In today's Toronto Sun one of their sports columnist decided to take aim at the Jays decision to close the roof today. Mike Rutsey decided to go down the path of good ol Canadian tough guy citing that Don Cherry would go nuts at this latest development. The story for those who missed it can be read here in the second section. It is things like this that just goes to show me how much the Sun thinks of the fans in Toronto as well as their inability to come up with a reasonably interesting story.
The forecast for Thursday is a high of 38 C and apparently it’s too much to ask the folks in attendance to sit in the sun for three hours when they can wear a hat for shade and guzzle all the liquids that their hearts desire.
What Mr. Rutsey fails to point out is that with the humidity, weathernetwork.ca was predicting temperatures that felt more like 48-50 instead of 38. I am sure that baseball hat that those fans would wear at the game would protect them from the heat stroke of sitting in the blazing sun and heavy heat. Hell even here in London the heat was awful, I didn't want to leave work to get to the car let alone stay outside for 3 hours. That is aside from the smog you have to put up with from a big city like Toronto and the air feels even heavier then normal on a hot day.
"If it’s like this right now I think we’d be better served by having this closed," Farrell said. "I’d rather have it closed. They’re talking about heat indexes of 110 or above and on this turf in the middle of the day."
So Farrell gets his wish and the Jays are cloaking the decision by saying it’s for the sake of the fans.
He is right of course, the team says its for the sake of the fans, but everything they just quoted from Farrell was in relation to playing on the turf which would indicate to me they aren't trying to hide the fact its for the players just as much. Honestly who the hell cares whether its for the sake of the fans or the players, It feels like 50 friggin degrees outside!
Following Thursday’s game the Jays will fly to Arlington, Tex., for a three-game series over the weekend. Currently it’s about a thousand degrees in the Dallas area.
No roof there. Maybe the Jays will pull a boycott.
So finally Rutsey takes his aim back at the players. Implying that the heat in Texas will be too much for their fragile players to take.
In the span a few short paragraphs Rutsey insults the Fans, Front Office and Players. Great work man you certainly earned your grumpy old man badge today!
I just don't get the rationale he is trying to use to attack this whole thing. The Jays have a roof and I know it sucks when it closed for the most part, but you know what the best part of having a roof is? You can use it when you need it! When it rains, screw you nature we're still playing. Too hot? HAH! A/C for the win! Why in the world would you not use the Dome for the advantages it can provide. Maybe the next time it rains Mike Rutsey can write about how the Jays should just be like the other stadiums with no roof and let it rain out. Give me a break.
I'm not saying close the roof and play in the A/C all summer, but given the record setting temperatures and the fact that it was mid day and that there was an actual extreme temperature weather alert issued, doesn't it make sense to do what you can to protect your players and fans? Of course this story comes only days after Steve Simmonds (Also of the Toronto Sun) questionned the fan bases in Toronto about whether we were loyal or just stupid all at the same time indicating the Rogers doesn't know how to sell Tickets. So Rogers closes the roof and promotes a come to the ball game and stay cool advertisement.. I guess they should have just did nothing and let people roast in their seats.
So to all the sports writers in the Toronto Sun, maybe you can turn off the A/C in your building for a bit, I mean hell you aren't even playing a sport, simply writing articles that shouldn't be too much to ask right? I mean if you can't even do that what kind of rough and tough Canadians are you, Am I right Mike?