Why don't coaches use radar?

[BufordT]

Drove an hour and a half yesterday for no reason. Called the school we were going to play and told them it was going to pour the rain between 4:30-5:00 and we wouldn't be able to play. "The sun's shining here and we're ready to go." Yes, but dopplar radar shows a LONG line of storms coming your way that we are not going to miss. We don't want to waste $200-300 to turn around and drive home. "Well I guess it would be a forfeit then coach, that's all I can tell you." So we go, get there, the sky is black and it's starting to rain. Everyone hurries to take the field. Wind is blowing so hard that the second batter hits a popup in the IF that CHANGES DIRECTION and starts going backwards while in the air. Home coach says we need to keep playing. Finally in the bottom of two the umps take us off. Home coach makes us sit for an hour before he'll agree that we can't play. WHY ARE COACHES SO IGNORANT? (including me) Has anyone cancelled games before the rain gets there? Just wondering b.c I've been told that we don't do that here in KY.

[cdbaseball]

You can't do that here. The weather is so funny, it might look like it's going to pour and then just sprinkle and miss you.

[cooperstown]

Do you mean the same radar that the brilliant TV weathermen around here use to make their regularly inaccurate forecasts?!?

[BufordT]

You should be able to do it when you watch a storm front come from Missouri, across Illinois, across WKY, and there is no way to miss it. With gas being $4 a gallon for diesel and only getting pricier, small schools can't afford to waste $300 (at the least). With budget cuts and lean times coming we all need to use some common sense, or does that not have a place in athletics? Err on the side of good judgement the worst you lose is one ballgame out of 32. Err on the other side you do like we did and lose money you can't afford to lose. Two or three years ago you could do this but money concerns now make wasted trips not worth it. Just one opinion though.

[BufordT]

And no, I mean the radar that I can watch online from 7:30 in the morning until 3:00 when I have to get on a bus. Anyone could have seen yesterday that it was going to rain when the cold front came through. When a storm front has moved across three states, you can pretty much count on it to keep coming.

[STRIKE3]

Often radars indicate green, which is rain but other times, it will indicate green and not be reaching the ground.

 

Forecasts and warnings, need to be used and evaluated. I've seen it rain in certain areas, then 4-5 miles away, just be cloudy.

[bellalumni40]

So if it looked good at your field and a coach asked the same you would tell them not to come? You never know what the weather is going to do in Kentucky.

[BufordT]

I'm just saying that 80-100 mile bus trips are starting to cost too much to take the chance. Small schools like mine can't afford to waste $200 even two or three times a year. I just think common sense should come in to play sometime. This has happened to us twice this year and all day long both times we have insisted that we wouldn't be able to play b.c. it was going to rain. Guess that's what happens when people think you are a win for them. I just wonder if these teams would have done the same thing if Harrison Co. or PRP were coming to play them. I'm guessing not since both are .500 teams. And yes, with gas prices where they are I could understand if a school didn't want to risk wasting the money.

[nkuclubbaseball19]

I do not know why high school teams don't use radar especially for big storms. It has worked the past two years for the Freedom in evaluating rain delays/cancellations. And yes we did use the radar that is on channel 73 or whatever it is.

[SpeedDemon]

Do not schedule the kind of coaches/programs that would make you travel under these circumstances.

[Pat Dad]

Accuweather.com. :thumb:

[Musketeer_alum97]

As I have always said, "If you don't like the weather in Kentucky, stick around about 10 minutes. It will change."

[bleed(UK)blue4ever]

As I have always said, "If you don't like the weather in Kentucky, stick around about 10 minutes. It will change."

 

Right on Brother.:thumb:

[cdbaseball]

The same storm you are talking about is the same strom that went right around where we were playing that night. It got really dark and the wind picked up and it rained. But it only cancelled the JV game after about 3 innings.

[BufordT]

I agree about the ten minute change. Trust me, when I called and their coach said, "The sun's shining and we're lining the field," I should have told him to wait ten minutes and it would all change. haha Instead I told him 2 or 2.5 hours instead so he didn't believe it. I love NKU's comment about the fact that professional and semi-pro teams use radar to help them make decisions but everyone connected to high schools around here says we shouldn't use radar. Guess the guys making money on baseball don't have a clue. They won't waste their money b.c they have to answer to someone about why they blew 2000-3000 or more on labor on a day they didn't play. Well, my AD wants to know why we are spending $200-$300 on a day when we know we can't play. Common sense is going to have to start being used. We're only going to see more budget cuts and higher prices for gas. Booster clubs want to buy t-shirts not gallons of gas.