Publisher column: Sometimes, it rains

By Randy Capps

“Bull Durham” is one of my favorite sports movies. The writing is quick and witty and the end result is a picture that’s as entertaining and quotable today as it was in 1988.

I was struck by one of those gems recently as Mother Nature played Whack-A-Mole with our JoCo Sports baseball and softball broadcast schedule.

Nuke LaLoosh, in a nod to his media training from Crash Davis, tells a reporter near the end of the movie, “sometimes, you win. Sometimes, you lose. Sometimes, it rains.”

We’ve been battling that last one. At press time, I’m 0-for-3 in broadcast attempts. The season opener between Clayton and Smithfield-Selma was a washout, and two different dates for Cleveland/South Johnston were washed down the stream.

I’m beginning to feel a little bit like the boy who cried baseball.

Instead, I’m going to be a little more philosophical about it. Perhaps I was destined to say something particularly embarrassing during one of those broadcasts. Maybe the equipment would have failed, causing me to fly into a blind rage and chuck it out of the press box window.

OK, that last bit was a little extreme, but you get the idea.

In true baseball style, when you get knocked off the plate by an inside fastball, you dust yourself off, get up and get back in the box.

That’s the only way to approach life, really. Even when you’re dealing with a lot of, er, stuff.