This one took place on the other side of the county. It had been stormy all day, and a cold front was advancing on the area; we already had some tornado and severe thunderstorm watches in the region. As I ate my early supper, I followed the progress of some big storms moving our way from the southwest, through northern Wisconsin. The cold front would be passing by later, bringing in strong winds.
In short, a fun night was in store for everyone at the game. Rain looked almost guaranteed, so I grabbed the red raincoat I bought about two years ago for just such occasions. Then, off to the car.
It was already raining by then, and I saw lightning as I neared the field. Due to the lightning, I knew things would be delayed: Michigan rules say no sports can be played outdoors when lightning is around--the game can only resume 30 minutes after the last flash is seen.
After arriving, I sat in the car for a while until the rain stopped. Then I walked around near the officials' room. At one point, they were right about to call the players out--and then there was more lightning. Another 30 minutes of waiting. The clouds didn't look promising ...
Here's the view to the west, the direction that the front was coming from ...
The officials met with the coaches to discuss whether the game should be rescheduled for Saturday...
The visiting coach wanted to play--otherwise, they would have two 160-mile round trips instead of one.
The original start time was 6:30 p.m., and at 8 p.m. the players were called out to warm up. No more lightning--just a light rain with a little breeze. Everyone took their positions, the captains went out for the pre-game coin flip, and the band came out, passing right in front of me.
The camera marked the time of this photo as 8:06:13 ...
Just then the wind kicked up. In about 30 seconds, it was blowing hard. The band did an about face and headed back towards the school. 8:06:34 ...
As they retreated, the rain started falling heavier. And heavier. 8:06.51 ...
It quickly got much worse. It was the front, blowing through town. And I mean blowing. 8:08:08 ...
And in those conditions, we took off our hats for the National Anthem.
The wind blew hard (fortunately, at our backs; too bad for the other team) and the rain fell hard for most of the first quarter. Both conditions eased off in the second quarter, but it didn't matter: Everyone was pretty soaked already. At least it was a warm rain. The game went on. Here's some first half action ...
Meanwhile, what about me? I was on the sidelines standing in the rain with my notebook, taking notes of each play, as usual. Ordinary notebooks quickly turn to paper pulp under these conditions. But mine is no ordinary notebook. It's made by Rite in the Rain and is "A unique, all-weather writing paper created to shed water and enhance the written image. It is widely used throughout the world for recording critical field data in all kinds of weather." (A description on the back of the notebook.
Some of the pages got a little warped, and my pen (an ordinary Bic pen) was lighter than normal. But I'd just brush the water away with my hand and take my cryptic notes. The pages stayed as strong as ever. Here's part of the first quarter ...
During the summer of 2006, my wife and I visited an earth sciences museum in Neenah, Wis., and that's when I found out about Rite in the Rain. I ordered some of their notebooks immediately. This was the acid test, and the notebook had no trouble whatsoever.
That's the report from the game I went to.
As for the game I didn't go to:
That was in Houghton, about 100 miles to the north. That game started at 6 p.m. (our time--7 p.m. up there), and the storm didn't hit Houghton until late in the first half. Thunder. Lightning. Heavy rain. Strong winds. Houghton had gotten two inches of rain earlier in the day, and the soaked field was soon waterlogged. The players were sent off the field for an hour.
The wind was a lot stronger up there--the coach I talked to said it was like a hurricane. The home team once tried to punt into the jet stream--and the ball went backwards 14 yards. They didn't try that again.
The track around the field was flooded. Coach: "There were places on our sideline that were under 6, 8 inches of water. I'm not kidding you. I had my cleats on, high-tops, and there were places I was walking that I was sinking right up to the top of my high-tops."
Geez, I hope he doesn't catch a cold. Nothing so exciting at my game. The grass was very wet, of course, but the field held up very well.
By the way, both our teams won. That's nice, too.
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