Russia Makes England Fake It

Speaking of world soccer and the 2008 European Championships (See below), there is a far more interesting story concerning the qualifying matches than the story I posted below about Scotland practicing in the rain. Boring! On Wednesday, England will face Russia in a qualifier at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, and the match will be played on an artificial surface, a decision made by the home squad. The England side says they're fine with not playing on real grass, but some pundits (Read: England fans looking for excuses in the event their team bellies up.) are wondering aloud about the fake turf giving an advantage to the Russians. Guus Hiddink, manager of the Russian side, argued that an artificial surface was the natural choice after rain, sleet and snow fell on Moscow over the weekend. Hmmm. This could turn out to be very interesting if England loses. Ok, I think that's enough postings today about soccer, although it is sure to increase the number of hits to my blog from 18-34 year-olds in Ukraine, one of most active demographics.

When It Comes To Soccer, I'm All Wet

I can't pretend to know much about world soccer, but apparently Scotland is surprising the game's enthusiasts with an unlikely run toward the 2008 European Championships. The Scots have won eight of 10 qualifier matches and play Georgia – the country, not the university of – soon with hopes of advancing to next year's champion round. (I hope I'm getting all this right. If not, I'll here about it from all my international readers.) The photo (REUTERS/David Moir - GEORGIA) above shows the Scotland side training in the pouring rain Tuesday at Boris Paichadze National Stadium in advance of Wednesday's match in Tbilisi.

UPDATE: A week or so ago, I celebrated my 100th post to this blog. (There was a wild party of one with cake, streamers and imaginary strippers in my basement. You should have been there.) Today, I celebrate this post as my 100th of 2007. It's party time and the lap dances are on me! Get it?

Weather (Photo) Update

This is an update to a post I made a couple of months ago, but it's mostly a chance for me to get away from baseball for a moment and post a photo of some super hot rain on gridiron action. (That's awkward!) The new-look NFL.com features a ton of improvements for this season, and one of those upgrades is the number of photos the site offers. A featured gallery provides picks of bad weather games. When it first went online, there were 31 photos of recent bad weather games. Now the count is up to 43 shots of rain, sleet, snow and fog gracing stadiums around the league. Great stuff! Grab some popcorn, T.O., and enjoy the show.

Warning: Expect Delays

While everyone is finding their seats on the Rockies bandwagon, it seems that other League Championship Series has been pushed to the backburner a bit, except in Cleveland and Boston. In case you missed it last night, the Indians grabbed a 2-1 series lead at Jacobs Field. Tonight in Cleveland is Game 4 of the ALCS between the Tribe and Red Sox, and if you're going to the game or just checking it out on your high-def TV, you should expect some delays. The temps forecasted to dip to the high 50s with a 40 percent chance of rain and, my favorite, scatted thunderstorms. (High 50s equals about 15 degrees Celsius for those two or three of you from Malaysia who occasionally visit this blog.)

While we're visiting Cleveland, take a look this Plain Dealer time-lapse video that zips us through the Opening Day snow storm that hit the ballpark as the Indians were hosting the Mariners.

I Thought This Was Winter League

The Rockies did it. They finished off Arizona Monday night in four games and clinched the team's first ever World Series appearance.

Wonderful! But wait.

The Series begins Oct. 24, and is still eight full days away. That's a lot of downtime. If you heard Mike and Mike on ESPN Radio Tuesday morning, you may have heard the duo offer suggestions to the National League champions on what they can do during their down time. Visit Britney Spears kids, apply for the Yankees managerial job and print out a roster of their own team and try to figure out who the heck they all are were among the suggestions.

Funny. But what will the Rockies really do?

Baseball guru Seth Everett said on Steve Czaban's radio show – wow, that's two days in a row I've mentioned the Czabe – that the Rockies may move Rocktober Fest to some winter league location to practice where temperatures will be a bit warmer than those on Rocky Road. (Man, I'm getting in all the new Rockies bandwagon slogans, aren't I?)

The weather in Denver over the next eight days isn't exactly summer-like, but it's not too bad. According to The Weather Channel's extended forecast, the best day for the Rockies to practice in their home city is Saturday, when temperatures are expected to reach 75 degrees. The worst days will be Wednesday (60 degrees, chance of thunderstorms) and Thursday (54, morning showers and windy) of this week.

By the way, my pal told me this blog might actually get some readers if I posted photos of Stephanie Abrams of The Weather Channel. So, there ya go. Now, how can we work Erin Andrews on to this blog?

Patriots Rock Like A Hurricane, Jets Just Blow

If you don't believe the 2007 version of the New England Patriots could be the best team ever, then you're either irreversibly clueless or a disillusioned Jets fan. After Tom Brady put up video game numbers on the Cowboys Sunday, there is legitimate reason to believe this team, cheating or not, could run the table all the way through the season. A few weeks ago, Steve Czaban, on his nationally-syndicated radio show called the Patriots – and here's where this post gets sort of weather related – a Category Five super team. It's beginning to look more and more each week like The Czabe may be right. This morning he compared the Pats season thus far, and all the hype and build up surrounding the team, to Hurricane Katrina. That may be taking the analogy a bit too far, but New England looks like a strong, unstoppable force that is turning the rest of the NFL to unrecognizable rubble. And this is coming from a disillusioned fan of the Jets, who, at 1 and whatever, look like a tropical depression.

Buy Me Some Peanuts and Cracker Jacks... and a Poncho

I love October baseball. Most people I talk with say they hate when cold weather comes into play during the playoffs. "It's just not baseball weather," they tell me. I, of course, disagree. The cold, rainy playing conditions at Coors Field last night, and every other time the weather has come into play in the MLB playoffs, creates an entirely new challenge for the teams embarking on the grand prize. It's a beautiful stage that blends perfectly with the emotions of the games. And you can't tell me the fans at Coors last night didn't just absolutely dig it that their team is kicking the frozen snot of a Diamondbacks team that hails from Arizona and plays in a ballpark with a retractable roof. I'm sure the folks in Denver believe the cold weather is to their team's advantage – they're probably right – and cheer louder with each drop on the thermometer.

A look at the weather-related sports headlines in the Denver Post today gives insight into how into the mindset of the Colorado faithful. Here are a few of those heads:

- Rockies fever keeps away cold
- Almost on Ice
- Rockies Right As Rain
- Arizona Gets Lost in the Fogg (Referring, of course, to Josh Fogg, but still…)
- Rain, Snow, and Base-brrrrrr (This headline actually was in Sunday's Post, but it is my favorite.)

In case you missed the game last night, the Rockies defeated the D-Backs 4-1 at Coors as temperatures dipped into the 30s and cold rain fell before the game during the early innings. It was a beautiful sight. Tonight's Game 4 weather forecast calls for temps in the high 30s, but with mostly clear skies. It’s Broncos weather in Denver, but as their team sits one way away from reaching the World Series, fans in the Mile High City are hot for the Rockies.

Meanwhile, the ALCS moves to Cleveland tonight with the Indians and Red Sox tied at 1-1. Folks at the Jake should be fairly comfortable with low temperatures expected to be in the mid 50s with a slim change of precipitation. Tomorrow night, however, could be a different story. Rain is being forecasted all day with a chance of thunderstorms at night during Game 4.

Lightning Strikes and Jayhawks and Bears

Heavy thunderstorms and lightning in Lawrence delayed the start of today's gridiron clash between homestanding Kansas and visiting Baylor. Kickoff was pushed back two hours. The game is now underway with the Jayhawks leading 10-3 late in the first quarter. So, this is what it has come to -- me writing about a rain delay at a Kansas versus Baylor football game. I'm really bored.

Rainbow Warriors Shine After Wet California Day

I turned my attention away last night from the striptease videos I was watching on YouTube and noticed that Hawaii, the No. 16 team in the nation, was trailing unranked San Jose State by two touchdowns with less than four minutes to play in the game.

But suddenly, as quick a Rainbow Warrior can strike (What?), Hawaii picked up a quick touchdown to get within seven points. On its following drive, San Jose State conveniently placed the pigskin on the wet, sloppy turf and, you guessed it, Hawaii recovered and soon thereafter drove for the tying score.

Regulation time ended shortly after midnight Eastern, and that's when I had to go to bed to ensure I got at least four hours of sleep that night. While I was dreaming (most likely about Liz Lemon), the Warriors won in overtime, 42-35.

Colt Brennan, Hawaii's star quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate, threw for 545 yards on 74 pass attempts – that's a WACky record — four TDs, but also four interceptions. Rain fell all day before the game, so we'll blame Brennan's four picks on field wetness.

What, No Rain Plan?

This isn't sports related, but for some reason I thought it was worth a mentioning here that Drew Gilpin Faust was installed Friday as the 28th president, and first female leader at Harvard University. More than 8,000 people gathered for Faust's inauguration and braved occasional rain showers to hear the new president speak of her vision for the university. Well, I assume she did some of that, but the Boston Globe stated today that "Faust's words, made it clear that Harvard's 28th president would use her high-profile position as a bully pulpit on gender and racial diversity and other issues in higher education." Meanwhile, to make this post somewhat interesting and sports related, the Harvard Crimson will host Lafayette today under clear skies with high temperatures nearing 60.

Do Dogs and Drinks Affect the Spectator Index?

The Spectator Index is 6 for tonight's opening game of the American League Championship Series between the Red Sox and Cleveland Indians at Fenway Park.

What?

You've never heard of the Spectator Index? Well, you have to check it out.

The Index is a feature on weather.com that rates the comfort factor for fans at a particular sporting event based upon temperature, chance of precipitation, humidity, wind speed and cloud cover. So, the reading of 6 for tonight's contest is "good," meaning comfy conditions for fans when the first pitch is hurled at 7:07 p.m. The Index goes from 1 to 10, with 10 meaning "excellent" live viewing conditions. A Spectator Index of 1 means you're probably in Buffalo. The Index is updated several times a day. So if you're sitting at home tonight watching the game from your living room, where I'm sure your personal Spectator Index will be a 10, you can click on weather.com and see just how the temperatures and wind conditions and such are changing the Spectator Index reading at Fenway. Then, just for fun, try to determine just how many beers Sox fans will need to drink to stay warm when temperatures dip to 45 degrees and winds reach 15 to 25 mph. Oh, and a 20 percent chance or precipitation is also forecasted.

Those west winds at Fenway tonight, The Weather Guys at USA Today remind us, should mean an increased chance for home runs to right field. Let's hope the winds calm when the Sox are at the plate. On their blog today, The Weather Guys have a cool graphic (see above) illustrating just how the winds tonight could benefit lefties.

(The above graphic is from USA Today. You didn't think I drew that myself, did you?)

SPRINKLES: It looks as though there's a turf war brewing in Columbus, Ohio involving the intramural football fields. An Ohio State student has written in the school newspaper five reasons why rain should not halt intramural play. Reason No. 4 is the best. Wikipedia fans will agree. … We've spotted a snow football game in Canada. …The Williston (Fla.) Pioneer Sun News tells us that in rodeo, like pro football, the show must go on despite the presence of rain and mud. You just know there's a scientist working some place in a lab to develop artificial mud for rodeo. Jeez!

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Full disclosure: I'm a Yankees fan, so I need not explain to you why I want the Red Sox to be eliminated from the MLB playoffs as soon as possible. Also, I still have bad memories of the Diamondbacks beating Mariano Rivera and the Yanks in the Fall Classic a few years back. All that said, you can probably gather that I'm rooting for an Indians-versus-Rockies World Series. The above reasons withstanding, I would love to see how the weather plays a factor for late October baseball games in frost-brewed Coors Field. I hope, good golly I hope, we see something resembling the above photo. Go Tribe! Go Rockies! Go Snow!!!

Oklahoma's Reigning Back

Oklahoma running back DeMarco Murray is getting plenty of love from the press this week, particularly in the wake of his 128-yard performance that helped his team defeat rival Texas last Saturday. A year ago, Murray redshirted with a turf toe injury and has since rebounded to demonstrate plenty of gridiron talent this season. Not to shabby for a fella who didn't play running back until he was a high school freshman. The text below is from Thursday's Tulsa World:

"I didn't start playing running back until my freshman year in high school," he said. "Before that it was linebacker, DB and all that."

The football savant who switched Murray over? "My running backs coach at Gorman High School, Coach Wright," he said. "He pretty much told me, 'Hey, if you want to do it, we'll give you a shot.' I guess he had a lot of faith in me."

Wright believed because of what he had seen.

"It was DeMarco's ability to make people miss as a defensive player," he said. "He'd turn his body certain directions, glide through the line, shed blockers and make plays. I figured if he could do that, he'd be a pretty good at running back for us. We tried him out and lo and behold . . . He was like a fish in water. He took right to it."

In the photo above, Murray runs threw Miami defenders during a steady rain in Norman.

Is It Open Or Not?

This is hardly news or anything other than what you might expect, but the retractable roof at Chase Field will be closed for tonight's National League Championship Series opener between the homestanding Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies. Why? Because it's going to be hot as the third layer of hell outside the ballpark, with high temperatures there expected to hit around 97. Temperatures will be a very cozy 72, I assume, inside Chase. Temps hovering in the high 90s are forecasted for game two, so don't expect to see any daylight in this series until the two teams depart for Coors Field. I can’t wait to see what kind of weather we get for those games in Denver.



UPDATE: According to a story today in the Pueblo (Colo.)Chieftain, the Chase Field roof will be closed for tonight's NLCS opener, as I wrote above. However, I just now discovered that the Chase Field Web site states that the roof will be open tonight and also for Game 2. So who do we believe? I guess we'll just have to tune in tonight and see for ourselves. The Chase Field site does list a phone number – it's not toll free, by the way – that gives out roof information. I haven't had time to call it, but I may at some point today. If you want to call, the number is 602-379-7663.

Rain Could Slow ALCS Opener

As you can see in the photo, it was a rainy day in Cleveland – better than bug attacks, eh? – so the Indians hurlers had to cut their workouts short. The Tribe hitters, meanwhile, left the wet Jacobs Field and took some swings at the team’s indoor facility.

The way it looks, the Indians will be taking the wet stuff with them when they travel to Boston for games one and two of the American League Championship Series. Rain is being forecasted over Fenway Park for both of those contests, which are scheduled to be played Friday and Saturday, respectively.

But don’t worry Red Sox fans, your smock-wearing manager has a plan for his pitchers should a game be called or endure a lengthy rain delay.

From the Associated Press:

The rotations would be shuffled around if games are delayed or postponed by rain, which is forecast for both Friday and Saturday. Francona said he would consider using lefty Jon Lester following a long rain delay, if necessary; Lester threw 38 pitches on Tuesday to stay fresh.

More About the Japanese Umbrella Girls

Last week in a post about the very rainy and extremely treacherous wet driving conditions at the Japanese Grand Prix, I posted a hot photo and briefly mentioned that the race queens – I initially referred to them as umbrella girls, I think – were present at the event and sporting cute pink and white short skits and umbrellas of the same colors. I didn't know it at the time, but Race Queens in Japan are a big deal. They stand in the pits along with the crew looking sexy and probably turning more than a Formula 1 drivers' heads.

The BBC News Web site featured an interesting story about the Race Girls a few years back. Below are some informative excerpts:

No Japanese race is complete without a parade of race queens, long-legged models in daringly skimpy costumes adorned with the colours of their team and its sponsor.

The race queens attract a lot more attention than the cars, attracting devoted fans who jostle to snap photographs of their idols.

Race queens embody the cult of 'kawaii' or cuteness, which you see all over Japan, peddling an image of doll-like beauty and unobtainable sexuality.

Ice Bowl As You've Never Seen It

Those of us who dig our sporting events mixed with a dash or two of bad weather hold with high regard the 1967 NFL Championship game between the Packers and Cowboys, or the Ice Bowl as it's commonly known. You know the story of that contest, so I won't go into details. Anyway, I was Googling pics of bad weather football games today, and stumbled upon this unique, uh, photo (above) of the Ice Bowl I had never seen before. And, I'm betting you've never seen it either. It was made by a filmmaker who operates the very cool Web site, Stopactionfootball.com, which features those beloved electronic football players from our childhood. You really should take a few minutes and examine his work. It is great, and particularly check out his film about Jim Marshall's wrong-way run. It's a classic and perfect irony for the electronic football environment. But if you're in a hurry to get back to work and have only a few minutes to kill, below is a film from the site highlighting the most recent Super Bowl. Yeah, it's weather related. Remember the rain?

Cloud Puts Colgate Football On The Shelf Momentarily

Folks in Morrisville, N.Y. thought they had spotted a tornado Saturday, but those thoughts funneled out quickly. Here's the scoop from The Post-Standard:

A cloud that had the appearance of a funnel cloud typically associated with tornadoes was reported over Morrisville on Saturday, but weather experts quickly determined that it was a "shelf" cloud that accompanied a thunderstorm, National Weather Service meteorologists said Monday.

At Colgate University in Hamilton, a few miles southeast of Morrisville, a football game between the Raiders and Bucknell was delayed for an hour and fans were asked to leave the stands at Andy Kerr Stadium when lightning was spotted in the area just after 4 p.m. University officials said they had not received any reports of a funnel cloud.

Raider Nation Finds Odd Way to Prep For Chargers

In case you didn't notice the Oakland Raiders have played in two consecutive road games in which the contests were delayed by Mother Nature. First, a lightning storm halted the Raiders' game in Denver by 24 minutes, and couple of weeks ago Lane Kiffin and his Black and Silver crew had its kickoff in Miami pushed back a half an hour by more charges of lightning. (The photo placement above is to visually illustrate the rainfall before the Raiders game in Miami and not just a gratuitous posting of a picture featuring a hot, wet NFL cheerleader.) This week, the Raiders are guaranteed to see lightning again, but this time it will be on the helmets (and pants) of the San Diego Super Chargers. There is a very slim chance, however, the Raiders will face a third consecutive weather delay. Forecast for San Diego Sunday call for mostly sunny skies. What else would expect from Sunny San Diego?