Miami (Not the Counting Crows song)

Hey there, all you readers of The Rainout Blog.

Have you missed me?

You know, I've closed this blog more times than I can count.

Don't get me wrong, I love coming to this space and writing short, little posts about the rainy, muddy, snow, foggy, whatever action in a given particular sport – especially baseball – but with a family, a long-flippin' commute and that place that employs me – I'm very grateful; thank you employer – I miss out on a lot of sports weather items.

It seems I'm really busiest with personal commitments when big events – you know, like hurricane and blizzards – occur.

And days like today, when I have a few minutes of free time to write, what do we have? The BCS title game… in Miami.

Nothing weathery – is that a word? – to report from Miami, although I did hear some radio personality this morning say there was a slight drizzle. And a quick check on Weather.com shows a 20 percent chance of rain for tonight. Dandy!

A big part of the appeal, if there is one, of The Rainout Blog is not my words, of course, but the spectacular sports weather-related photos I swipe gather from the Internet. I'm guessing if any rain falls on the turf in Miami tonight, it will not be enough to make for outstanding, must-see sports weather photography.

It'l be nothing that'll make you say, "I gotta check The Rainout Blog."

But, if we're lucky, there will be enough of a rain to produce a lovely beaded coating on those blinding, golden dome Notre Dame helmets.

By the way, I know you've been begging for my pick of tonight's game, so here goes: Notre Dame will play like a champion today tonight and roll over the Tide (corny), 22-9.

Crank the Fog Machine to 11, Boys!

I was telling someone the other day that my second favorite non-sunny day weather event – second to rain, of course – is fog. And you know what, I don't write often enough about fog. Perhaps that's because there aren't that many sporting events that take place in those low-lying stratus clouds. Trust me; I look for those stories all the time. There isn't much there.

So, I'll gladly take a story featuring fake fog, especially when there's hilarious video – and an ever cooler close-up photo – of college football players falling all over themselves after tripping over a fog machine. That's what happened Saturday when Mississippi State took the field for its season opener. Saturday Down South has the video.

By the way, the Bulldogs managed to pick themselves off the turf, clear their eyes and deliver a 56-9 beat down to Jackson State.