unmatched. Playing in the snow, wind, rain and freezing conditions. You know, actual real weather would be nice.

Throwback football at its best. Not this generic brand these modern championship games have bought us. 

I guess we all have to wish for the unthinkable. That the Dallas Cowboys play host to Super Bowl XLV in Arlington, Texas come 2011. 

It certainly would be a bittersweet proposition.