April 4, 2016 at 2:15 p.m.
Shoutouts & Callouts
Shoutouts & Callouts
I'm looking at you, Mother Nature.
In early March we had 60s, sunshine and the promise of an early spring. That's been erased by three measurable snowfalls in the last two weeks and, if the forecasters are right, we'll have a fourth by the time we wake up Wednesday morning. Frankly, I'm getting sick of it.
I should have had the golf clubs out of the garage by now and the yard raked. The daffodils should have certainly bloomed by now and the trill of the peeper frogs shouldn't be far in the offing.
Instead, the robins, ducks and geese must be asking, "We traveled north for this?"
Multiple times Saturday I had to do a double-take when glanceing out my living room window. One minute there was sunshine and the next it was a whiteout befitting "Nanook of the North."
I went through years of Brett Favre retirement speculation, but Mother Nature's waffling takes the cake.
"What's this have to do with sports?" you ask. Plenty, my friends.
The RHS baseball team was supposed to scrimmage March 26 at Marathon. "Not so fast!" Old Man Winter exclaimed, dumping nearly a foot of the white stuff on the central part of the state two days prior.
A quick warm spell melted the freshly fallen accumulation and the teams were able to scrimmage last Tuesday with temperatures in the 60s.
"It would be better if we could stay outside and keep playing baseball," Hodag coach Joe Waksmonski said. "But I think Mother Nature at the end of the week will force us back inside."
True to from, rain soaked the Northwoods Wednesday and Thursday brought a fresh blanket of the white stuff.
Yes, we hail from northern Wisconsin, so Mother Nature's fickle temperament shouldn't come as a surprise.
Head south and play early, clever coaches and activities directors think.
The RHS softball team did just that, traveling to DeForest (roughly a half hour north of Madison) for a pair of games Friday. That seemed like a great idea at the time of first pitch. Sunshine and temps in the upper 40s greeted the teams, but the dark skies to the west tipped Mother Nature's pitch. A curveball was coming and what a curveball it was. Snow and sleet sent all in attendance, myself included, scurrying for drier locations.
I could have told them it was coming, given that snow accompanied me for roughly two-thirds of my drive south Friday morning.
Eventually the precipitation abated, but the winds did not, gusting over 40 MPH at times. So strong was the wind that junior Lindsay Juedes hit a pop up that, on most days, would have been a routine out to the shortstop. The ball ended up rolling foul down the first base line.
At least the Hodags were able to get the game in, which was better than their first two chances at getting a contest in. The Hodags were supposed to open the season March 29 against Northland Pines. That game was waved off March 18 following one of several bouts of winter weather to hit the Northwoods over the last couple of weeks. Last Thursday's game against Lakeland didn't happen either and will be made up at a later date.
This week, boys' tennis and girls' soccer are supposed to get into full swing. Good luck with that, looking at the forecast. The RHS baseball team's supposed to open Saturday and the Hodag golfers - in a highly optimistic bit of scheduling - are set to hit the links April 14, in Ashland of all places. You know, right in the middle of the Lake Superior snowbelt.
At least there's indoor track to hold us over for a little while. The Great Northern Conference indoor invite takes place Tuesday at Northland Pines. After that, the RHS track team is like every other Hodag spring sports team - at the mercy of the weather.
We were spoiled in the spring of 2012. It was 75 degrees by St. Patrick's Day. I was golfing by the end of March and sports teams had a long and enjoyable spring season.
We've had a rotten run of luck since. In 2013 the snow stayed so long that the spring schedule was cut virtually in half. The girls' soccer and boys' tennis schedules in the Great Northern Conference were shortened. The GNC completed only three of its seven slated conference golf matches and the RHS softball team played 11 games in eight days during one stretch of May to make up for lost time.
2014 wasn't much better, once we finally thawed from the "Polar Vortex" winter. More games were completed but, again, the season turned into a six-week cram session. Last year was OK, but though the snow subsided relatively early a wet April posed its own scheduling headaches.
The National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center is calling for an average April, temperature-wise, with below average precipitation. However as of Sunday, the 6-to-10 and 8-to-14-day outlooks were hedging their bets toward the cold and wet side of normal. That means we could be stuck in this holding pattern for a couple of more weeks yet.
That, I think, is worse than even 2013. At least that year we knew we were in for a late-arriving spring. This year, the ground is saying spring is almost here while the skies are telling a different story.
You'd think all the hot air blowing in from the campaign trail last week would have been enough to shake us from our weather pattern, but instead of slinging mud the politicians in Wisconsin have had to resort to snowballs.
So with that, Mother Nature, I ask - no, beg - you to make up your mind. Meteorological folks say spring begins on the first day of March. Spring started March 22 for those who go by when the sun's angle is even with the Equator. It's April 5 now and I'd sure like it to start feeling like spring sooner rather than later, and there are countless sports teams across the state who agree with me.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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