How does the weather affect

Greetings, Rattler fans. Carl, the Rain Hating Camel here. When I am not obsessing about precipitation forcing cancellations of Timber Rattler games, I surf the web in search of stories about rain and baseball. Well, I found this one in The Burlington Hawkeye has this story about the Bees, the weather, and Honor Roll Day at Community Field.

Thursday was going to be one of those packed-house days. It was Honor Roll Day, and once again, the grandstands would be crammed with school kids.

"They took the rain out of the forecast," Brockett said, smiling. "It's supposed to be a nice day."

***

The rain started falling at about 11 a.m. Thursday. The National Weather Service radar showed a mass of rain to the west, a dark-green blob with specks of yellow, moving toward Burlington.

Brockett and his staff knew what was coming. But the kids had started to arrive.

"We figured, let's get them in, get them lunch, and then see what happens," Brockett said.

Some of the kids were underneath the canopy behind home plate, and out of the rain. The rest of them weren't under cover, and had to sit in the light rain.

That was the problem. It was a light rain, not enough to keep the game from being played, but enough to make things miserable.

There is a happy ending to this story, but it is after this explanation for why sometimes games are played in less than ideal conditions.

Minor league baseball is about player development, which means if a game can be played, it's going to be played.

But it also comes with a financial cost to the franchises. Nights of inclement weather mean no one is buying tickets, no one is buying a hot dog and a beer.

That's why days like Thursday are important to small-market teams like Burlington. Fans in the seats means someone is buying food and drinks. Someone is spending money.

Brockett and his staff kept an eye on the weather radar as the game started. There was a big yellow blob of a storm coming toward Burlington.

Then something happened. The blob broke in half. One half went north of the city, one half went south.

It quit raining at Community Field right around the time the first pitch was thrown at 11:34 a.m.

In closing, Udo delenda est!