You will often hear a commentator at a football game call sunny weather, no wind and warm temperatures a “perfect day for football!” With all due respect, I disagree.

I love watching football games in a different setting?with six inches of snow on the ground.

I watched in awe as the New England Patriots and Oakland Raiders battled it out in Foxboro, Mass. I was so excited to see so much of the white stuff on the field. I was also excited to see it still coming down; that way, the field maintenance people couldn’t clear it fast enough. The white stuff stayed on the ground.

If you like high-scoring, high speed, record-setting football games, you would probably enjoy the sunny and clear settings. You would probably enjoy a football game in a dome.

But that’s not football. Football is played outside, subject to the elements of the toughest competitor known to man?Mother Nature.

You can’t stop her. You can’t control or even bribe her. The only chance you have against her is to predict what she is going to do and then hope your prediction was right.

Running backs can’t run very fast in the snow. They can’t make cuts, and their evasive maneuvers are restricted. Their only hope is to get ahead of a defender and hope they can outrun them.

Then again, defenders are in the same boat, as they can’t run at full speed either. If they overrun a tackle, making a cut to get back and make the tackle is very difficult.

Quarterbacks just try to keep a grip on the ball. One slip and it could turn into six points for the other team.

The same goes for the center/quarterback exchange. Snapping the ball is fairly easy in normal conditions. But with ice, snow and water on the ball, one slip in your concentration and you’ve just made the low light reel.

The snow makes playing football that much tougher for everyone. But for no one is it made harder than for the punters and kickers. Kicking a wet ball is like kicking a bowling ball.

The Patriots deserved to win, simply because they had a kicker who could make a 45 yard field goal in the last minute. Patriot kicker Adam Vinatieri was able to ease the ball over the crossbar with 27 seconds left in the ball game. With four inches of snow on the ground, that is an incredible feat.

Raider fans would remind me that Raider kicker Sebastian Janikowski made a 45-yard field goal earlier in the game. I don’t wish to take anything away from Janikowski, who is arguably the best kicker in the NFL today, but Vinatieri made his when it counted.

The fans were probably cold but not frozen. If they were frozen, they thawed in time to see the dramatic ending.

Watching snow football is fun indeed. But nothing is better than playing snow football. I was envious of those players.

So the next time it snows, grab some friends and play a little neighborhood snow football. You’ll find landing on snow provides a soft landing for those who get tackled. It doesn’t hurt as much. You get to wear your heavy coat and snow pants. It’s all you can do to stay up. It is so much fun.

Watching snow football is fun, but nothing beats playing snow football. The Patriot/Raider game is one I’ll remember for a long time.

So, although I love football in the sunny and warm weather, nothing beats a good, ol’ fashioned game on the “frozen tundra.” The perfect day for football.

Lance welcomes feedback at: [email protected].