This column will be short and sweet for this week…well, not really sweet and probably not too short either, but I would once again like to talk about this weather.
Spring break started and ended last week for our area schools and it was anything but that until just this past Friday. I covered the Ethel Tiger and Kosciusko Whippet baseball teams on Tuesday and the playing conditions were nothing short of brutal.
In the first game of the day pitting Ethel against Nanih Waiya, the temps were 44 degrees with a wind chill of 38 degrees during the game. The field was still under water and every ball put in play had to be immediately replaced with another ball due to the mud clinging to it.
Outfielders would create “rooster tails” of water flying off their feet as they chased down fly balls. Also, if a player happened to slide or dive in the infield, he would pick up about a pound of mud that would be caked to the front of their uniforms that set in like Quikrete. I watched ball after ball being replaced and there is no way the money taken in that day compensated for the baseballs lost.
The Kosciusko game started around 4 p.m. and it was not much better. It was still cold and it was still wet and it was STILL MISERABLE. I came to assume that this is what it is like to play baseball in Antarctica, minus the snow and ice, which never seemed to be too far away.
Both the Tigers and Whippets made it through the tournament, picking up two wins each while there, and on to Friday where the temps skyrocketed to 65 degrees. The Whippets were actually in Pearl on Friday, but I am sure it was warmer in Rankin County as well.
One more thought/complaint before I put this “sweet” column to bed; as soon as the cold left, Mother Nature got the last laugh again. As I was dreaming of warm sunshine and sandy beaches, I completely forgot about the pollen that comes directly after a cold snap…and it came with a vengeance. Life is never completely comfortable, and as a God-fearing, Bible-believing man, I should have known that.
Thank you, Lord, for another day, whether I am sneezing or not.
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Stan Beall is the sports editor at The Star-Herald. He can be reached at sbeall@starherald.net.
