`cartoons/queue/20260926-halftime-show-runaway.meta.json`

68 lines
{
  "blurb": "A small-stadium entertainment committee books \"just one more act\" between innings until the ballgame is delayed by the entertainment scheduled to fill its delays.",
  "story_id": "sw-halftime-act-creep",
  "tags": [
    "local sports",
    "community event",
    "pageantry",
    "small town news",
    "editorial cartoon"
  ],
  "new_story": {
    "id": "sw-halftime-act-creep",
    "category": "sports",
    "categoryLabel": "Sports",
    "location": "Zanesville, Ohio",
    "byline": "Sports Desk Reporter Tanner Voss",
    "image": null,
    "intervalSec": 44,
    "offsetSec": 12,
    "stageIndex": 0,
    "tags": [
      "local sports",
      "community event",
      "pageantry",
      "small town news"
    ],
    "article": {
      "dek": "The between-innings entertainment at Glenhaven Municipal Field has grown to eight booked acts, and Tuesday's game was held at the fourth inning for two hours and forty-five minutes while they all went on.",
      "photoCaption": "P24 illustration.",
      "paragraphs": [
        "ZANESVILLE, OH— Tuesday's game at Glenhaven Municipal Field was suspended at the middle of the fourth inning for two hours and forty-five minutes, according to the official scorer's log, while eight scheduled between-innings acts performed in sequence on the infield.",
        "The delay was not weather-related. It was entertainment.",
        "The Glenhaven entertainment committee, a five-member volunteer body that books the field's between-innings programming, began the season with one act: a 90-second kazoo number performed by the Municipal Kazoo Corps after the third inning.",
        "\"It went over,\" said committee chair Arlene Pockrus. \"So somebody asked if we had room for one more.\"",
        "They did. By the end of June the card included a dog frisbee team, the Airborne Retrievers, and a four-rider unicycle relay that circles the warning track twice. Each act was booked, Pockrus confirmed, to follow the act before it, which is how the committee's minutes describe every addition since May.",
        "Groundskeeper Milo Fenwright said he stopped raking the infield between innings in early August because there was no longer a point. \"I'd get out there and there'd be a dog in the air,\" Fenwright said. \"You can't rake under a dog.\"",
        "Manager Dee Stallworth said both dugouts have adjusted. Players now sit on the steps with their gloves in their laps, and the bullpen has been instructed not to begin warming until the second-to-last act. \"You can't ask a guy to stay loose for two hours,\" Stallworth said. \"So we don't ask.\"",
        "Asked Tuesday whether the committee had considered simply stopping partway through the card to resume play, Pockrus said the question had come up and been settled. \"We can't stop mid-act,\" she said. \"These people rehearsed.\"",
        "The committee meets Thursday to review a ninth proposal, a precision lawn-chair drill team, which has offered to perform free of charge. Pockrus said the committee is inclined to approve it and slot it after the unicycles.",
        "Tuesday's game was eventually completed. The final score was 2-1, the same as it had been in the fourth."
      ]
    },
    "stages": [
      {
        "headline": "Glenhaven Field Adds Between-Innings Kazoo Act, Crowd Response Positive",
        "detail": "The Municipal Kazoo Corps performed a 90-second number after the third inning Friday. Committee chair Arlene Pockrus called the response 'the best thing we've done all year.'"
      },
      {
        "headline": "Committee Books Dog Frisbee Team To Follow Kazoo Corps",
        "detail": "The Airborne Retrievers were added to the card this week, scheduled immediately after the kazoo number. Pockrus said the committee 'had room for one more.'"
      },
      {
        "headline": "Unicycle Relay Added; Groundskeeper Stops Raking Between Innings",
        "detail": "A four-rider relay now circles the warning track twice. Groundskeeper Milo Fenwright said raking became impractical: 'You can't rake under a dog.'"
      },
      {
        "headline": "Card Reaches Eight Acts, Bullpen Told Not To Warm Until Second-To-Last",
        "detail": "Manager Dee Stallworth ordered relievers to stay cold through most of the program. 'You can't ask a guy to stay loose for two hours,' Stallworth said."
      },
      {
        "headline": "Game Held At Fourth Inning For Two Hours, 45 Minutes As Full Card Performs",
        "detail": "The official scorer logged the delay as entertainment, not weather. Pockrus declined to cut the program short, saying 'we can't stop mid-act — these people rehearsed.'",
        "conclusion": "The game was completed. The final score was 2-1, the same as it had been in the fourth."
      }
    ]
  }
}