The Heat Of The Night

Anyone who doesn't believe in some form of global warming has never spent a summer or early fall afternoon in East Texas.

It gets hot down here. "Hot" isn't the right word for it -- stifling, suffocating, brutal are terms that can be described for East Texas weather nine months out of every year. I've lived here all my life and it's been the same for all 38 of them. The weather, as ironic as this sounds, never changes. It gets hot in the summer, stays unbearably warm throughout most of the fall, and you might catch a cold "winter" snap in late January or early-to-mid February.

There are advantages to this, especially if you are a sports team having to endure every waking minute of practice in the furnace. Typically, our bodies adjust to the heat, even those of us whose bodies aren't much to begin with in terms of physical conditioning. Our athletes, especially the ones who arrive in August and who get to really enjoy the wonderful conditions, become specially tuned to the heat and humidity that hovers over this area for months. If the humidity lingers, say, into October, and you play a team from somewhere up north or even out in west Texas, a couple of hours in the baking temperatures here can really become an advantage for the home team, which is generally more conditioned to the weather.

It gets very hot, to put it mildly, for our fans and supporters in the stands this time of year, literally. Whether you're upset at some blind call by an official, or if you're just upset at the way things are going on the field in general, the one thing that increases the stress level is the East Texas bonfire going on around you. Trust me, it gets a little warm even in the press box -- you just can't escape it. Again, I've lived my life here -- trust me, there is no escape.

It stays brutally, sticky hot around here at night, too. I remember earlier this season during our football team's trip to Arkadelphia, Ark., to face Ouachita. I was thinking that finally we'd get the chance to play football in some cooler weather, but... yikes. I think I lost a good 20 pounds or so standing on the sideline, taking pictures. The heat stuck to you like glue, even hours after the sun had set. Throw in the buzzard-sized mosquitoes that were nipping at us all night long, and it was almost like torture.

Fact is we are East Texas Baptist University, and if you are going to enjoy the Tigers or play for the Tigers, you are going to have to do it in some uncomfortable conditions. ETBU is hoping to ease some of this burden in the coming months and years, however -- because we've heard the concerns. Yes, the mid-afternoon start times in September have become fan-repellant. We know and understand a lot of what we hear when it's just too warm to sit in the sun for three hours and watch a football game.

I know some of the ideas under consideration include moving our football start times up to a morning start, say 11 a.m. or so. I've been to every home game ever played at Ornelas Stadium and I've never not enjoyed being there three or four hours before kickoff. It's really quite pleasant. But there's something about 2 o'clock that brings out the worst in East Texas weather -- specifically the temperature. Moving the start times up to a cooler 11 a.m. kickoff would get us out of most of the heat of the afternoon, and most games would conceivably but done by that 2 p.m. slot.

Adding lights are always a possibility, and have not been ruled out at some point to my understanding, but adding lights and playing night games doesn't necessarily negate the problem with the heat. Again, I refer back to the road trip to Ouachita -- the darkness didn't make the most sticky problem go away, namely the heavy humidity. It was still unbearably warm and the air was pressing down on us like crazy. And of course, lights are expensive, and they are expensive to run, and as a private university that has to be taken into serious consideration as well.

To a somewhat lesser degree, baseball games at ETBU have had this problem in dealing with the heat as well. But lights will be going in at Young Field this spring, and we'll be playing the first night games in Tiger baseball history right here on campus. Lights were added to the soccer field a couple of years ago, and that has helped some with the heat problems there.

Yes, it's hot. Very hot. But it's our heat, and it's something we all learn to deal with if you live in East Texas very long. So remember to prepare for the heat when visiting us or attending one of our outdoor events -- dress for the occasion, drink plenty of fluids and it's not against the law to spend a few minutes in the shade or air conditioning when possible. Sunscreen is always a nice addition as well --it's always been blazing hot when I've gone to the beach as well.

And above all else, don't let the heat keep you from coming out and enjoying the performance of these student-athletes. When it comes to life, hey, we're all in this together... even when it's hot.