Rain Delays

Last year, I attended at least one baseball game each month. This year, I'm thinking it won't happen, especially because today, the first game for which we have tickets, is threatening to be a rain-out. I've never had to deal with a rain-out before, or even a rain delay. I've never before had reason to check out weather.com or the Weather Channel before, so I guess that's a bonus, learning something new.

That's the problem with not having your team play in a dome. For all the talk of how domes are an abomination, you can't deny that being able to play inside has some advantages, and we will see how well Minnesota's new outdoor field deals with weather issues, compared to the Metrodome where they won their two World Series titles.

Who calls domes an abomination, you ask? I do, and I stand by it.

So, I wanted to be able to post about the Giants today. They've started well this year, 4-1 so far after their meek surrender to Atlanta last night. I was hoping to see Tim Lincecum shut down the Braves today, but it doesn't look good for that happening.

Should I be there at the park, in the rain, on the off-chance that the game might still happen, instead of watching on TV until they decide if the game will happen or not? Perhaps. But that's just crazy. Maybe I'm literally a fair-weather fan, but the silver lining to literally being a fair-weather fan is that at least you stay dry.

Yes, I know that fair-weather fan is an expression referring to bandwagon jumpers. My point remains the same. I'm not a fan of poor weather as opposed to fair weather when it comes to standing around outside.

So, instead of an analysis of the game, some other random notes on sports.

1) Newcastle is coming straight back up to the Premiership next year, having owned the Championship all year. Order has been restored, though there are troubling rumors that a couple of their star players, Joey Barton and Andy Carroll, are kind of thugs. Joey Barton has served jail time for assault, and Andy Carroll reportedly broke a teammate's jaw. Oh well. The last person who said an athlete has to be a role model was Billy Payne, CEO of Augusta National, discussing how Tiger Woods disappointed the privileged members of that gated community. Billy Payne is allowed to talk about role models and morality once Augusta National lifts its no women allowed policy.

Marina made an excellent point about Tiger Woods. Since his bad behavior was offensive to his wife specifically and women in general, what he could have done to make amends would have been to not come back to the Masters until they allowed women as members. He could have used his fame and power for good. But no, he simply came back as if life could just go on as normal.

I'm not excusing it, either Tiger's behavior or the bad behavior of Joey Barton and Andy Carroll. I'm just saying, athletes behaving badly is a fact of life. Money, opportunity, the rush of success and fame to the head. For every John Terry--star defender of Chelsea and England--who gets caught being unfaithful to his wife--and in this case, cheating with the girlfriend of a former teammate, there have to be many more who have the chances and who succumb to temptation, even though the fishbowl they live in does not allow absolute immunity from discovery.

So if you are to enjoy sports, you have to ignore a certain amount of bad behavior, although there are limits. I think this can be done without compromising one's integrity, but it can be a slippery slope, because sports are just a game. Sports are a fundamental way of testing our individual skills at obtaining some random objective, some measure of physical ability, so there are echoes of questions of survival, but in this day and age, when you don't have to be the biggest and the strongest to survive, there are certain values that can't be disregarded for the sake of success on the playing field.

But my point is that Newcastle is coming back next year, and that makes me happy.

2) Speaking of the question of integrity, Barry Bonds gave a press conference on TV as part of the airtime filler during the rain delay. He looks much more relaxed than he has appeared in the media over the last few years of his career, when he has been under the shadow of steroids. He has lost weight, and seems happy.

And the part that caught my attention was how he spoke about having traveled to Europe over the summer for the first time in his life. He spoke with the open enthusiasm and wonder of a normal person getting to travel. It felt very humanizing to hear him talking about Spain, Paris, Italy, London, and wanting to travel more, more, more.

Marina thought it was strange that someone with the salary Bonds commanded should only now be traveling, but then, if you think about it, baseball is a year-round business, especially for those who want to be the best. The regular season goes from April - October, with the playoffs to follow. Spring Training begins in February, and you have to stay in shape over the winter. Even if you get millions of dollars, you don't have more time in a day. Not that he was hardly deprived, and not that we should feel sorry for him, but it just wasn't something I had considered before, the question as to whether Barry Bonds could or wanted to travel on vacation like any other person.