A Rainout Blog Hall of Fame? Yes… let’s do this

How about we start a Rainout Blog Sports/Weather Hall of Fame?

Not just me, all of us. You, too.

I’ve been thinking about doing this project for a while, ever since I made a post about Rick Dempsey way back in July, 2007.

So, what makes a Rainout Blog Hall of Famer? I’ve been wrestling with that question for a while.

(Warning: Here goes a lot rambling…)

At first, I was thinking of individuals who have had outstanding performances in a bad weather games. While his performances did not happen while games were in play, Dempsey certainly made his mark performing on soaked tarps during rain delays.

To me, the notoriety Dempsey received for his acts make him a first-ballot Rainout Blog Hall of Famer. Also, I think we need to give Dempsey credit for the rash of rain delay antics we saw a few years ago by college baseball games. With those 1970s performances, we may not have seen those elaborate, choreographed acts performed by want-to-be thespian college ball players. 

So, we’ve established that qualifications for entry into the RoBHoF are not exclusive to great on-field game performances. If a player, or coach, or fan, or whomever – how about a horse? Sure! – performs in a manner that is widely recognized, then that person, or whatever, can be considered for induction. 

A performance that is good or bad, right?

Right.

That brings us to Leon Lett. 

Remember Lett’s gaffe in the snow during in the 1993 Thanksgiving Day game that snatched defeat for his Cowboys from the jowls of victory? Of course you remember. We all remember.

I’m not comparing the moment to far more significant historic events, but I remember exactly where I was when the play happened.

For that one play in the snow, an unusual snow game for Texas Stadium, Lett is a Rainout Blog Hall of Famer. 

First ballot? We’ll debate that later.

So, who else? Hmmm. 

We’ll, LeShean McCoy had more than 200 yards rushing to lead the Eagles to a win over the Lions in blizzard-like conditions a couple of weeks ago. Does that qualify? 

Maybe.

It was great day for McCoy, but is it his performance that stands out about that game?

No. It’s the snow.

Ok. So, do we induct events/games in to the hall of fame?

If so, the Ice Bowl has to be the leading candidate. And when I think of weather games, I immediately think of the Fog Bowl playoff game at Soldier Field in 1988. There are many, many others to consider.

If I’m going to do this, take the time for such an uber fun project as creating a sports/weather hall of fame, it’s going to take a lot of time, thought and research. 

Wanna help? 

If you have suggestions or creative ideas for the project, I’ll gladly accept. Send me an email or tweet (@TheRealChadOz).

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.

Premier weather conditions

I love waking up with Rebecca Lowe.

Let me rephrase that so my wife doesn’t bop me in the puss with a snow shovel.

 I love crawling out of bed on weekend mornings, tuning the telly to NBC Sports and watching the English Premier League, where during pregame, halftime and postgame, Lowe is the lovely brilliant and talented presenter.

This weekend, Lowe and her supporting cast will be talking about a slew of games taking place in locations around the UK where much of the weather will be rainy and windy. No monsoons, but the conditions could be a bit sloppy. 

Wind could be a factor, however, when Sunderland hosts Norwich. The extended forecast is calling for gusts of more than 40 mph.

The sloppiest of all, if the forecast holds up, could be the Arsenal versus Chelsea match Monday in North London. A lot is on the line in that match, where rain showers and wind are predicted.

-- rain --

Forget Peyton, the Buckeyes can perform in cold weather

AP Photo/Jay LaPrete

Weather and sports mixed in conversation often last week, but most of it concerned Peyton Manning’s ability – well, inability – to win in cold weather. 

Time out: What’s it called when you begin and end a sentence with the same word? There has to be a word for that.

Anyway, if you’re a Broncos fan, or worse, a Patriots-hating Jets fan, Peyton didn’t do much to dispel beliefs that he can't get it done when the temperature drops.

Speaking of dropping, lets' drop the Peyton/cold weather talk because that'll resurface soon enough in January.

The day before Manning’s team blew a huge lead – it was 24-0 at halftime – and the game to those pesky New Englanders, Ohio State routed Indiana 42-14 in something we all love, a snow game.

I have to be honest, I didn’t know about the snow falling on The Horseshoe until Monday.

Thankfully, Bill Livingston of the Cleveland Plain Dealer penned (nobody pens $#@! anymore) banged out an excellent column about the playing conditions while also speculating that an SEC team would have difficulty competing on such a cold, snowy, windy November afternoon in Columbus.

I have to disagree with Bill. Toss in a Category 3 hurricane named Brutus and “Bama is still beating the Buckeyes by a couple of touchdowns!

This week Ohio State plays at Michigan, where the extended forecast is showing a high of 36 and sunny.

Boring!

Oh, wait.

Apparently, there’s still snow in Columbus where Ohio State fans expressed their distaste toward Michigan and ESPN’s Mark May Tuesday morning.  

Hold on. I feel a song coming on: “So we can write about things that blow, let it snow, let snow, let it snow!”

That's just stupid. I apologize.

PGA's Groundhog Day

Associated Press

Where I live in Southwest Virginia, and I imagine this is true for most of the population in the United States, people, particularly in the winter, talk a lot of traveling to Hawaii to escape the dark, cold days ahead.

"I'd love to be in Hawaii right now," someone here will say on a January day when its 11 degrees outside and snow is blowing up their nostrils.

But as we all know, the weather isn't perfect in Hawaii, either. Although it is more perfect than it is here.

Golfers attempting to tee off on the 2013 PGA season are experiencing Hawaii's brief and rare – I guess; I've never been to the islands – imperfections.

From the Associated Press:

APALUA, Hawaii -- On the third attempt at starting the PGA Tour season, Matt Kuchar stepped to the 10th tee at Kapalua and could barely hear his name through the wind. When he finally steadied himself, a gust blew his golf ball off the tee. And then it happened again.

…

Just more than one hour after the Hyundai Tournament of Champions finally got under way, it was scrapped again with all the scores erased.

Most golf tournaments end on Sunday. This one couldn't even get started Sunday.

The wind came roaring down the Plantation Course at Kapalua again, and it left officials no choice but to stop play and try to start again. With more manageable wind in the forecast, the plan was to play 36 holes Monday and finish with 18 holes Tuesday.

…

Ian Poulter posed over his 4-iron shot to the 13th green and was so stunned to see it come up short that he looked at his small gallery for the longest time, repeating loud enough for them to hear that he was only 138 yards from the front of the green. Off to his right, Charlie Beljan had a search party stomping through high grass to the right of the 10th fairway looking for both his tee shots. He had a 15-foot putt for triple bogey when play was stopped.

Moments later, a call came over the radio for a ruling on the 12th green. Scott Stallings was trying to tap in a 2-foot putt when a gust blew his ball 8 feet away.

A Brief Story on Tim Howard’s Wind-Assisted Goal That I Should Have Posted Two Weeks Ago

Wow, wind can do crazy things… like push a kick from a goalkeeper into the opposing team’s net from about 100 yards away.

That’s what happened Wednesday night, Jan. 4, when Everton keeper Tim Howard booted the yellow ball from just inside his penalty area. The ball soared across the pitch, bounced about 30 feet from the Bolton goal and then took wind-assisted flight over outreaching Wanderers goalkeeper Adam Bogdan and into the goal during the game’s 63rd minute.

“I think the wind is the hardest condition to play in,” Howard, an American, told BBC Radio.  “Snow, rain, sun doesn’t matter, but the wind really does play tricks on you.”

It was only the fourth goal by a keeper in the Premier League’s history, which dates back to only 1992.

Those inside Goodison Park joyfully cheered the rare achievement – Howard remained subdued, explaining later he felt bad for Bogdan – but Everton supporters’ glee was short lived as Bolton soon scored two goals and held on for a 2-1 victory.

Bogdan, speaking to reporters, said he would learn from the experience.

"It could have happened to anybody because of the conditions,” the keeper said. “It was extremely hard to get in the right positions.”

Tiger Confident Through the Wind

In case you didn’t hear, let me be the first to tell you Tiger Woods won The Chevron World Challenge Sunday, his first tournament victory in more than two years.

This has been big news today for those sportscasters who still gush over Tiger.

I think I heard one sports radio host today say Tiger, in the process of winning a golf tournament, can make TV viewers switch off the NFL and to the links.

Come on, fellas!

As sick as I sometimes get over the Tiger love fests that often occur in sports media, I couldn’t help be a little fascinated – maybe “fascinated” is too strong a word here, but I’ll go with it – with one Woods weather-related item from last week when the golfer explained to ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowherd that playing in the wind at the Australia Open, where he finished third, helped him gain confidence his game was on par with his pre-Thanksgiving 2009 level of play.
“I am fully healthy and the way I played in Australia was very exciting for me because when the wind blows like that and it’s howling consistently like when it did in Sydney and down in Melbourne and I ended up playing nine rounds, nine competitive rounds during that stretch, Woods told Cowherd.

“I felt like I had control of the golf ball for all those days and as a player you get exposed from the wind if you have any kind of weakness and I didn’t have any glaring weakness and as the more I played I got better. That was the fun part that when the wind blew my swing tightened up and actually got better.”

Woods’ shot, but not his confidence, did suffer a bit from the gusty winds Saturday at the Thousands Oaks, Calif., course, where the 35-year-old golfer entered the third round with a three-shot lead, but fell to second place behind Zach Johnson.

"Most of the time today it wasn't me,” Woods said following the third round. “I hit a lot of good shots. The wind was all over the place. It was tough out there.''

Weather bureaus reported the winds to be at 30 to 40 miles per hour.

According to Sunday’s reports, winds slowed during the final round, and Woods shot a three-under-par 69 to finish 10 under and a shot ahead of that pesky Johnson.

Photo: Reuters

Stinging in the Rain

Photo of the Day: I’m labeling this post the Photo of the Day because I really don’t have much to say about the game or the weather, but I do like the accompanying photo from Getty Images.

That’s Cleveland Browns quarterback Colt McCoy – has there ever been a better name for a QB from Texas? Never mind – soaking in falling rain drops after he was popped by Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Avanbadejo Sunday.

The Ravens soared – that’s so cliché – to a 24-10 victory over the Browns on a windy, rainy day in Cleveland behind the running of mudder Ray Rice, who racked up 204 yards and a rushing touchdown on 29 carries.

With Rice rumbling through the Brownies defense, the Ravens had no real reason for Joe Flacco to take to the air, but he did anyway, completing just 10 of 29 passes for 158 yards.

Skiing and Wind Don't Mix, I'm Told

While we're on the subject of wind (see below), I should mention that the competitors at the women's super-G felt a bitter, biting cold breeze in Sestriere, Italy on Sunday. Andrea Fischbacher of Austria and Fabienne Suter of Switzerland shared victory in the event that, as the Associated Press wrote, "was shaped by varying wind and several crashes."

Fog was the culprit (as you can see in the photo here) at the World Cup Freestyle Skiing Moguls in West Vancouver, British Columbia Saturday. The event was suspended as fog grew heavier. Speaking of heavy fog, check out this photo of a man laboring near the National Olympic Stadium in fog in Beijing, China. The photo was taken in December.

Pats Fans Are Perfect Snow Tossers

I know I said the post below was my last of the day, but I just discovered SI.com has an excellent photo gallery featuring shots from Sunday's bad weather action. In addition to the snow games in Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Foxborough, SI's gallery has shots from the evening's game in Giants Stadium, where winds swirled around the huge stadium. Is that why G-Men receivers dropped 12 passes? Of course not. The drops had to be Eli's fault. I hear wind was heavy, too, in Carolina for the Panthers' upset win over Seattle. I try to keep this blog visual, so I didn't mention the windy games because, well, wind is not very visual. Ok, that's it. I'm officially finished for the day.

One more thing: If we learned anything from Sunday's weather games, it's that Patriots' fans like to toss snow in the air like 8-year-old girls. What's up with that?

Slingin' In The Rain

The bad news for Matt Ryan is that weather forecasters are saying there's a 100 percent chance he'll be tossing the pigskin in the rain for the second consecutive game.

The good news for the Heisman candidate – I think ESPN has already given him the trophy – is that he will be facing a defense that more resembles the one he faced in the final two minutes of his Boston College Eagles' win more than a week ago instead of the Virginia Tech defense that busted his chops in the game's first 58 minutes.

The undefeated Eagles welcome ACC foe Florida State to Chestnut Hill Saturday where rain and wind gusts are likely with temperatures dipping to 40 degrees at kickoff. The weather is a result of Hurricane Noel which is tracking parallel with the coast and will graze eastern seaboard states.

Noel will lose its hurricane strength as it moves up the coast, but still will be a significant storm by the time it slides by Massachusetts. More than an inch of rain is expected in Boston beginning Saturday morning.

Wrigley Blows

Speaking of weather, ballparks and the baseball playoffs (see below) there will be at least one game played at Wrigley Field. And you know what that means: Wind. Most likely wind will blow at Wrigley – and so will the Cubs -- but the bigger question is which direction. Dusty Baker appeared on Colin Cowherd's ESPN Radio show today talking about how the wind factors into almost every game at Wrigley. Baker didn't really say anything we didn't already know, but he did say that if the wind blows out or across the field, it's in the Cubs favor since they have the bigger bats. However, Arizona, which has a two-game lead and could sweep the short series with a win Saturday, has the advantage with the wind blowing in because of its superior pitching and defense.

Severe Storm Forces Yankees and Rangers to Play Two Today In Arlington

Nearly four inches of rain fell in about 40 minutes Wednesday on and around the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, forcing the postponement the team’s game with the New York Yankees. Batting practice was cut short for the Yanks as tornado warnings were announced for the surrounding Tarrant County. As lightning and 80-mph wind gusts moved toward the stadium, fans in the ballpark were asked to take cover from the severe thunderstorm in concourses, hallways and restroom, as is the scene in the AP photo above. At the height of the storm, it was impossible to see the outfield fence from the press box because of the sheets of blowing rain, observes said.

"I was out there a little while and I thought the scoreboard was going to blow down. I've never seen anything like it," said Rangers backup catcher Chris Stewart.

The game was called at 8:15 p.m., local time. The postponed game is scheduled to be made up today as part of a doubleheader. The second game, originally scheduled to be played today, will begin 20 minutes following game one. Forecasters say there is a 40 percent chance of rain for the Arlington area today.

Kenya Run in the Rain? You Bet!

Robert Cheruiyot of Kenya successfully defended his Bean Town race title by winning the 111th Boston Marathon in the wind and rain Monday. The Boston win was Cheruiyot's third title. Lidiya Grigoryeva of Russia won the women's title. Cheruiyot completed the 26.2-mile race in 2 hours, 14 minutes and 13 seconds, the slowest winning time since 1985. USA Today reports:
The weather, part of a nor'easter battering the Eastern seaboard, will become part of race lore. The field contended with temperatures in the high 40s, winds gusting more than 25 mph and rain for much of the race. As tough as conditions were, they were better than anticipated on race eve. The rain stopped midway through the race.