Tom Benson, Makin' Stuff Up

The Washington Post is reporting that many NFL owners oppose putting a Super Bowl in DC. That's fine. It would be nice to have one here, but I understand some people don't want to have the game played in messy weather. I don't agree, but I understand.

This quote from Saints owner Tom Benson, however, caught my eye:

"It's the weather. Why would you go to a place where people couldn't walk around those cities in nice weather, temperatures like we have here today [sunshine and mid-seventies]? I personally do not think the votes are there. Everyone would like to go to New York or Washington . . . in August, not January."

First of all, the site selection has nothing to do with "walk[ing] around those cities in nice weather." If it did Detroit wouldn't be getting the 2006 Super Bowl. I don't know that a lot of people want to walk around Detroit in good weather, but you're not going to have much of that in January (well, actually February).

And second, nobody wants to walk around DC in August. I mean, maybe compared to New Orleans, it's not a sauna, but please.

If you want to make the argument that the Super Bowl should only be held in warm weather cities, go ahead. (I think that's what he's getting at.) But don't conspire with dome-cities like Detroit to deny DC a Super Bowl if you're only going to turn against them later. That's as lame as naming yourself general manager of the team.