Sports programs blared from the televisions inside Lefty O’Toole’s Sports Bar Thursday evening. It was a stark contrast to the cold, empty seats of TD Ameritrade park just down the street, where an evening rainstorm washed out the second night of the Big 10 Baseball tournament.
“We love when there's games and there's a little bit of a delay because then people come out of the stadium and come and drink and they can go back. But once they cancel we lose our business pretty much,” said Tucker Culjat, whose family runs the North Downtown bar that opened this year.
Next door, at Goodnight’s, Abby Hutzler ate with family. The Michigan State baseball fans watched the wind and rain move in Thursday evening.
“[The storm] seemed like a long time,” she said.
The winds tipped power lines near 78th and Sorensen Parkway Thursday. Police blocked off a lane of traffic as they waited for power crews to arrive. Nearby neighbors said electric service briefly stopped.
The Big 10 Tournament rescheduled games for Friday morning, and extended day games until 9 p.m.
Culjat staffed for a busy day, even though the crowd was mostly gone Thursday night. He expected them back Friday.
“That was tough losing the Iowa crowd. We're always expecting good crowds when Iowa and Nebraska play,” he said.
http://www.bigten.org/sports/m-basebl/big10-m-basebl-body.html
