#SuperBowlXLVIII

The iconic Empire State Building:
Super Bowl in view.
Photo: Daniel Schwen

After all the talk about Manning’s comeback, Sherman’s rant, the NYC vs. NJ rivalry, and the weather….we have come at last to Super Bowl Sunday. The high holiday of American football.

The collision, not just of two football teams but also of a vast sporting event and the NYC/NJ media megalopolis, has created predictable fireworks.  For example, you can tweet a prediction of who will win the game, with the hashtag #WhosGonnaWin, and determine the lighting color of the  Empire State building itself.

The power of the pen?  No, it’s the power of the tweet!

Getting back to the weather.  It has been frightful, both in North America and Down Under.  The Australian Open almost had player defections over the intense environmental conditions they faced from an uprecedented heat wave.  At the same, a polar vortex swept down over most of Canada and the USA bringing fears of hypothermia, frostbite and other assorted ills to outdoor exercise enthusiasts, sportsmen, and, possibly, spectators.  When all is said and done, however, it appears that Sunday’s Super Bowl game will be played under cold, but tolerable and dry conditions:  the most recent prediction I have seen suggests game time temperature should be just around freezing, and the skies should be clear.

I suspect the NFL commissioner Roger Goodell may have sought some help from Timothy Cardinal Dolan in supplicating the higher powers to ensure the Super Bowl would avoid becoming an Ice Bowl…..like the last time the NFL championship occurred in the NYC area, in 1962.

MomsTeam.com’s Brooke de Lench with
CJSM Editor @sportingjim/@cjsmonline

The clinical sports medicine world has taken advantage of this pairing of Big City and Big Game as well.  The Coalition for Concussion Treatment (#C4CT) took place at the United Nations this past week, and included such American concussion experts as Robert Cantu (whom we saw just last week in Vegas at the USA Rugby medical conference) and our good friend, Brooke de Lench, founder and publisher of MomsTeam.com. Her blog post on the summit is a great summary of the #C4CT event, on the work that has been done in this field, and on the work that remains.  Be sure to check it out.

And while you’re at it, be sure to check out the new edition of the CJSM, which includes so much interesting and original research, including a new study on the persistent, and unacceptably high rate at which intercollegiate athletes fail to report cocncussions.  I am sure this is one piece of the concussion puzzle that #C4CT activists will continue to work on as we move forward in addressing this problem in the sports medicine world. 

Soon, though, it will be time to sit back with chips, salsa and a beverage and take in the spectacle.  There are so many questions to be answered.  Who will win?  Will defense triumph over offense?  Will Lebron outscore Seattle?

Get those smart phones out and tweet about the #Seahawks, #SuperBowlSunday, or the #SnowBowl if the forecasters are in error. You can always tweet us @cjsmonline too; we’re happy to share what is new in the sports and sports medicine world, and as ever we look forward to engaging with you on line.