It was a slow evening in the office last night. Despite the weather, there were a few games on the schedule.

Then she called.

It was Mother Nature on the line.

She was a little surprised games were being played, but I tried to explain the predicament some teams are facing: They have few games left with very few days in which to play them.

She said that's not her fault. She's not the one who tried to cram all these games late into the season.

I told her the WPIAL usually has all section games played by the Saturday before the playoff pairings meeting.

Teams could play some nonsection game Monday, but, because of all the snow, the WPIAL extended the deadline for the last section game twice, the first time to Monday, then to tonight.

I know, I know. These are extreme circumstances. Usually one big snowstorm could cancel school for a couple of days, tops. Maybe a few minor storms could cost a school a day here or there, but that can be made up easily.

This year, most schools in the WPIAL were canceled for five consecutive days.

For most schools, that meant two games postponed with very little time to make them up

I agree there are too many games on the high school basketball schedule. For years, I've been a proponent of shaving the total from 24 to 20 games, if not 18.

Twenty-four games? In winter? Who's idea was this? No other sport plays that many games. I understand basketball, like football, is a key moneymaker for the organizations and the schools, but these seasons are too lengthy.

Sports are a school activity and should be played on school nights. Teams should be limited to two games/meets a week for a two-month season. In basketball, that would be nine weeks, so 18 games should be the limit.

With apologizes to the Karns City girls basketball team and the Seneca Valley baseball team, state team tournaments are what's bogging this whole thing down.

I think it should be like it used to be in the past, when teams were district champions and that was good enough. Sports like wrestling, swimming and track and field that have individual champions still could be played because the postseason format is not drawn out.

Mother Nature stopped me there and wholeheartedly agreed with all that I told her, but her point of calling was to get the word out not to blame her.

It's still winter, she said, and you all live in a cold-weather climate where it snows. What do you expect?

Now it was my turn to stop Mother Nature and explain to her that Father (Out of) Time was on line 2. Apparently, he been taking a lot of heat lately, too.

Sam Tallarico is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.