Rain Rain Go Away!!!

This entry is all about rain. Rain, and cold. And their effects on sports lately.

Rain has been in the sports news the last few days, both local and national. First, Rocky Mount and Southern Nash played their high school football game in a steady rain on Friday night, the only two area schools to play Friday. The Gryphons were fresh off playing on Monday night against SouthWest after being postponed the Friday before.

All other teams postponed until Monday night, and they waited all weekend and finally took the field on Monday night to a steady rain and cold weather. Lose lose situation - postponing because of rain only to play in the rain.

Now to baseball, where the Tampa Bay Rays, my pick to win the World Series in 6 games, are battling the Philadelphia Phillies. Going into Game 5, the Rays were down in the serie 3-1, so my pick can only slightly be right.

But on to the topic of Game 5, which is another issue within itself.

First off, the Phils had Cole Hamels starting, who had yet to lose this postseason. And it appears he won't lose Game 5 either, though it appears that he won't be getting the win unless the Phillies score in the bottom of the sixth whenever the teams make it back on the field. That is, if they can still find the field.

Much of game 5 was played in a downpour, and frankly shouldn't have been played at all. I have to question that if this was a regular season game, would the game have been played? Probably not.

Listening to ESPN all day, I've heard a few people say that the game was started for a few reasons.

1- Television. National audience, prime time. Enough said, but Major League Baseball wanted to place its product out there for everyone to see.

2 - The season as a whole is drawn out too long. It will surely be the weekend before the Series is over and that means November. News flash - - - it's cold in the Northeast in November. October is cold enough.

--- Can I just throw in the hats that the teams are wearing with the built in ear flaps are genius. Too bad that they're no where to be found on the online stores....Someone should have come up with those years ago!

Once the game was started, it should have been stopped way way before it was. A crucial game in a cold downpour is not the way a Word Champion should be decided. Analysts on ESPN also hinted that Bud Selig was waiting for the Rays to score and tie or take the lead so he could suspend a tied game. By rule, any game in which 5 or more innings are completed is considered an official game. With the game tied, Selig avoiding awarding the Phillies the World Championship without technically winning the fifth and deciding game.

Honestly, I think Selig made the best decision he could. He played the card he was dealt. Mother Nature cannot be stopped, only worked (or played) around.