Thoughts on the Opening Day That Wasn't:













The Indians need to take much of the blame for this fiasco. I've seen baseball for a lot of years and clearly that was the coldest day with the lowest wind chills for a game that was attempted to play locally. I realize many factors played a part, mainly that this was Seattle's only trip in. But I drove down with my Dad at 1:30 and it was amazing how much snow was flying down there. The game was to start at 4:00, but it looked in doubt even at that time. We had pretty much decided in an executive decision beforehand that we wouldn't go in. A parking spot on the street by a two-hour meter pretty much clinched that one. Imagine that, $3 to park on Opening Day. So, we headed over to Alesci's.

Which was packed. So, we hung around and waited for the Budweiser Clydesdales, who delivered beer throughout Gateway. I petted one of them illegally. I got the "Sir, you're not allowed to pet the horses." line. But I got a picture with them as my Dad pulled a Richard Avedon and went snap-happy. In the interim, I drank many beers. The snow stopped significantly maybe twice during that span.

We then heard the game was pushed back to 5:00. This was a bad decision. They should have tossed the pre-game ceremonies into the trash and started at least 30 minutes earlier. So, I don't wanna hear they tried everything they could. They clearly didn't.

You knew it was trouble after the first inning with 26-minute and a 17-minute delays. Gale joined us after another inning because of some work issues and we see the Indians get a 4-0 lead. Oh, we lost our catcher. I'm not sure if the cold was to blame, but Victor Martinez strained a quad muscle. It looked like it hurt. Blame the cold.

We decided to leave after the fourth. Then the snow started up again. Old friend Mike Hargrove sets aside his taco snacks and pulls a great managerial stunt out of the Spalding Guide and starts a filibuster about the snow falling and that his hitters can't see. Any manager would have done this. This is after Paul Byrd loads the bases with walks, gets two outs, and has two strikes on the hitter. One more strike and the game is official. That's when Hargrove goes out. After several minutes, while the snow gets worse, the umpires relent and the game is delayed again. The odd thing is at this time we are driving on I-490, two miles to the south, and it is not snowing there. After an hour and 17 minutes, the game was mercifully postponed. Paul Byrd's quite the redass as he had not given up any hits and claimed Seattle was "celebrating" after the postponement. They even called a team meeting afterward.

This attempt at a game joins the Opening Day lore of the snowout game several years ago when they actually postponed it in the morning. The game a few years ago when it was the coldest baseball game I'd ever attended up that point. And the mid-70s game where you could throw snowballs at the Milwaukee Brewers.

So the game was rescheduled for today, when I had to actually shovel snow this morning. Obviously, both games today were cancelled. BTW, in Seattle, it was 78 degrees yesterday. Keep in mind that next year, the Indians want to open at home on the first Monday of the season.

Meal of Links

During the snow around Noon today, I spent time with the younger set, Shaun and Kevin, and we took in the new Will Ferrell classic, "Blades of Glory" at Crocker Park. If you like Will Ferrell, this is a must see. He stars as Chazz Michael Michaels, the only three-time skating medalist and adult film star, who feuds with Jon Heder's character, Jimmy MacElroy. After they are both banned from men's skating, they make a comeback in pairs skating.

Ferrell is typically funny and has an ode to his Italian hairbrush that I could not stop laughing at. Of course, he's half naked at one point and tells MacElroy to "drink it in." Another time with Nancy Kerrigan, "Are you an official? Because you've officially given me a boner." Spot on commentary from Jim Lampley and Scott Hamilton. Lamps especially with, "He puts the "bone" in Zamboni." and "They have captivated this crowd much like a stack of classic Euro porn."

Other highlights were funny "Up Close and Personal"s of the skaters, William Fichtner as an eccentric billionaire and MacElroy's adoptive father, Ferrell saying Louis Armstrong walked on the moon, Craig T. Nelson as the skating coach who takes the wraps off the feared "Iron Lotus" move and gives it to Michaels and MacElroy. Amy Poehler and Will Arnett are good as rival skaters and the one who probably had the least impact on the movie was Jenna Fischer, in a rather ho-hum role.

The reasons that Sanjaya remains on "Idol". I still don't get if this guy is so bad, how did he make it to the Finals in the first place?

YouTube gets into politics with CitizenTube. Seems like a good idea. Probably a place to find some nutjobs, as well.

Exercise Yard

Once again, HBO and Showtime had boxing on the same day, HBO did us a favor and showed the Calzaghe-Manfredo fight at 5:00. Not much of a 168-lb. match here. Joe Calzaghe whipped up on Peter Manfredo, aka "the guy from "The Contender", in a three-round affair. Manfredo was simply outclassed as he could not keep up with Calzaghe's hand speed. Oh, it was a quick stoppage as the fight was on Calzaghe's home turf of Cardiff, Wales. Third round and Manfredo hadn't even hit the canvas. Yet. But the ref saved us from the inevitable and stopped it quick. Calzaghe now 21-0 in title defenses.

Showtime had a rather interesting non-title fight between Diego Corrales and Joshua Clottey. Corrales was leaping two weight classes to take on Clottey at 147 in the fighting mecca of Springfield, MO. Of course, both men failed to make weight. What the hell is going on with this sport when it comes to making weight? Corrales comes in at 149, Clottey first at 151, then two hours later at 149. Game on. Clottey almost threw a shutout as he dominated the action. Corrales was game, but never hurt Clottey. It was an active fight and that's all you can ask. It may be the end of the line for Corrales, who has been coming up short a lot lately.

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