From Pennsylvania to Pakistan

As I was searching for sports-weather news today, I bumped into the above photo (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash) of Pakistani boys playing soccer in a street during a downpour following a scorching heat wave in Islamabad. According to media reports, dozens of people died during the heat wave and hundreds hospitalized with heat strokes and gastroenteritis.

Soft Greens
The U.S. Open teed off today and many ahead of the event wondered aloud if the course at Pennsylvania's Oakmont Country Club might be too tough with its hard, fast greens. Even Arnold Palmer predicted this year's championship would be rough-going through the first two rounds. However, less than a half an inch of rain from a thunderstorm Wednesday softened the greens and may have made playing the course a bit tamer. Tiger Woods was among those who shot under par in the opening round Thursday, however reports are now coming in saying many first-round scores are high.

"It's not going to be what we planned for. Things were moving along quite well (before the storm). We thought we'd have a true, hard test for players on Thursday. The rain has altered this a little bit. We're going to try and do everything we can to get the golf course back to where it was before this little rain." -- Tim Moraghan, USGA agronomist

Sprinkles
Rain knocked out play Thursday in the DFS Classic in Birmingham, England. Maria Sharapova, among others, had her match postponed, and weather reports predict more rain Friday for the Wimbledon tune-up tournament. All this does is give me an opportunity to post of pic of Sharapova getting all wet at Wimbledon. Check out the grounds crew. Pay attention to the task at hand guys.



On this date in 1959: The San Francisco Giants’ Mike McCormick tossed a 3-0, five-inning no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies. Richie Ashburn singled in the top of the sixth for the Phillies, but the hit didn’t count because the game was stopped by rain. …In Japanese baseball, the game between the Chunichi Dragons (You know, the team Tom Selleck played for in Mr. Baseball.) and Rakuten Eagles ended in a 1-1 tie after rain forced the contest to be called after the 11th inning. Koji Nakamura gave the Dragons a 1-0 advantage in the first, but Rick Short (Hmmmm!) tied the game for the Eagles with a solo homer in the seventh. I wish I had photos from the rain portion of the game, but here's a cool photo gallery from the Rakuten Eagles Web site. Check out the cheerleaders dressed in cowgirl gear in the first photo. … This can't end well.

WEATHER TERM OF THE DAY
HABOOB -- Sudanese name for duststorm or sandstorm with strong winds that carry small particles of dirt or sand into the air, particularly severe in areas of drought.