The Prince George Citizen TV TIMES — April 15th, 1989 — 31
     TV FOCUS      
 by BOB REMINGTON  
  Toronto’s Sky Dome is best of both worlds
   An engineer recently predicted that the retractable roof on Toron-to’a new SkyDome won't work. The de8ignera denied it, 8aying the mechanism is ao simple it can't fail.
   Should the doomsayera prove right, it would be no big deal to Buck Martinez — as long as the roof remains permanently stuck in the open position. Martinez, baseball color analyst for The Sports Network, is a purist who thinks the game should be played outdoors.
   "I don't like indoor stadiums," said Martinez, on the phone recently from a pre-season Blue Jays game in Florida. “It’s like playing in a gymnasium. Baseball was meant to be played outside.”
   Still, Martinez suspects the roof will work. When the SkyDome opens June 5, he says the Jays will have the best of both worlds — an outdoor stadium on warm summer days and a cosy facility during inclement weather.
   "That engineer knows a lot more about it than I do, but it looks like it should work from what everybody4 else is saying. He was concerned about the size ancj massiveness of it. It's something like 800 tons. But it’ll probably work, and it will be marvellous — the best sports facility in the world. I was in it a little
even the fans in Minnesota will tell you — give them a nice outdoor stadium and they'd rather be out there on a nice summer day."
  Ken Singleton, Montreal Expos commentator for CTV and TSN, disagrees.
  “I think domed stadiums are a good thing — especially in cities that need them,” says the former Baltimore Orioles and Montreal Expos player. "I didn't mind playing in
them at all, especially as I got older. When you get rain and rain delays, it's uncomfortable for the players and the fans.”
   As for Martinez's suggestion that the fans in Minnesota would rather sit outside, Singleton recalls some of the hazards at the Twins’ old Met Stadium. Not only was it possible to get late-season snow flurries, but in summer you had to "swat baseballs and mosquitoes.”
                                                                                                                           :£t
                 &
                                                    LTD.
                                                                 Toronto SkyDome
while ago, and there’s not a bad seat in the house.
   "It's going to be much louder, of course, even with the roof open. The fans are going to get more vocal and excited because of it, and the players will, too. Look what happened in Minnesota when they won the World Series. The noise was really a factor. Yet, you know, I think
  SPRING SPECIALS
 CEDAR - FENCING - BOARDS
  RENT TO OWN
               BUNKBEDS & CHILDREN’S FURNITURE
 • Month - to - month rentals
 • Immediate delivery — within 24 hours
 • Purchase option plan available
                             Watch For Our Rental Return Sale in Next Week’s T.V. Times!
                          Maison Rent To Own
 1153-4th Avenue              564-9250
                              Open Monday thru Sat. 9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
 i5yk,t,. i9V^Lt..
 CEDAR       V       V
 posts *3«, 54!L
                                      CEDAR SIDING
                                         TOP QUALITY CHANNEL
    I A
 43
   lin. ft.
  From
 BEVEL
  291
   lin. ft.
                                  CEDAR INTERIOR
                                  1X8 TONGUE & GROOVE
                                        Clear & TK Mix
                                          361
  Only
   rlin. ft
                                      See us today for all your cedar needs & save.
                                           HOME OF COLOURFUL COASTAL CEDAR
                                           2 Locations to Serve You 3355 - 15th Ave., Prince George 561-2555 (Behind Beaver Lumber)
                                                  Hwy. 97-18 Miles South of Quesnel 993-4477