As you are all aware, winter weather has been hammering much of the middle of the country this week, and Texas has received more than its share of struggles as part of the temperature-related difficulties. Without diving into why, much of the State of Texas is on its own power grid run by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). While Lubbock and the Panhandle join with multiple states in the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), that doesn’t apply to the majority of Texas, including the Metroplex.
ERCOT has experienced struggles due to frozen equipment at coal, gas, and nuclear plants across the state, and due to the loss of wind power generation as well. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Texans have been without power for extended periods for much of this week, or have been in the midst of ongoing rolling blackouts lasting from 45 minutes to several hours.
Even those who have seen lesser effects, such as those in the SPP, have seen cancelations of school and work by large organizations in order to assist with power-saving measures. Citizens across the state and region have also been asked to do their parts to conserve energy until the current gaps in power generation have been closed.
The Dallas Stars have seen multiple games postponed and the Oklahoma City Thunder have received intense criticism for not cancelling a game at Chesapeake Arena while their state struggles with similar power concerns. With all of this in mind it begs the question: will the season-opening tournament in Arlington go forward?
The State Farm College Baseball Showdown, pitting the SEC vs the Big 12 this weekend, has already seen two weather-related changes. Originally scheduled to run Friday through Sunday, the tournament was moved back a day to accommodate team travel. With Texas Tech, TCU, and Texas obviously impacted and Arkansas, Mississippi State, and Ole Miss also feeling the weather crunch, this seems like a sensible move. Additionally, an announcement was also made that tickets sold for Friday would be honored for Sunday and Monday to allow flexibility for those travelling.
In addition to all of this, Baylor Baseball’s season opening series with Jacksonville State has been canceled as well. All of this has those of us at Red Raider Dugout wondering aloud if the weekend would continue to go forward. Well our fears were allayed today on the Kirby Hocutt Radio Show. You can click the link for the full show or hop in the clip below for the specifics from the big man himself, Texas Tech Athletics Director Kirby Hocutt.
Weather permitting, we will be on location covering this tournament for you folks! We’ll have game reports and will work on a Dinger Derby episode as well as time allows.
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