When nature changes the game

Part of the excitement of sports is the element of surprise. Anything can happen – a lucky bounce, a perfect shot, or a near miss. But in some cases, the most unexpected factor of all is nature.

As Vancouver Olympic officials contend with rain and above-zero temperatures, Global News takes a look at sporting events that have been interrupted by nature.

1962 Grey Cup

Football players usually keep playing regardless of the weather – they fight through rain, snow and fog. But the fog that descended on the field during the 1962 Grey Cup game in Toronto was so thick that it became the only Grey Cup to ever be suspended during play.

Just before halftime, fog settled on Exhibition Stadium, making it impossible for the 32,000 fans to view the field.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats continued to play, even though receivers couldn’t see the ball and the players couldn’t see each other.

With 5:31 left in the fourth quarter, the fog was so thick that the game was postponed with Winnipeg leading 28-27. The game resumed the next day with no further scoring for either team, giving Winnipeg the win in the ‘Fog Bowl.’

1975 Stanley Cup

Fog was also a problem during the third game of the 1975 Stanley Cup finals. The Buffalo Sabres were hosting the Philadelphia Flyers at Memorial Auditorium, an arena that had no air conditioning.

The weather was unusually hot for Buffalo in May, and the temperature rose to 90 F. The result was a thick blanket of fog covering the ice, making it difficult for the 16,000 fans to see the action.

If the game wasn’t unusual enough, a bat flew around the ice and annoyed the players and fans during the third period before the Sabres’ Jim Lorentz killed it with his stick.

None of the players wanted to touch the dead bat, but Flyer Rick MacLeish finally picked it up and threw it into the penalty box.

Lorentz received angry letters after the incident, calling his actions cruel. His encounter with the bat is still remembered, and the retired Sabres centre was called for comment after Dave Winfield killed a seagull during a baseball game in 1983.

Winfield kills seagull

Winfield’s seagull incident occurred in Toronto, when the Blue Jays hosted the New York Yankees on Aug. 4, 1983. In the fifth inning, Winfield finished his warm-up and passed the ball to a nearby batboy, but the ball hit a seagull in the head and killed the bird.

Winfield was arrested after the game and charged with animal cruelty. The charges were dropped the next day.

Yankee manager Billy Martin said after the game, “They say he hit the gull on purpose. They wouldn’t say that if they’d seen the throws he’d been making all year. It’s the first time he’s hit the cutoff man.”

Johnson kills dove

Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson also hit and killed a bird during a baseball game. In March 2001, the lefty was delivering a pitch to San Francisco Giant Calvin Murray just as a dove flew in front of home plate.

The dove was hit by the pitch and exploded in a cloud of feathers. The ball was ruled no pitch.

The incident didn’t seem to faze Johnson, however – he went on to win the 2001 World Series MVP award as the Diamondbacks became World Series champs.

1989 World Series

While inclement weather (or errant birds) usually interrupts baseball games, during the 1989 World Series, the game was interrupted by another force of nature – an earthquake.

The 7.0 magnitude ‘Loma Prieta earthquake’ devastated San Francisco, killed 63 people, injured thousands, and caused billions of dollars in damage.

The initial shock was caught live on television as the Giants and the Oakland Athletics were warming up at Candlestick Park. The stadium swayed and power was cut, but there was only minor damage to the park.

The fans and the players remained relatively calm, mostly unaware of the death and destruction outside the stadium.

A section of the Bay Bridge collapsed, but traffic was light even though the quake struck at rush hour, largely due to the fact that people were all watching the baseball game. There was only one fatality in the bridge collapse.

The Series was postponed for 10 days, the first interruption to a series due to factors other than weather. Oakland won the next game 13-7, completing a sweep of the series and clinching the championship.

The New Orleans Saints

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans, and put the future of the New Orleans Saints in doubt.

The hurricane killed 1,800 people, flooded 80 per cent of the city, and caused severe damage to the team’s home, the Superdome.

More than 30,000 victims flocked to the stadium in the wake of the storm, and remained stranded there without power or plumbing as the temperature rose to 35C.

The stadium was so badly damaged that debate raged for months or whether or not it should even be repaired. Many people argued that the money to repair the stadium should instead be spent on hospitals and schools that were destroyed.

With no home stadium, the Saints would have to be relocated. Luckily, the state-owned dome fit the qualifications for federal aid, since it was vital for tourism.

The stadium was rebuilt over nine months, and the Saints returned the following season. The post-Katrina success of the Saints has been seen as a source of revival of New Orleans civic pride.

On Feb. 7, the Saints will face the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV, after winning the NFC championships.