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Nasty Weather, Tough Circumstances Cause Chaos Across BLB
SYRACUSE -- 1 day, 18 hours, 14 minutes... and counting. The BLB's longest rain delay now belongs to the city of Syracuse, as Thursday's 9:00 PM EST first pitch has been pushed back. And back. And back again. Confusion between umpires, weather experts, and the league office has everyone wondering when, or if, they will play.
Fans run for cover as the rain began before the Slammers were scheduled to face the Indianapolis Clowns Thursday night at Syracuse Stadium in upstate New York.
Indianapolis GM Ryan Mann told the press, "the guys up top at BLB headquarters haven't been able to give us any solid information as to whether or not the game has been cancelled. They keep telling us to wait out the delay, so naturally, we will."
NWS officials pointed to a warm front moving east from Buffalo, which created a doppler cell that surprisingly stopped directly over downtown Syracuse. Umpires were told that the front would be leaving, so they called for a rain delay.
Pressure from big money German investors could be to blame. A German investor only known as "Markus," who laid the foundation for the BLB through a large grant, has been rumored to look upon cancellations as a sign of weakness in the growing rivalry between MLB and the BLB. Heinsohn, along with co-commissioners Andrew Stevens and Clay Shaver, could not be reached for comment regarding the matter.
"It really should clear up any minute now," head umpire Matt Foley said Saturday morning. "We're always looking to get the games played as close to the originally scheduled time as possible. To force Indy to come back later in the season for one game would kill their travel budget. We're not the MLB... yet."
As of press time, only eight fans remained at Syracuse Stadium - 6 homeless men and the parents of rookie sensation Raul Zamora, who flew in from Mississippi to watch their son for the first time in a BLB uniform.
Umpires discuss the status of the Windy City-Los Alamos game early Friday morning.
It's not just Syracuse that's feeling the bad weather blues, as every BLB game across the nation has been delayed. Looking for hail? Storms in Philadelphia provided new experiences for some, as Joe Toapanta had "never seen 'free golf balls' like this in Venezuela." World's worst coal pollution? Rookie Nate Magness has now thrown long toss 28 times waiting for the air to clear in Morgantown. Snow in Chicago. Terror threats in Baltimore. Extreme heat in Los Lunas.
Despite floods in Mississippi, starter Don Stevens refuses to sleep out of fear of his "prized" right arm tightening up. "There's eight Starbucks in the lower concourse alone, so it's not hard," said Stevens.
California hurler Joe Toapanta shows off the hail falling in Philadephia, PA.
Other facts:
-Rich get richer: Rumor has it that Gil O'Moore has learned two new pitches during the wind delay in Hartford, one of which looks to be a "canadian gyroball," as taught by teammate Teagan Corrigan.
-Play with the pros: Eric Cafferty lost over two million dollars in salary during a poker game with Denver owner Carlos Hernandez while waiting as the remnants of Hurricane Dolly have made their way to the middle of Texas.
New BLB fans wait out Hurricane Dolly before the hometown Snappers take on the Denver Bulls in Dallas, TX.
-Call it a sellout: Not one fan has left Jackson Municipal Stadium in Mississippi as flooding has left the stadium as the only dry spot in town. 400 tickets remained unsold at game time, but when play resumes, 400 lucky fans will get to see the game for free as the Red Cross declared the stadium as a rescue zone.
-Isn't it ironic: Philadelphia reliever Gaspar Rodriguez, currently shelved due to an injury suffered during a cooking accident, baked hot brownies for both the Philadelphia and California bullpens. Word from Philly is that he made it through without injury this time.
-Ross Perot lives: Pittsburgh star 1B Everado Gremades held a 2 hour press conference in the Millers dugout Friday night, pie charts and all, arguing his superiority over other first basemen of the BLB. Gremades sported a "Harry... or Hillary? Vote No to Keppel in '08" t-shirt.
-An inconvienent visit: Former Vice President barged into the visitor's clubhouse in Baltimore to show Batavia players a screening of his recent documentary, "An Inconvienent Truth." A new DVD bonus feature spotlights the BLB's "dead period," as Gore tries to make a connection to the extreme weather across the country and global warming.
-Lead by example: An apparent drug bust in Washington led to police raiding the owner's box of Pat McLaughlin. Seattle police chief Jon Moxon would not comment, but word has spread that nothing was found but an empty bottle marked HGH.
-Take the money and run: Baltimore pitcher Dylan Lillie did a spot-on impression of former teammate Henry Stafford for fans during the terror delay, donning a Stafford jersey, shaving his beard and stuffing his pants with Monopoly money while swinging and missing at twelve straight strikes, thrown by rehabbing pitcher Jeff Franklin. A radar gun behind home plate clocked Franklin in the low 80's, but Baltimore owner Delandis Dillard told fans not to get excited. "There's no way he'll be ready for October," Dillard told press early Saturday morning.
-The entire city of Davenport has run out of hot dogs, as Brawler officials have cleaned out each grocery store in town after selling 74,123 dogs during the delay. That's 2.11 hot dogs for every fan in attendance for the Brawlers first sellout in four months. Davenport officials have assured the crowd that there's "plenty of peanuts and beer still available."
SYRACUSE -- 1 day, 18 hours, 14 minutes... and counting. The BLB's longest rain delay now belongs to the city of Syracuse, as Thursday's 9:00 PM EST first pitch has been pushed back. And back. And back again. Confusion between umpires, weather experts, and the league office has everyone wondering when, or if, they will play.
Fans run for cover as the rain began before the Slammers were scheduled to face the Indianapolis Clowns Thursday night at Syracuse Stadium in upstate New York.
Indianapolis GM Ryan Mann told the press, "the guys up top at BLB headquarters haven't been able to give us any solid information as to whether or not the game has been cancelled. They keep telling us to wait out the delay, so naturally, we will."
NWS officials pointed to a warm front moving east from Buffalo, which created a doppler cell that surprisingly stopped directly over downtown Syracuse. Umpires were told that the front would be leaving, so they called for a rain delay.
Pressure from big money German investors could be to blame. A German investor only known as "Markus," who laid the foundation for the BLB through a large grant, has been rumored to look upon cancellations as a sign of weakness in the growing rivalry between MLB and the BLB. Heinsohn, along with co-commissioners Andrew Stevens and Clay Shaver, could not be reached for comment regarding the matter.
"It really should clear up any minute now," head umpire Matt Foley said Saturday morning. "We're always looking to get the games played as close to the originally scheduled time as possible. To force Indy to come back later in the season for one game would kill their travel budget. We're not the MLB... yet."
As of press time, only eight fans remained at Syracuse Stadium - 6 homeless men and the parents of rookie sensation Raul Zamora, who flew in from Mississippi to watch their son for the first time in a BLB uniform.
Umpires discuss the status of the Windy City-Los Alamos game early Friday morning.
It's not just Syracuse that's feeling the bad weather blues, as every BLB game across the nation has been delayed. Looking for hail? Storms in Philadelphia provided new experiences for some, as Joe Toapanta had "never seen 'free golf balls' like this in Venezuela." World's worst coal pollution? Rookie Nate Magness has now thrown long toss 28 times waiting for the air to clear in Morgantown. Snow in Chicago. Terror threats in Baltimore. Extreme heat in Los Lunas.
Despite floods in Mississippi, starter Don Stevens refuses to sleep out of fear of his "prized" right arm tightening up. "There's eight Starbucks in the lower concourse alone, so it's not hard," said Stevens.
California hurler Joe Toapanta shows off the hail falling in Philadephia, PA.
Other facts:
-Rich get richer: Rumor has it that Gil O'Moore has learned two new pitches during the wind delay in Hartford, one of which looks to be a "canadian gyroball," as taught by teammate Teagan Corrigan.
-Play with the pros: Eric Cafferty lost over two million dollars in salary during a poker game with Denver owner Carlos Hernandez while waiting as the remnants of Hurricane Dolly have made their way to the middle of Texas.
New BLB fans wait out Hurricane Dolly before the hometown Snappers take on the Denver Bulls in Dallas, TX.
-Call it a sellout: Not one fan has left Jackson Municipal Stadium in Mississippi as flooding has left the stadium as the only dry spot in town. 400 tickets remained unsold at game time, but when play resumes, 400 lucky fans will get to see the game for free as the Red Cross declared the stadium as a rescue zone.
-Isn't it ironic: Philadelphia reliever Gaspar Rodriguez, currently shelved due to an injury suffered during a cooking accident, baked hot brownies for both the Philadelphia and California bullpens. Word from Philly is that he made it through without injury this time.
-Ross Perot lives: Pittsburgh star 1B Everado Gremades held a 2 hour press conference in the Millers dugout Friday night, pie charts and all, arguing his superiority over other first basemen of the BLB. Gremades sported a "Harry... or Hillary? Vote No to Keppel in '08" t-shirt.
-An inconvienent visit: Former Vice President barged into the visitor's clubhouse in Baltimore to show Batavia players a screening of his recent documentary, "An Inconvienent Truth." A new DVD bonus feature spotlights the BLB's "dead period," as Gore tries to make a connection to the extreme weather across the country and global warming.
-Lead by example: An apparent drug bust in Washington led to police raiding the owner's box of Pat McLaughlin. Seattle police chief Jon Moxon would not comment, but word has spread that nothing was found but an empty bottle marked HGH.
-Take the money and run: Baltimore pitcher Dylan Lillie did a spot-on impression of former teammate Henry Stafford for fans during the terror delay, donning a Stafford jersey, shaving his beard and stuffing his pants with Monopoly money while swinging and missing at twelve straight strikes, thrown by rehabbing pitcher Jeff Franklin. A radar gun behind home plate clocked Franklin in the low 80's, but Baltimore owner Delandis Dillard told fans not to get excited. "There's no way he'll be ready for October," Dillard told press early Saturday morning.
-The entire city of Davenport has run out of hot dogs, as Brawler officials have cleaned out each grocery store in town after selling 74,123 dogs during the delay. That's 2.11 hot dogs for every fan in attendance for the Brawlers first sellout in four months. Davenport officials have assured the crowd that there's "plenty of peanuts and beer still available."
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