Sunday’s NFC Championship game between the New York Giants and the Green Bay Packers was one of the best games I watched all season. The Giants (surprisingly won, 23-20) to earn a bid to the Super Bowl and spoil the Tom Brady-Brett Favre lovefest. But the actual game took a backseat to the weather conditions. At a kickoff temperature on -1 degrees, it was the third coldest game in NFL history. With the wind chill factor, it “felt like” -23 degrees — not my type of weather.
While the players are expected to brave the elements, journalists are oft times considered soft and wouldn’t be looked at wrong if they wore a couple of extra layers. Enter Curt Menefee. Menefee is the studio host for FOX’s popular NFL pregame show. Normally based in sunny Los Angeles, the suits at FOX decided to take their show on the road for the NFC championship game. While Menefee’s co-hosts — Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson looked as if they were about 2 degrees from frostbite, Menefee maintained his professionalism and went without a skully or hat for the broadcast.
Now, where I am, it’s currently snowing and a balmy 20-plus degrees and I can’t leave the house nor the office without bundling up. So I applaud Menefee who never once flinched nor appeared to give in to the wind chills. Now, off-air was he under cover, probably. But while he was in front of millions it was just like he was in studio A in Hollywood.
