Spring Training & Mold – What is the Connection?

What is the Connection Between Spring Training & Mold Problems?

It’s that time of year again! Pitchers and catchers report in two days!!!! If you’ve read The World’s Most Interesting Engineer, you know I have two recurring themes when I write about mold. The first is, well, recurrence. Mold problems can come back if we only clean up the mold and do not correct what caused the original mold problem. The second is that most of calls for mold related issues occur during the period that runs between Major League Baseball (MLB) Opening Day and the end of the World Series.

By the way, did you know 2015 is the year that Marty McFly traveled to in the movie Back to the Future II? Why is that a big deal? If you remember the movie, there was a news flash hologram in the sky showing the Chicago Cubs won the World Series. Wouldn’t it be great if they won this year? I know this is a tangent, but the Cubs are getting better and I think will be competitive very soon. But I’m ok if they win it all this year and get it over with. Chicago Cubs fans are known for saying “there’s always next year”, but since the movie called it for 2015, that means we GOTTA WIN this year.

I know it’s technically not Spring yet, but it’s gotten a little warmer here, the sun is out, and on March 8th (here before we know it) we’ll resume Daylight Savings Time. Did I mention Major League Baseball will start Spring Training soon and that I’m a Cubs fan? So I’m pretending it’s Spring. I don’t like the cold, even though we don’t have rough winters here. I’m a big baseball fan, so I’m happy to see America’s Game come back, along with warmer weather.

Since the end of last year’s World Series, I’ve been hard at work channeling Isaac Newton, hard at work finalizing my treatise on the relationship of baseball season and mold problems. Get ready for brilliance.

The return of Spring Training means very soon I’ll be listening to Spring Training games online, and in general, spending more time thinking about baseball. To put it in mathematical terms:

More daylight + warmer temperatures + return of MLB + return of LSU baseball > winter + non-baseball activities

(Chris White’s First Law of Why Baseball is More Awesome than Mold)

No proof necessary. Seriously, if you need proof of this, I don’t know what to say.

Back to the real (presumably) purpose of this post. Many of the mold and moisture projects our clients bring us occur during baseball season. Our clients notice problems that begin around Opening Day, and usually tail off around the end of the World Series.

That’s not to say that mold and moisture problems don’t occur during other times of the year- but that seems to be the time period during which the mold and moisture problems are really noticeable.

Remember that mold problems go hand in hand with moisture issues. If you don’t find the moisture source and correct the problem, you may get to play a mold remediation double header. The late, great Mr. Cub Ernie Banks was known for saying, “Let’s play two!”, but I’m pretty sure no one wants to repeat mold remediation. That involves more aggravation, time, and money. To put that mathematically:

Watching Baseball Doubleheader = 1/Recurring Mold Problem

(Chris White’s Second Law of Why Baseball is More Awesome than Mold)

Also should require no proof whatsoever.

By the way, with the passing of Ernie Banks and Ron Santo over the last several years, that means the Chicago Cubs have to win soon because I’m convinced that those two great men, such great players, ambassadors of baseball, and Cubs to their core are lobbying in heaven for the Chicago Cubs to win. This year. Did I mention I’m a Cubs fan?

And once temperatures start rising this Spring and Summer, lowering the thermostat only exacerbates moisture and mold problems (not to mention increasing your energy bills!).

Now would be a good time to look at how you manage mold and moisture issues- instead of letting those problems manage you. I know it seems early – but it may be a good idea for you to have a Spring Training of sorts to make sure you’re out ahead of your mold and moisture problems. Maybe you’ll avoid the problems altogether and you’ll have more time to listen, watch, or even go to more baseball games!

My work in the lab has resulted in the discovery of a previously unknown quantity that I’ve named the Cubbie (abbreviated, Cub). It quantifies the joy of a Chicago Cubs fan finally seeing the Cubs win the World Series compared to the misery of living through recurring mold problems as a building owner or manager. So here goes:

1 Cub = 1 time energy a Cubs fan feels when seeing the Chicago Cubs win the World Series and yells “Cubs Win!”

1 Cub = 1.21 gigawatts (get it, movie fans?) more powerful than the sinking feeling building owners and managers get when realizing they’re reliving a recurring mold problem

1 Cub = enough energy to light LSU’s Tiger Stadium for the next 50 home seasons. So in other words, recurring mold problems are depleting the world’s energy and causing a strain on our planet’s resources. So if you’re working through a recurring mold problem solve the problem for good, and at the same time, help our planet. We Cubs fans are great people, but don’t saddle us with saving the Earth. So if you need help:

That leads to my Third Law:

Baseball = Fun >> working on recurring mold problems

(Chris White’s Third Law of Why Baseball is More Awesome than Mold)

The beauty of my 3 laws is that none require proof – all are readily apparent when examined in the unwavering glare of the light of common sense. Pure genius if I do say so. By the way, did I mention that I’m a Cubs fan? 2015 could be our year!

If I can help, or if you are a long suffering Cubs fan like me and just want to talk, give me a call or send me an email at cwhite@wynnwhite.com

I hope you have a great Spring and Summer. And most importantly, I hope the Chicago Cubs win the World Series. Root for the Cubs – as I’ve mathematically shown above, it’ll save the world.

Stay moldy, my friends.

Chris