You can sing and you can dance. You can play and you can run. And you can strut and you can laugh. You can do each of these things in all types of weather; but if you do them in the rain, odds are you'll get wet. So when it in pours, most of us tend to remain indoors, lest we end up more soaked than Warren Sapp after a 10-yard sprint.
In most cases involving rain, our actions become limited, confined solely to places under a roof, thus inhibiting our freedom. Should it come as a surprise that we sing the tune, "Rain, Rain, go away, come again another day..." yet when that other day actually arrives, we continue to repeat the verse? In no venue is this more evident than in sports, with most games contingent on dry settings.
I remember when I was in third grade, playing Little League Baseball games at least twice a week for my Minor A-studded Boston Red Sox (bad karma I guess). On the mornings of gamedays, I would always ask my mother, college counselor/expert meteorologist, the weather report before hopping on the bus to school, praying fervently that she, like Blind Melon, would respond with: "No Rain." Obviously, this was seldom the case, for I unfortunately went on to experience several postponed games in my youth, effectively taking the wind right out of my sails. With rain there is no baseball. The hockey player cannot skate if the ice melts. And the new NBA ball is far too slippery when wet. I think S.C.L.S.U. head football Coach Kline said it best to all-star linebacker Bobby Boucher: "Water sucks! It really, really sucks!"
This Sunday, the 4-4 New York Jets reluctantly arrived at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, to battle the division-leading 6-2 New England Patriots; a place where they hadn't won a game in four years. The Pats had won their last seven meetings against the Jets, their most recent loss coming in December 2002. And even though Gang Green was hungry for revenge in hopes of regaining some pride, they must have known that coming away with a victory would be a daunting, seemingly impossible task, especially after recently falling to an atrocious Cleveland Browns squad.
The Pats were at home; the Jets were away. The Pats had Tom Brady; the Jets had Chad Pennington. The Pats had the teacher, Bill "Lombardi" Belichick; the Jets had the student, Eric "Pizza Delivery Boy" Mangini. Basically, the Jets attempt at winning would be like George Costanza's attempts at getting fired by the Yankees: futile. But all of a sudden, the heavens opened up, and it quickly became a new ball game.
The Jets could actually compete! Not only were they frustrating Brady on defense, but they were putting together solid drives with timely passing and power running on offense. Amongst the mud and slop, New York suddenly looked like a different team, all thanks to Mother Nature, who pelted the field with water without mercy, ultimately help the Jets shock the Pats, 17-14, now trailing their AFC East rival by just a game; their first win against a team over .500 this season.
Now, it's true that the Pats were missing a few studs, like safeties Rodney Harrison and Eugene Wilson, but it's undeniable that the improbable defeat left many New Englanders scratching their heads. Look no further than the water, my friends, for that, and not some mental error, was the main reason wide receiver Doug Gabriel fumbled on a crucial play in the first half that shifted the momentum in favor of Mangini & Co.
Water is the great/notorious equalizer, depending on which side of the divider you hail from. Simply put, it has the ability to make good teams worse and bad teams better. The favorite and the underdog are then seen in the same light, on the same level. It has its respective nuances in each of the four major sports: In hockey it affects speed; basketball, balance; baseball, concentration; football, passing. But it holds the most control over momentum.
Take this year's MLB Playoffs, which was bombarded by a massive total of four rainouts, tied for most all-time since the wild-card format began in 1995. After Game 1 of the ALDS when the New York Yankees and "the best lineup ever (yes, ever!)" beat the "JV" Detroit Tigers 8-4, Game 2 was postponed because of...you guessed it! Rain!
We all know the story after that. Detroit didn't lose again until Game 1 of the World Series, after inclement weather successfully thwarted the Bronx Bombers' momentum, and spun it in favor of the Tigers. Or for all you physics majors out there, if momentum = mass x velocity, then the rain effectively exhausted New York's current pace and disrupted its inertia, ultimately eliminating them in Game 4.
The same went for the St. Louis Cardinals, who lost Game 4 of the NLCS on a Sunday at home to the New York Mets, evening the series at two, giving Mr. Beltran's boys the upper hand. But a rainout the following evening relinquished all momentum from New York, putting both teams back on that level playing field. The Cardinals then swooped in when play resumed on Tuesday, won Game 5, then the series, and finally, the 2006 World Series.
For all the good that water does for us, it honestly gets a pretty bad rep. With our nonstop complaining combined with the disappointment and regret that we associate with it whenever it starts plummeting from the sky, we must remember that without it, there would be no oceans, lakes, rivers, canals, hygiene, swimming, Sea World, Jet skis, Kool-Aid or...us. And that dramatic scene from "The Notebook" wouldn't have been nearly as significant for teenage girls had there been no rain.
So next time your favorite team goes up against the Goliath of the league, just pray for some water, heed the words of the artist formerly known as Lizzie McGuire, Hilary Duff, and let the rain fall down, and never underestimate the power of high quality H2O.