Scorecard

Weather or Not

When the major league baseball season opened last week, the National League had its six "warm-weather" teams playing each other—the Florida Marlins at the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Atlanta Braves at the San Diego Padres and the Montreal Expos (a team with a dome) at the Houston Astros. Meanwhile teams in other ball parkas—excuse us, parks—were left to brave some of April's crudest conditions. The New York Mets swept three from the Chicago Cubs in the frozen confines of Wrigley Field, where the windchill factor ranged between 6° and 11° over the last two days of the series. And the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds shivered through a steady rain and temperatures in the 30's at Riverfront Stadium on April 6 before their 8-8 game was mercifully called in the top of the sixth.

The American League was no wiser to the weather, losing two games—the Seattle Mariners at the Cleveland Indians and the Texas Rangers at the New York Yankees—to the elements as the warm-weather Rangers and dome-homed Mariners opened on the road.

"We did try to open all warm-weather teams at home one year," says NL spokeswoman Katy Feeney. "But it's not fair for warm-weather and dome teams to open at home every year because if their home schedule is heavy early, it means they'll be short on home games during the summer, when everybody wants them."

O.K. But is it fair to the game, the quality of which suffers, or to fans, who Day major league prices for frostbite? The 52,012 hearties on hand for Opening Day on April 5 in Milwaukee, where the windchill hit zero, might not be thawed out until July.

Somebody, please buy the schedule makers a map and a copy of The Old Fanner's Almanac.

The Fall of Rome

There are two possible explanations for last week's televised tiff on ESPN2 between New Orleans Saint quarterback Jim Everett and talk-show host Jim Rome, in which Rome thrice mockingly called Everett "Chris," thereby provoking Everett to push a table over on his host. Either 1) the scuffle was, as suggested by some skeptics, prearranged to pump up ratings for the fledgling network as well as to somehow pump up Everett's deflated reputation, or 2) Rome simply goaded Everett into losing his temper.

In the first scenario both combatants, as well as the network (if it was in on the farce), should be embarrassed by their lack of professionalism. In the second scenario Rome should be embarrassed by his lack of professionalism. Come to think of it, whatever the story behind the Everett incident, Rome should be embarrassed by his lack of professionalism.

Talkin' Baseball