There's a heavy rain watering (drowning, perhaps) the flowers and grass. The ducks are loving it. However, if you are a baseball player waiting to play the last home game, you are not pleased. Looking at the sky, I am not sure whether they will finish the season off at home or not. We have plans on taking a trip (again) to watch the last game with the promise of seeing our Buddy pitch an inning or two. The special giveaway at the stadium is a free hot dog with every ticket. The question is: "do we make a 6 hour round trip to sit in the rain, not see Buddy pitch, and eat a soggy, yet free hot dog?" The answer will be revealed at noon. Until then, I am watching the forecast, weather maps, and waiting for a text from my favorite southpaw as to the game status.
Baseball in the northeast is unpredictable with the weather fluctuations. The weather was a common topic of all of the speeches at the baseball banquet on Sunday night. Buddy has pitched in fog and gave up a run when the outfield could not see the ball after it was hit. I doubt if the scorekeeper could officially say that the error was due to fog.
During another Ohio game, the team was playing in a blizzard as there was 1/2" of snow on the ground and as the ball was hit into the air, snow would fall into the players' eyes blocking their vision. I guess goggles could have helped as well as skis to get to the ball after it was hit. And who could forget the frigid temperatures of the March and April games? I learned alot about survival skills attending those games. I brought almost every coat that I owned to the games. I would wear three to stay warm, use the hand and body warmers, two pairs of socks, and had a blanket. I felt like a little kid in a snow suit and could barely walk with the heaviness of my attire. But I gutted it out just like the players. I was going to be there supporting my player and team no matter what....
As always, the camera was always ready to capture the minute or seconds that Buddy would enter the game whether it was sunny, cloudy, windy, or foggy. I cannot say that I was hot or even warm at any of these events. We were even cold at the banquet as it was held outside in the stadium.
The weather is such an important factor in outdoor sports and can be the tenth man on the baseball diamond. In tennis, we could play indoors, yet baseball games are usually postponed in the rain. I can only recall a few games that continued as the rain would pour. For example, Buddy and I went to a tournament in West Virginia (an 8 hour ride through the mountains...very pretty...but long!). After we arrived, they had a 7 pm game. Buddy hit his first home run that night. Yes, it was his first. We attributed his burst of energy to his foot long turkey hoagie from Subway (not an endorsement, just a fact). Yet, the first full day of games was cancelled because of heavy rain. As we learned that they would not play that day, we looked for something local to do. Sadly, in this very rural section of West Virginia, there was nothing to do.... no movie theater, mall, museum, coffee shop...nothing. Fortunately, we found a Wal Mart near our hotel. It was a big one with lots of sections that our store at home does not have...for example, a person can buy a birthday cake there. I did not know this until we spent some quality time there. Believe me, we were grateful for that WalMart (and for the hotel's HBO....whew!). Don't ask me if he read a book while we waited....I think that you know the answer....
Back to pitching in the rain....the sky cleared for an hour and the tournament continued. The coach put Buddy on the mound and he did very well. However, during the third inning, the rain began to fall....spectators ran for cover....I thought that the game would be delayed. However, they kept going....there was a great deal of mud and players falling or skidding to a stop. The coach kept Buddy on the mound and proceeded to pitch the rest of the game in a pouring rain. They won the game and I asked him why he stayed in so long. He replied that he had told the coach that he was comfortable in the situation and to keep him in because another kid would be injured if he tried to take the mound in the wet conditions. I am not sure that I agree with his logic...yet....it is his logic and not mine...
I enjoyed this tournament very much. The scenery and mountains were spectacular. The local people were very friendly. I sat in the stands chatting with the the opposing fans who were from the region. One woman was angry because some of the visiting fans from other states made nasty remarks about the locals who they felt (not me...) that all they did was sit on their porches, hold their guns, and smile without any teeth. The conjured picture after that statement was definitely a stereotype. I commiserated with her a bit and told her that not all of us felt that way and I did not understand why anyone would say something so peculiar. In fact, I thought that these fans and local people were the nicest that I had met at any tournament. With that said, the next team walked into the ball park and the coach sat next to me. We began to chat a bit about the lousy weather, I said something to him and he laughed...as he did, I noted that he was missing quite a few of his front teeth....my head went from the woman on my right who was angry about stereotypes (and rightly so) to the man on my left....sheepishly, I looked for a gun in his baseball bag....it only had bats and his line up cards....
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