This is Chicago. This is April.
It`s as good a time as any to beef about the weather.
If the temperatures had been normal Wednesday (keep in mind, of course, that temperatures are never normal), it would have been a comfortable 57 degrees at mid-afternoon.
It was snowing. And it was not 57 degrees.
Now most of us this time of year fret over overly chilled tulips and rosebushes. But those who coach or play high school baseball or softball or soccer or tennis or run track have an added problem: How are you going to play these great outdoor games in great indoor weather?
You could pretend it doesn`t exist. That`s what Naperville Central baseball coach Bill Seiple tells his team.
”We`ve got a saying here,” Seiple said. ”We`ll say the wind chill is 7 degrees above zero, the snow is blowing, we`ve got snow in our eyes. That`s just the way we like it.”
Of course, the Redskins do make sure they keep outdoor workouts to less than an hour; they don`t do anything that might facilitate an injury like making quick starts and stops; and they make sure everybody is moving at all times.
”People ask me if the weather gets frustrating, but there`s nothing we can do about it,” Seiple said. ”You can`t let it get to you. I wish I had Rickey Henderson on my team, but I don`t. You take what you get and make the best out of it.”
Seiple`s Redskins agree with the philosophy. Or at least they say they do. They`d like it a lot better if it were 75 degrees with a few puffy cumulus clouds floating in the sky. And it will be-about the time the season ends.
Unless a few sharp bolts of lightning pierce the sky, you won`t see John Schneiter`s New Trier tennis team on the indoor courts. Rain, snow, wind. Get `em outside. Sometimes the ball is shivering so hard it can hardly bounce, but the players try not to notice.
”It makes a player tougher competing with the wind, sun and cold,”
Schneiter said. ”It`s the same on all the kids, so there`s no advantage. Actually, bad weather is kind of the equalizer. You take a big, strong kid, say 6-3, 180 pounds, and put him against a 5-6, 98-pounder. When you take a matchup like that outdoors, it changes.”
If you want, you can use lousy conditions to your advantage. Take Lockport softball pitcher Amber Podlesny. With a 56-mile-an-hour riseball and a similar drop, she`s tough enough to hit. But mix in a hefty, chilled breeze blowing from her back and she`s got you right where she wants you.
”It makes the ball break better,” she says, without cracking a smile.
Others don`t react so favorably in the cold.
Says Maine East girls soccer coach Greg Koeller: ”The ball`s like a rock. You can`t do the things you`ve practiced, especially cross-field passing.”
But Koeller`s the first to realize the alternative to playing is worse.
”I`d rather play regardless of the conditions than have a game rescheduled,” he says. ”If that took place a lot, we`d have a one-month season.”
If you`re going to play, you`d better dress for the occasion.
It was cold along the lake Tuesday when Zion-Benton softball coach Mary Beth Zolli got the call from McHenry that the schools` scheduled game was on. It was one of only two softball games in the area played that day.
After her initial thoughts (”Are you nuts?”) had worn off, she ordered her players to load the equipment on the bus.
”Blankets are as much standard equipment with us as helmets,” Zolli said.
So are heavy-duty sweatsuits that include the player`s uniform number so she can keep it on during the games. You can`t see them, but they`ve all got running tights under their uniform pants. The Zee-Bees also carry chemical handwarming packs.
”We require every kid to have a pair of gloves or mittens,” Zolli said. All part of the uniform.
But Zolli isn`t a fanatic about her sport. One look outside at Wednesday`s flurrying snows prompted her to postpone the scheduled home game against Round Lake.
Softball and baseball players, of course, can bulk up with layer after layer of clothing to try to ward off the elements. They`re the lucky ones.
At Evanston, the girls play soccer in their short pants and T-shirts, no matter what.
”I want to play no matter what the weather,” said Evanston coach Bob Wilheim. ”I won`t even let my kids wear sweats or leotards. The tougher kids don`t need to do that.”
No matter what the average temperature is for early April, it`s going to be cold. With few exceptions, it always has been. With few exceptions, it always will be. A year ago, Chicago temperatures hit record lows three nights running in early April. Sure it was nice in January and March, but that was basketball season. But now it`s spring, so naturally it`s awful.
Joe Newton has coached track at York nearly forever. He says it gets worse all the time.
”It`s terrible. I remember going up on a Friday night to the Prospect Invitational about 13 years ago and seeing some kid run a 4:15 mile on a perfect night,” he said. ”I asked (Prospect coach) Joe Wanner to get us in that meet. So every year since then, it`s either rained or snowed. Every single year.”
To beat the bad weather rap, you might think about sticking with an indoor spring sport. Girls could play badminton and boys could go into gymnastics or into the hot new high school sport, volleyball.
But that won`t guarantee you won`t be affected by bad weather. As soon as it rains (or snows), the outdoor teams start taking over the indoor teams` gym space.
”Everybody wants inside, so we have to try to juggle our schedule,”
said Palatine volleyball coach Curt Pinley. ”One week we just got three days practice because there was no room.”
Obviously, if conditions are the least bit tolerable, it`s better to go out and brave them.
”It`s pretty brutal, but once you get started playing, you pretty much forget about the cold,” said Maria senior Jenny Madden after a recent softball game played in windy temperatures that hovered around 40 degrees.
A few added precautions, such as extra pre-workout stretching, are mandatory to minimize the risk of injury. Some coaches, like Naperville Central`s Seiple, won`t let pitchers throw more than a few innings. But he wants them out there, no matter what.
”We take pride at picking up the paper in the morning and seeing ours was one of only two or three games that was played,” he said. ”At the same time, I get mad if we cancel and I see that somebody else is able to play.”
But no matter what the weather, it will get better. Sometime. You`ll remember last year it stopped snowing right after the first weekend in May. So eventually the Zee-Bees can wash those personalized sweatsuits and put them in the drawer for the summer.
Undoubtedly, though, not a minute before the season ends.
After all, this is Chicago. And this is April.
As good a time as any to beef about the weather.
Again.
