The Waiting Game

 

I don't think the heavy stuff is gonna come for a while

We're off to Heritage Financial Park shortly for the Renegades/Tourists game. It's the penultimate game of the 2024 regular season.

It's also supposed to rain.

That's a dirty word in the baseball business but so it goes.

I'm still home, pulling things together for football next week.

So, yeah, it's sort of quiet.

And, with possible rain on the way, it can be a day of a lot of time on our hands.

Passing the time during a rain delay can be an art form. On the air, there are a few options that could be at one's disposal. The easiest thing is to send it back to the studio and have them go to regular programming. At WGCH, that often means returning to their network programs, which we've done during delays at the Greenwich Town Party and other events.

The other option is to play something in our archive. When we had an issue of not getting the audio feed at this year's Town Party, Bob Small played an episode of "Meet the Beatles," which I found appropriate.

The other option is to stay on-site at the game and fill. I remember us going into a talk show when we had a rain delay at a Bridgeport Bluefish game. That would have likely been in 2002. So we sat down in the booth and filled by talking sports.

I also remember delays at the Babe Ruth New England Regional in Stamford. In that case, I actually played a portion of a previous game broadcast to fill time. You do what you have to do.

In the PA booth, the first thing I suppose is to stay dry. From there, the goal is to not go out of our minds. We look at our phones, talk, maybe walk to the concession stand and get food, use the restroom, talk some more, and generally make fun of everyone.

Humor. As always.

There's also a large amount of watching the body language of everyone involved. If we see the umpires appear and talk with team officials, we're glued to that. We're monitoring channels on social media, and the weather radar, and waiting for news to announce to the crowd, if I'm allowed to do so.

Obviously, we're waiting to hear if we're going to work or go home.

Also within all of this is keeping the fans engaged. Some have questions, assuming we know the answers to the situation (we do not) and others just want to talk to us.

But it's all part of the job. We're on duty basically as soon as we get to the ballpark and customer service is very much a part of that. We represent the team. That matters.

So we'll see how it plays out. The weather appears to be a bit spotty. Definitely gray and cooler.

I know the Renegades will make every effort to play. They always do.

And we'll be there.