Is it the Counting Crows who sing about the Rain King? That's me, the Rain King.
I went to the second home game of the season, when MASN had originally scheduled its Blogger's Night. Fortunately, the game was called early so I was able to enjoy good company in two different restaurants and still get home at a reasonable hour.
I had tickets to the Cardinals' game that was rained out. We were heading over when I got a text message that said the tarp was back on the field.
MASN rescheduled its event for us Kings of the Keyboards for the day portion of the day-night doubleheader. That went off without a hitch. Not so the night game, which at least played long enough to be official.
Then came the disaster that was last night. No way anyone with vision could have looked at a radar and seen a way to get that game in once 9 p.m. version of the rain started. No way. Yet many stayed and stayed and spent and spent and spent *** and there's the deal. You're here. Once we pull everything out of your pockets that we can, we'll do what should have been done two hours ago and call the thing off.
I understand schedules and wanting to play and doing everything within reason to do so. Within reason is the key. There's no way after a certain point you can risk million dollar players on a field like that. Let's not forget the comfort and safety of your fans, either. That has to count for something.
I had tickets last year to the game - also the Cardinals, I believe - that was delayed under a similar circumstance. I couldn't go so I gave the tickets to my daughter. Called her about five to see if she'd headed out. "Heck no. It's raining like crazy and the radar is as red as a fire engine," she said.
She was right. It never let up. There was never a reasonable window. Yet they waited and waited and waited to call it. My brother was at the stadium and he predicted within five minutes when they'd make the call. "They won't do it," he said, "until they sell all this food. And drinks to go with it."
I love baseball. I love it enough to go to great lengths to follow a bad team and see it in person as much as possible. I don't love rain. I'm a wimp and don't like sitting in wet clothes in wet seats and making long, wet walks back to my car.
So my plea to the Nats is to take that "within reason" part to heart in the future. You're getting plenty of money out of me now. You don't need to "soak" me for more.
Now, let me stop writing and go get ready to drive to D.C. again. Ladies Day and my wife is taking a half day off. Ladies Day is under cover and will go on, rain or shine, we're told.
5 comments:
We were there to the bitter end last night, and I share most of your sentiments. Anyone with access to a weather map could see the line of thunderstorms stretching down to Richmond and back to the Shenandoah. I don't begrudge them trying to get the game in. Frankly I think it's going to be a mess trying to get two in today.
My complaint is that they essentially waited until the rain stopped and then called the game on account of field conditions. Really? It's been raining non-stop for two hours and the field's a mess? WHAT A SHOCK! Nobody foresaw that possibility after hour one, with no let up in sight?
In any case, they were successful in vacuuming out our pockets. Score one for the Dan Snyder school of franchise management. On the plus side, no 300 for Randy and a 2-game non-losing streak. Go Nats!
"My complaint is that they essentially waited until the rain stopped and then called the game on account of field conditions. Really? It's been raining non-stop for two hours and the field's a mess? WHAT A SHOCK! Nobody foresaw that possibility after hour one, with no let up in sight?
In any case, they were successful in vacuuming out our pockets. Score one for the Dan Snyder school of franchise management."
No one was forcing you to wait it out and buy food/beer. If you were certain they weren't going to play, why not just leave once you realized that? Best case, they ultimately call it off just like you thought they would, and you get a rain check. You don't have to be present to win when they hand out rain checks, you know. Worst case, you guessed wrong and they get the game in. So you eat the ticket cost. Still probably less than you would have spent if you stayed and overspent on food/drink while you waited, I bet.
Look, any time there's a night like last night you know everyone concerned is going to have to make the best of a bad situation. No one is going to leave happy no matter what the team decides to do. It makes sense to be disappointed, but to get all bitter about it when you only made things worse for yourself by the way you handled it makes absolutely no sense.
Say what ever ill you want about RFK, but there are many places in the old gal to stay dry. Not so in the new place. I prefer the overall view provided by the upper level, so that is where my season tix are. When it rains, there is absolutely no place for cover up there. I particularly like the way there is a 3 foot open air gap between the concession stand counters and the upper deck seats. You get drenched once you get to the front of the line to order - and then wait for that fabulously speedy service. Places to stay dry if you are not one of the luxury box or club level elite are scarce. Folks escaping the rain pack in and it becomes overcrowded and very uncomfortable. Nationals Park is a human factors engineering disaster IMO. I have tix for tonight and am not going, whereas would take the chance unhesitatingly if the Nats were still playing in RFK. PS - I was at the notorious grounds crew fiasco game in '05. Good to see the crew doesn't appear to have improved - it simply is not big enough. Wasn't then, isn't now.
"Places to stay dry if you are not one of the luxury box or club level elite are scarce."
Not true. If your seats are on the upper concourse, just take the escalator down to the mezzanine level behind RF or to the lower concourse. Plenty of room and plenty of sheltered concessions there. Just because your seats are up high, you're not chained to that level. Move around the park and quit your bitching.
I mentioned in my response to the previous post that my wife and I never left the Metro when we saw how bad it was and looked at the radar. Don't forget the absurdity of waiting until 11:00 to call the game when the Metro shuts down at 11:30. On weeknights, at least half of the crowd Metros in and to start the game much past 9:00 is essentially a fraud to those folks who will be unable to stay to the end even if they want to.
As it stands, until this team's quality is worth waiting around for, I refuse to hang around spending money at the stadium. The wife and I have even begun to eat dinner elsewhere before the games both to save money and to avoid giving even more of it to this horribly run, despicable franchise.
Post a Comment