The Sox played at Fenway Park last night. They waited through the rain, then played through the rain and between downpours. The end result, unfortunately, was a Red Sox loss.
Friday morning, though, one of the "tosses" to me - when the anchors throw it over to me and get the weather conversation started - was based on the night's Sox game. "It looks like there'll be rain around for the Red Sox game, Matt - think they'll play?" My answer was very honest: "There'll be periods of rain, so they'll be delayed if they do play, and the field will be wet, but the grounds crew always makes the decision on whether the Sox will actually play." I went on to share with the anchors and our viewers the story of the day that solidified my decision on this forever...or at least for several years and counting!
I think I was working weekends at NECN at the time, but either way, the big Fenway Park home opener was set for the next day. I went on the air and forecasted rain to move in the night before the daytime home opener, but explained that the rain should be gone by game time - ending within about an hour or two of the scheduled start - and the Sox would be able to open the season at home as they'd planned to do. That night, the rains came. The next morning I was back at it, with just hours before first-pitch. The forecast appeared to be on-track, and I eagerly shared with my morning viewers that the forecast looked dead on - the rain was still expected to stop one to two hours prior to first pitch, and the Sox game would be played....
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Noon came, and the back edge of the rain was moving quickly for Boston. Perfect. Radar showed no additional showers behind the main shield, and the sun was breaking through in Connecticut. We had one problem. The Sox called the game. I was stunned. Hadn't they watched my forecast? If not, weren't there other meteorologists predicting something similar - rain ending for the game? Why wouldn't they just delay for an hour or two, rather than calling the whole thing? As it turns out, the Park Grounds Crew determined that drainage on the field was too slow and too poor to adequately drain the one to two inches of rain that fell overnight and that morning, and field conditions would not be good enough to play. At NECN at the time, our noon show repeated - we'd do it live, then it would rebroadcast again, and again...and again. Our reporter assigned to cover the game had recorded interviews about 15 minutes earlier, putting them to tape and airing the taped interviews in between her report, so the rain had still been falling when it was recorded. They interviewed one gentleman who mentioned he was disappointed that the game was called. The next interview is the one I'll never forget - a young boy, maybe 7 or 8 years old, interviewed at about quarter to twelve - a half hour before the rain stopped. He was standing under an umbrella, rain pouring down all around him, crying. His face was red and puffy and he was wiping tears from his eyes as he tried to get a full sentence out. "I...I just don't understand it," he stuttered, "I watched the weather and they told me the rain would stop and the game would be played!!!"
My heart sunk in my chest. Sure enough, minutes after that report aired, not only had the rain stopped, but the sun had come out at Fenway Park. I sat in the weather center, stunned, thinking maybe they'd say the game was back on, now that they'd seen the rain stop. Of course, as we all know, that's not going to happen. The sun continued to break through and it turned into a beautiful afternoon. Of course, on my TV and everyone else watching NECN that afternoon, we saw a drenched young man, tearful..."They told me the rain would stop and game would be played," over and over and over again, every half hour. I'll never forget the kid, I'll never forget the day, I'll never forget that feeling, and I'll never forecast if the Sox play or not again. Only the weather conditions.
Incidentally, last night's weather was far worse - more total rainfall in a shorter period of time with more standing water on the field. But, we're at the end of the season, the Sox are in the playoffs, and it was Red Sox/Yankees. Alas, there's far more than just weather that plays into decisions, and I've realized I can't possibly forecast what I can't see.
Matt
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