THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 6, 1995 TAG: 9510050166
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Lee Tolliver
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
Lord knows we've needed the rain.
For burnt up yards, withering agriculture, backyard gardens and water supply lakes seemingly drying up by the day - it has indeed been needed.
And thank God that we've gotten some thirst-quenching showers the last few weeks. It's been a tremendous help.
But must it always come on Friday night?
As we enter the halfway point of the high school football season, four out of the five Friday nights have seen precipitation of one degree or another. Some nights it's been just a small shower here or there. On others, games have been played in torrential downpours.
The one night it didn't rain, yours truly had to go to Richmond with the Hampton Roads Sharks minor league football team the following afternoon.
Can you guess what happened that day? Yep, it rained. That makes me 5-for-5 on rainy football weekends.
Aside from a sharp stick in the eye and an anvil on the foot, there are few things worse than covering a football game in the rain.
For starters, you get wet. Even with the finest rain gear known to man, you get wet. Then there is the matter of writing on wet paper. Doesn't work, trust me.
But, you say, I have the luxury of sitting in the press box.
While that does keep me and my note pad dry during the contest, it is my least favorite place for covering a game. It's more difficult to make out the line of scrimmage and should the players' uniforms get muddy, forget trying to figure out the number on the back of that ball carrier.
And from the confines of the press box all of the feel of the game is lost. That crunching block doesn't quite have the shocking sound that makes you know it was actually the neck-breaker it looked to be.
You also don't hear the banter between teams or the coaches' antics.
It's just not as much fun up there.
But in the meantime, through all my misery, my yard is plush green and my step uncle down on the farm tells me the crops have awakened from a drooping sleep. And I know the bass down at Western Branch Reservoir have inched further up the shoreline with the rising water level.
But enough is apparently not enough. My reasons for whining are - I am informed - supposed to continue.
An approaching cold front is bringing with it the forecast of rain toward the end of the week and the low-pressure trough is sucking up much of the moisture from Hurricane Opal. In fact, the system could actually drag Opal up into the Mid-Atlantic states by the end of the week.
Oh, happy day!
So, with reality setting in, I am left with the sinking feeling that comes with heading to a high school football game with rain gear packed in the truck and a hi, hello, how are ya for the good folks in the press box. MEMO: Got an interesting sports-related story to tell? If so, call The Beacon
at 490-7228 and let us know about it, or write to The Beacon, Sports
Department, 4565 Virginia Beach Blvd., Virginia Beach, Va. 23462. The
fax number is 490-7235.
by CNB