Like sports? Give us a hand with ideas and information
I don’t camp. I don’t hike. I don’t hunt. I don’t fish. I don’t use the lake or raft down rivers. I don’t ski or snowboard (fear of bodily injury plays a factor). And I don’t hang around with girls that do.
Why am I in Sweet Home? Why am I allowed to cover sports or write a sports column in this town? Why don’t I reside in the big city where the main sport is driving a car from home to work and back to home again in a little over two hours. It takes some athletic skills to steer clear of collisions on the free-wheeling freeways in urban America.
I don’t do that very well either.
So here I am in Sweet Home, probably for the long haul, writing about sports. Thank goodness for high school sports because I am becoming disillusioned with professional sports and ever more so, professional college sports. But, as a sport leopard, it is hard to change my spots. The demon TV coverage draws me in, unless it is a Mike Tyson fight. I must say that the Little League baseball and softball games were a breath of fresh air, even though I am not certain they should draw a nationwide audience. Last year’s fiasco with the over-aged player shows what can happen when the innocence of these games is blunted.
I doubt that I will ever do many of these outdoor activities. Hunting is definitely out. I am more apt to shoot myself than any moving target. Even if I did lock Bambi in the sights of a scope, I would either bruise my shoulder seriously on the recoil or become the poster adult for buck fever. Besides that, I have another type of buck fever; these activities cost some serious cash. By the way, what is the purpose in rabbit hunting? Is there a ferocious rabbit that I am not aware of? Is it anything like driving over the ever-dangerous possum?
Though non-participation is probably a given, I am interested in the stories that come out of these events, especially if they are group trips. I remember writing a story for The New Era on my trip to the Rose Bowl to watch the powerful Oregon Ducks play. It was a great time and the people I traveled with made it a great story. Though I didn’t write a story about it, I also took a trip to a NASCAR track in California, something that I never thought I would do as well. But the people with whom I traveled (I called us “The Six”) and the events we encountered could have been the subject of a novel.
So The New Era and I am interested in hearing about your trips, your escapades, your competitions. We are willing to do full length features or just list competition outcomes. We want the sporting flavor of everything Sweet Home. If you want to invite me along for the ride, the cost of insurance must be provided. The stories will be yours; the rights to use the storyline for a novel will be ours.
If you want coverage, help us out. You can call me at 367-6396 (this is a no-complaint line) and leave a message. My e-mail is [email protected] or you can e-mail The New Era at [email protected].
For writing, I will do anything. For participation, I am sticking to golf, tennis, maybe bowling, and pool. But mostly I will be up at the high school with my rearend where it belongs: in the bleachers, watching athletes who actually have talent.