[Nuclear1]

Who else agrees with this?  Does stormy weather and rain overall ruin your favorite championships/games in general?

The basis for this is, of course, that I left the Indy Motor Speedway at about 3:00 or so after rain shut down the Indy 500.  Now, had the race gone on past 161 laps and ended as it should, the fun would've been in watching some frantic last second battle for the lead before the end.  However, this did not happen, as rain soaked the track not once, but twice (the first time cleaned up rather quickly).

So basically, rain makes sports bad.  Any thoughts?

[IceFire]

Played soccer matches in horizontal rain (no lighting) and high winds on many occasion turning the field into a near re-enactment of the Battle of the Somme.  Not sure if it ruined it...made us all pretty messy tho

[Mefustae]

When you're playing a sport in really bad weather, it can actually be kinda fun. One of my fondest memories of my school rugby years was a day when it was pissing down with rain the entire game: mud everywhere, people slipping over every ten seconds, the ball flying every whichway because it was damned impossible to hold on to in the wet, it was awesome. For some reason, being completely covered in mud after a sporting match always fills me with pride.

Of course, when you're watching a game that gets rained-out, it's no fun at all.  In fact, i'll agree with you in that it pisses me off royally whenever a sporting event I want to see is cancelled because of weather.

[karajorma]

Depends on whether you're watching at home or not. Racing in the rain is generally much more fun for me to watch as you see people spinning off the track all the time.

Then again I prefer watching races other than Formula One where a car can't be taken out by an insect hitting the windshield.

[Ghostavo]

Not really, rain is irrelevant when you play/watch chess indoors. 

[NGTM-1R]

My fondest memory of junior high was the day the PE class rebelled and we played football in the rain rather than some pansy indoor thing.

[Black Wolf]

It screwed the world cup up pretty rightly. 38 overs? pah.

[Nuclear1]

Depends on whether you're watching at home or not. Racing in the rain is generally much more fun for me to watch as you see people spinning off the track all the time.

Then again I prefer watching races other than Formula One where a car can't be taken out by an insect hitting the windshield.

Well Formula One and IndyCar are slightly different than, say, stock car racing (NASCAR); the tires are designed so that they don't get any real traction, but just so that they go zoom really fast.  Basically, 1/16th of an inch of water on the track could cause a serious accident.  I love open-wheel racing, simply because my fondest sporting memory ever was watching that amazing 500 last year.

As for the accidents, some pretty terrific accidents can happen in the sunshine too; again, I refer to the 2006 500 incident between Castroneves and Unser Jr. (I believe) or the Thomas Scheckter wipeout into the pit barrier.  Hell, even the last accident at the most recent Daytona 500 was pretty spectacular, with damn near six cars being wiped out of the race.  That's the real reason you watch racing (besides hoping your team/car wins, of course ).

However, I will agree on playing certain sports in the rain.  Football (American and European) is sometimes best played on a mud-soaked field in a downpour, as that's exactly what I used to do when I was a kid (read:  3 or more years younger).

[SeanP]

...
after rain shut down the Indy 500
...

Watch a real racing event.

[Polpolion]

marching band in snow in October got one practice canceled  halfway through due to the possibility of injury. Promptly after the decision was made, everyone ran around sliding all over the turf, except for me, because it was like 25F degrees out (may not be that bad compared to other places).



...

[Nuclear1]

...
after rain shut down the Indy 500
...

Watch a real racing event.

No thanks.