Lightning strikes, kills Little Leaguer

Sirs, Madames,

I missed this documentary at the Hot Docs festival but it has received good reviews.

http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/hot-docs-act-of-god-review/

I've been known to run off the course when someone's stomach rumbles.

o-<

 

If that's the case where lightning is striking all around and you can hear thunder, it's time to get the hell off the field in the first place.

 

What can you say? It's a tragedy.

I've fished with guys who stay out there through all sort of weather, but when lightning approaches, they leave. It's not worth taking the chance.

 

One of the scariest moments in my life was lightning-related when I played in a rec softball league in Greenfield, Ind. I was a correspondent at the paper there after I graduated from college.

A late spring, evening "popcorn" cell, the ones that frequently hit the Midwest at that time of the year, was forming and lightning was coming from the clouds. The umpires refused to delay the game even though it was clear the sky was going to open up soon.

I'm at the plate, aluminum bat in hand, when lightning hit the ground somewhere in the area. No one else felt it, but I felt it course up the aluminum bat, though it was a very mild shock. I stepped out of the box and yelled at the umpire, "Did you feel that? I did. Why the hell are we still playing. Someone's going to get killed." After thinking about it for far longer than need be, they finally delayed the game.

The storm passed and we went on our merry way to a winless season. The coach had me bat clean-up. Hopeless.