Another rain delay?

How many is this on the season? Here goes the Banana Phone - I can feel myself getting dumber before I've even heard the first call.

When I was in sixth grade, I was on the safety patrol for my school. Back then, kids were allowed to be responsible for such things, as it was pre-helicopter parent time when kids were allowed to be kids without fear that they might get a scratch on their precious little skins. Anyway, the Reds had AAA (the car service company, not the place where Joe Mays is) Safety Patrol Day, when kids across Ohio were given tickets to a game in April. After weeks of anticipation, the time finally came to hop on the big yellow school bus, and I was more excited than, well, I was on the annual Eve of Christmas.

I always liked the drive down I-75 from the Englewood/Dayton/Sidney area, because I knew at the end of the road was a wide river with a big stadium next to it. I usually made the trip with my face planted against the window, taking note of each and every personal landmark that put me closer to my exalted destination - the Dayton Art Institute, UD Arena, West Carrollton football stadium, Trader's World, Butler County water tower, Burbanks, the concrete walls on both sides of the interstate, Procter and Gamble, Union Station, and then, the beautiful thing appears before me! During the yellow bus trip, I took note of the dark gray clouds that growled at me from the ominous sky. I knew what those clouds could mean, but I had my hope tied around my crossed fingers.

Hope was not enough. The heavens opened and cancelled our game before it ever started, and we trekked back to the bus, defeated and disappointed. I came back with a mini-Reds bat I bought with my "souvenir money," and the only other consolation was the fact that I knew I would get a raincheck and see another game that summer.

It's thundering here in DC, too, I guess in solidarity with Cincinnati. I hate rain delays, and there have been too many this year.

Stupid global warming.