The Packers' charter plane yesterday to Atlanta for today's NFC Championship was "unable to take off" from Green Bay's Austin Straubel Int'l Airport "because of heavy fog," sources said. The team was forced to fly out of Milwaukee instead and arrived to Atlanta at around 8:00pm ET, about three and a half hours "later than originally scheduled" (ESPN.com, 1/21).
Alarms went off at Gillette Stadium this morning while media members and others "were setting up." Everyone was "told to evacuate." There was "no indication of foul play" (
NYDAILYNEWS.com. 1/22). Fire alarms also "started going off around" 3:00am ET at a Boston hotel where the Steelers are staying. Hotel personnel said that the "entire hotel had to be evacuated, but it ended up being a false alarm." Massachusetts State Police have "arrested a 25-year-old Boston man who allegedly pulled the fire alarm" (
PITTSBURGH.CBSLOCAL.com, 1/22).
Last year at this time, "much of the northeast was buried in snow after a blizzard hit on Friday and Saturday, the two days before the AFC and NFC title games." So with millions "snowed in, millions tuned in." This year, with no snow and seasonably warm temperatures throughout much of the country, it will be "very difficult for Packers-Falcons and Steelers-Patriots to match those numbers, no matter how compelling the games are" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 1/21).
