Bad Weather Delays

[samjones]

.... So, this could be any outdoor sport.

Right now Rafael Nadal is higly pissed because they made him play for an hour in the rain and during that period, the commanding lead he had in the French Open nearly disappeared.

In all honest, I'm with Rafa on this one. I don't care if it's baseball or Tennis or football. If the weather really sucks then it deligitimizes any championship.

 

[TruthSeeker56]

.... So, this could be any outdoor sport.

Right now Rafael Nadal is higly pissed because they made him play for an hour in the rain and during that period, the commanding lead he had in the French Open nearly disappeared.

In all honest, I'm with Rafa on this one. I don't care if it's baseball or Tennis or football. If the weather really sucks then it deligitimizes any championship.

So, was Nadal's opponent playing under an umbrella during the match, and Nadal was forced to play in the rain?

"If the weather really sucks", then "any championship" becomes a matter of survival of the fittest, and the winner will be determined by whoever adjusts the best to adversity.

Otherwise, all "championships" in all sports should be played indoors, in climate-controlled conditions, right?

Another example of the "pussification" of mankind. Nadal is probably pissed because his hair got really wet, and his heavily-sponsored clothing got really wrinkled.

 

[samjones]

So, was Nadal's opponent playing under an umbrella during the match, and Nadal was forced to play in the rain?

No - Novak Djokovic was playing in the same rain as Rafa and neither player is a stranger to rainy championships.

The magnitude of this match in tennis terms is hard to overstate. It's been decades since a male singles player has won 4 straight and to have to beat Rafa on clay to do it would only underline that achievement a second time.

Still, to do it in the mud only serves to diminish that achievement. If Djokovic wins this match we'll be left wondering whether he is just lucky it rained.

I feel the exact same way about Peyton Manning. I wonder if he could ever have won a Superbowl on a sunny day.

To answer your question - "Yes". All championships should be played in a climate that is either controlled or in one that does not need to be controlled. If it rains, play it under a roof. This is the 21st century and we don't expect our champions to be chosen by the whims of the weather.

If you can't manage to put a roof over the players' heads when it rains, then you shouldn't be able to host a championship.

 

[waltky]

Granny wonderin' how Congress gonna do anythin' `bout the weather when dey can't do nothin' `bout anythin' else?...

Climate change the cause of summer's extreme weather, Congress told
Wednesday 1 August 2012 - IPCC scientists tell Senate committee drought, wildfires and hurricanes are becoming normal because of climate change

Drought, wildfires, hurricanes and heatwaves are becoming normal in America because of climate change, Congress was told on Wednesday in the first hearing on climate science in more than two years. In a predictably contentious hearing, the Senate's environment and public works committee heard from a lead scientist for the UN's climate body, the IPCC, on the growing evidence linking extreme weather and climate change. "It is critical to understand that the link between climate change and the kinds of extremes that lead to disaster is clear," Christopher Field, a lead author of the IPCC report and director of global ecology at the Carnegie Institute for Science, said in testimony. "There is no doubt that climate has changed," he went on. "There is also no doubt that a changing climate changes the risks of extremes, including extremes that can lead to disaster."

He later told the committee that those climate-related disasters would have profound effects on industry and agriculture. Field was the first IPCC scientist to appear before the committee since February 2009. It was a time when there was real optimism about prospects for action on climate change under the new Obama Administration. By Wednesday, however, it was universally acknowledged there was no prospect of moving climate change legislation through Congress. There was also little chance the scientists' presentations would persuade the most prominent Republican climate contrarian, Senator Jim Inhofe, who told the committee: "The global warming movement has completely collapsed."

Senator Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat who chairs the committee, also noted she had deliberately avoid calling any administration officials or government scientists. The Republican's campaign against Obama's green agenda, with their attacks on the Environmental Protection Agency and his clean energy loans, would make their presence a political distraction, she indicated. But Boxer told reporters before the hearing she had faced growing pressure from the public to air the issue of climate change. The Republican-controlled House has turned down 15 requests from Democrats for a similar hearing.

Field, in his testimony, warned that the devastating extremes of the last year could soon become routine. "The US experienced 14 billion-dollar disasters in 2011, a record that surpasses the previous maximum of 9," he said. "The 2011 disasters included a blizzard, tornadoes, floods, severe weather, a hurricane, a tropical storm, drought and heatwaves, and wildfires. In 2012, we have already experienced horrifying wildfires, a powerful windstorm that hit Washington DC, heat waves in much of the country, and a massive drought." He went on to make a point of warning Texans that the future of farming and ranching could be put in jeopardy because of climate change.

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