Canadian Soldiers Baffle NY Yankees in Game 2
Canadian Soldiers is the nickname Clevelanders give to mayflies, those tiny, pesky insects that thrive in warm, muggy weather and flock to moisture--like that found on the skin of sweaty athletes. The Canadian soldiers have been aiding the Indians for many years, flying off of Lake Erie to buzz around athletes heads. (They are also called fishflies or flying ants, the latter possible because of their tendency to assemble in large number in ways that irritate the hell out of humans.)They could be seen buzzing around the heads of players (and umpires) all night, but they seemed to have a special liking for Yankees phenom reliever Joba Chamberlain. You could see them all around his heading, and on the back of his neck. Chamberlain was clearly distracted, and had the Yankees staff come out to spray bug repellant on him. Other players and the umpires took some too, but the Canadian soldiers had already rattled Joba Chamberlain.
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2 Comments:
they weren't Canadian soldiers actually...they were nats. Canadian Soldiers are much bigger than those bugs at the stadium. Been in Cleveland my entire life and have been seeing Midges or Canadian Solders for 40 years...those weren't them. Doesn't mean they weren't annoying but those weren't the midge. I have had those same nats flying around my baseball cap during softball...very distracting. I will say this...when Carmona was on the mound, they were equally as bad (they covered his face and hat), yet he was not nearly as bothered by them. Seems Jeter and Jabba the hut were the most bothered. Anyway, I don't think we 'used' them to win. We won because the Yankees had only 3 hits. Both teams are strong...I think the Yanks have better hitting & we have better pitching so it'll be interesting.
my post was confusing about which bug was which...those bugs were midges or nats...not Canadian Soldiers which are mayflys. They kinda look similar but Canadian Soldiers (mayflys) are much bigger. Both are very common to Cleveland and all lake environments but only the nats or midges will fly on sweaty people. I believe we have the non-biting type. Here are the culprits that infested the game:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midge_%28insect%29
Here is the Candadian Solder which is not what we saw at the game:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayfly
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