One of the first NFL playoff games I remember watching when I was little was the AFC Championship game in 1981 between San Diego and Cincinnati. The game brought the Chargers from California out to Ohio in January when the temperature was -9 degrees and the wind chill was -57 degrees.

The Bengals crushed the Chargers that day setting the stage for Cincinnati to roll into Detroit for Super Bowl XVI, where the San Francisco 49ers would win the first of their handful of championships.

Many famous NFL games have been played in cold weather. Dallas and Green Bay in the Ice Bowl also comes to mind. But none of those cold weather games have been the Super Bowl. The aforementioned Super Bowl in Detroit was played in the Silverdome. A decade later Minnesota hosted the big game in the Metrodome.

It took four ballots, but league execs voted today to roll the dice on holding the Super Bowl at the new New York Jets/New York Giants mecca in 2014. The stadium will open this year. If it is anything like the old Meadowlands stadium was like there will be swirling winds and other crazy elements.

I like this call. While New Orleans, Miami, Pasadena, Calif. and the other handful of warm weather cities that have hosted many Super Bowls have certainly mastered the formula it’s good to mix it up once in awhile. And what bigger venue is there than New York for a big game?

Sure, the non-East Coast world (myself included) gets sick of ESPN constantly broadcasting the New York Yankees, Mets and Boston Red Sox 4,300 times a year. But this is the Super Bowl. And it could be played in real weather.

Like football was meant to be played in all along. Enough with Super Bowls being reserved for warm weather climates or for cities with domes. It’s not like the players aren’t going to show up if the weather is cold or if there is snow on the ground. This is for the Lombardi Trophy. For the ring. For sports immortality.

Lay it on the line in the mud and snow. I applaud the NFL owners for making this call.