Opposites attract in Super Bowl XLVIII, and that’s cool

They could play the Super Bowl on the North Pole and people would still watch it.

Instead, they picked a place far worse.

The Seattle Seahawks will play the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII on Feb. 2 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., and it will be the first Super Bowl played on a field above the remains of Jimmy Hoffa.

No. Whoops! New Jersey has a new stadium, which is the main reason this will be the first Super Bowl played in an outdoor stadium in the dead of winter.

Which is all good fun for polar bears. But it is seriously messing up the travel plans of hundreds of sports writers and thousands of rich, corporate ticket holders, who would rather be anywhere else.

But this Super Bowl will be a boon to weather forecasters across the nation.

For the next two weeks, we will be bombarded with countless, overblown reports about the weather in N.J. and how it might affect the game. In East Rutherford, the record high on Feb. 2 was 66 degrees and the record low minus-8, according to weather.com.

That sounds like we are headed for a wonderful, classic showdown: This Super Bowl will come down to Mr. Heat Miser vs. Mr. Snow Miser.

Which means it could be really cold and nasty, and that’s gonna seriously bum out Bruno Mars, who is scheduled to do the halftime show.

Or it might be unseasonably warm and balmy, which will make Peyton Manning happy.

On Sunday, the temperature was 63 degrees for the AFC championship in Denver as Manning threw for 400 yards and two touchdowns in a 26-16 victory over the New England Patriots.

How will Manning perform in a potentially frigid Super Bowl?

Mr. Omaha! Omaha! has long battled the perception that he struggles in frosty weather. But this has been a season where Manning has destroyed inaccurate, outdated perceptions about him.

Earlier this year, the temperature dipped below 20 before the Broncos played Tennessee, and Manning responded by throwing for 397 yards and four touchdowns in a 51-28 win. After the game, when asked about people who think he can’t play in cold weather, Manning told Denver radio station, KOA-AM: “Whoever wrote that narrative can shove that where the sun don’t shine.”

Is there a downside to playing in the elements? Of course. The best team might not win.

At the very least, it should make this game compelling and interesting in a different way.