All’s clear

Not a cloud in the sky.

Like most of you, my life is super busy. So much so, I rarely get a chance to update The Rainout Blog for the seven people who visit this blog. (That number may be a bit inflated.)

Often, a sports/weather event will occur or be forecasted – remember: Game 3 of the ALDS was rained out – and I’ll cringe just a little because there’s no time to grab the laptop and write a post and share a photo or two.

Today, I have a little free time. So, what’s happening? Nothing.

Weather in Kansas City for the first two games of the World Series have been perfect.

We have Thursday night NFL action in Denver, where it looks like there will be a better chance of Peyton Manning NOT adding to his touchdown record than there is a chance of rain drops or snowflakes – you never know in Denver.

The low in the Mile High city tonight will be around 48. It’ll be a little chilly, but it shouldn’t be enough to affect Manning’s performance. He’s not a cold-weather quarterback, ya know?

There are a couple of college football games scheduled for tonight. Miami travels to Blacksburg for an ACC showdown – more likely a “letdown” for the home team – with Virginia Tech. Temps will dip to the mid 40s, which is about as cold as the Hokies’ offense.

You’ll see about the same weather conditions in Greenville, North Carolina if you tune into tonight’s East Carolina home game with Connecticut. (Why would you do that?)

And you know what? Sunday’s NFL slate looks pretty unspectacular too, meaning no rain, no mud, no snow, no fog… no nothin’.

All the elements

It's the time of year when we can see a lot of different weather types affect our outdoor (sometimes indoor) sporting events. 

Last week, when I was spending a little time recapping the snowy NFL games from the previous Sunday, my pal, Chad, sent me a link to this web page, which contains 30 superb photos of NFL games being played in snow, rain, mud, fog and... well, that's about it.

Heinz To Remain Natural

Yesterday I promised to post about the Pittsburgh Steelers decision to stick with natural grass at Heinz Field. After some quick research today, I notice that story has been reported… everywhere!!! Anyway, the quickie version is the Steelers organization talked with its players and with the University of Pittsburgh, which shares Heinz Field with the Steelers, and found that overwhelmingly those groups support keeping natural grass. If you want to read mainstream media accounts of this story, here's a long list Google-y good of links. Enjoy!

Spawning Mud

The prevalence of artificial turf and superior field drainage systems these days have greatly diminished the sight of dirt and especially mud on NFL uniforms. But don’t tell that to Todd MacFarlane. His Spawn NFL figures almost always have at least a bit of dirt on them, creating a look on football uniforms that most of in our 30s and older became accustomed to seeing on TV during our youth. I don't know about you, but I hate the site of a clean football uniform. That's just another reason why it's tough being a Jets fan. I heard McFarlane on a sports radio program a few weeks ago talking about the research that goes into making his figures realistic. Sometimes I think there may be some embellishing in the mud department, but who cares? Check out the photo of the LaDainian Tomlinson figure. Awesome! Totally awesome!