Sunday opener a great idea

The 2012 season will start on a Sunday for the first time since 2005 as the Bardo Athletics will head to their arch rival Ryley Rebels field on May 6.

Before the game, set to start at 5 p.m., the teams will honour former PBLer Curt Stensrud, who played with the Camrose Roadrunners, Armena Axemen and most recently with the Ryley Rebels.

Stensrud passed away last year so the teams wanted to honour the pitcher, player and good friend before the opening game. 

Stensrud always seemed to be most pumped to face off against the Bardo Athletics – including the one-game playoff last season, which Ryley won. So it’s fitting to start the season with the pre-game acknowledgement of his PBL career.

Bardo representative Craig Neufeld encouraged other teams’ players to come to the game on May 6. Many former teammates and friends play with other teams in the league as well as the Camrose Axemen of the NCABL.

Sunday start brilliant

I know I will try to make it out to attend the game. A Ryley-Bardo matchup is usually fun to watch anyway, but schedule-maker and president Steve Pahl made a great decision to have opening night include Bardo vs. Ryley. Additionally, it’s an awesome decision to move the game to Sunday to get more people out for the game.

It’ll be interesting to see if the league moves a few weeknight games down the road on Sundays – even if it’s just a couple games each. It would free up a weeknight here and there and provide people with enough time on the weekends to get away and get back for a 4 or 5 p.m. start.

Past experiments with Sunday games seem to have worked out well. Finding umpires can be a challenge at times, which means a later start would maybe have to take place especially in June/July. We seem to always end up with Sunday games at the very end, which have produced some of the most exciting finishes.

At any rate, get out to Ryley Sunday, May 6. It’s a good gesture to remember Curt, and should be a fun game.

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Jason Buzzell