Touching the Bases with Nate Eastman: Rainouts and Rain delays

Sometimes you Win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes it rains

-Bull Durham

So for the next couple of days there’s a good chance we may not be playing any games due to all the rain that is about to hit central New York .  Rainouts are sometimes a good thing during the dog of the season to have an extra day of rest and the extra days rest always helps out the pitching staff.  Right now it’s still pretty early in the season so I’m still pretty anxious to get out there and play.

When there’s a rainout there’s many different things that players will do with their rare day off.  Some players like to go to the gym, play a pick up game of basketball (without letting coach find out), others will go out fishing, and some won’t leave the couch all day.  Rainouts can be a good day for the team to bond to create some better chemistry to make the season more enjoyable.

During the season when it starts to rain the players and coaches usually just go to the separate dugouts and wait out the rain or the umpires decision to continue playing.  Sometimes teams will try to have fun to make the best of the situation doing dance offs, Civil War reenactments, or even talent shows.

Earlier this year my school team had a rain delay at Niagara Community College, so we began to play tic-tac-toe on a baseball.  After numerous cats eyes, we then set up a jousting battle at home play much like the video below.  It was a blast to say the least, and we then all gave each other high fives and then started the game back up.  It was something fun for both teams and it was even enjoyable for the parents to watch.

I wanted to share one of my favorite rain delay skits was a college game between South Florida University and University of Connecticut during Big East conference tournament game in 2009.  Its a hilarious video of the two teams having a dance off to anything from the Macarena, to Michael Jackson, to an irish jig.