One of the major sports issues of the week has been whether artificial turf should be installed at Heinz Field, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, in the wake of Monday night's "Mud Bowl."

The National Football League has displayed the attitude that the condition of the field that night, after nearly 2 inches of rain pelted the stadium amid lightning and thunder, was an affront to the league's image. After all, the league suggests, a game that produces dramatic plays, high-powered offense and stellar defense is why fans stay up late on Mondays to watch the NFL action.

The league seems to be saying that the fans don't stay up to see a game that is — well — different or out of the ordinary.

The league should rethink such an attitude. While the game rightly was delayed due to the lightning, unusual field conditions caused by inclement weather shouldn't spawn horror in the league's front office.

During the game, stadium ground crews did struggle to save the field, but they were no match for what Mother Nature dumped into the stadium at game time.

Would Monday night's game be remembered by football fans across the nation for years, if the Steelers had scored a lopsided victory over the winless Miami Dolphins? Not likely. Would those same fans remember the game if the Dolphins had upset the Steelers amid optimal playing conditions? Outside of Miami and Pittsburgh, probably not.

Would longtime football fans outside of Green Bay and Dallas remember the Dec. 31, 1967, NFL championship game — which was to decide who would go to Super Bowl II against the then-American Football League champion — if that day would not have been the coldest New Year's Eve in Green Bay's recorded history?

One of the most memorable games in NFL history took place that day as 50,861 fans stood in the stands surrounding what was described as "frozen tundra." The temperature during the game was 13 degrees below zero, and the wind child was minus-40 degrees.

Did the NFL attempt to order Green Bay to build a domed stadium? Did the league lament the Packers' "home-field advantage" of being accustomed to playing in colder conditions? No.

Will future baseball World Series be banned from San Francisco because of the earthquake that rocked that city during warm-ups for Game 3 of the 1989 Series? Never.

Therefore, the NFL should not try to influence the Steelers' decisions on whether to continue with a grass surface or opt for artificial turf. A situation like Monday's might never happen again.

An article in Thursday's Butler Eagle reported on Steelers players' lobbying against going to artificial turf. Football and the NFL have prospered despite the weather and grass field surfaces, and Monday night's game will be remembered more for its adversity than for its final score. The game will be a topic of future NFL highlight films, not be tucked away due to league embarrassment.

The NFL should be more concerned about players' public and not-so-public misdeeds and about situations such as New England head coach Bill Belichick's use of a video camera to spy on opposing coaches.

In terms of embarrassment, the league should be embarrassed that Belichick was fined $500,000 by Commissioner Roger Goodell without having to serve a yearlong suspension.

Attention will be focused on the condition of Heinz Field when the Steelers host the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday. That's understandable.

But both teams should be content to play under whatever conditions Mother Nature metes out.

Playing in all kinds of weather and conditions has been a staple of NFL history. Like the Ice Bowl, Monday's Mud Bowl should not change that.