COLUMN: Out of the darkness

Once again, Father Time has defeated the forces of “darkness.”

The void is about to be filled with cheers. 

It is time...to crank it up for high school football and volleyball! 

Yeehaw!

Beginning this Friday (Aug. 16), schools across the state of Montana can resume practice in those two sports, with scheduled openers just two weeks away. 

As I’ve outlined before in this space, I consider the time when the last play of the Super Bowl takes place and this time of year to be my “sports blackout” time of year. 

Gotta have the pads popping, the long bomb pass being hauled in by fleet of foot receivers, offensive linemen crashing into defensive linemen and the sound of linebackers delivering a big, “crowd-wowing” smackdown on a ball carrier. 

And along the way in the now five years I’ve been covering sports for Sanders and Mineral counties, I’ve become a solid fan of volleyball and the athletic young ladies who play the game. I had no idea how intense the sport is and how good so many who play it in this area are. 

It is action from the first wave of the referee’s hand to serve the ball until the last kill shot slams into the opponent’s side of the floor. 

The first football games of the season are listed in a story on these sports pages. I was misty eyed as I saw the first schedule pop up on a local sports website.  

“It’s time,” I said. 

I fought to keep myself from driving to one of the local fields involved, setting up the pup tent and being first in line. 

Yeah, I have it that bad. 

Volleyball schedules have, as of this Sunday, been posted on some school websites, with most local schools having their first matches in early September.  Plains has home matches scheduled for September third and fifth against Florence and Loyola respectively. 

You want gym-wall rattling fun? Take in a volleyball match. 

Most area high schools open their seasons the last Friday of this month. 

It is time! 

Cheap admission, affordable concessions, fast-paced action in the great out of doors.  I remember telling a group of local footballers one season when I was doing pre-season visits to each of the seven schools I cover they have it really good. 

A large portion of the town comes out to watch them play.  The fields on which they play are without exception surrounded by Montana mountain with pine trees often down to the field. Deer can often be seen grazing in the end zone of these fields. 

By the time the season reaches the halfway point, snow caps those mountains. It is Norman Rockwellian.   

The only thing that stresses me ever so slightly with the opening of the high school sports season, is the choice I must make. 

On any given night there are several football and volleyball games I would love to see in person. Getting pictures of the games is something I love doing. Unfortunately for me, my clone machine does not exist. I can only be in one place at a time. 

Maybe this will be the year I attend the first half at one game, then, if the second game is played reasonably nearby, I coax Big Red, my faithful Dodge 1500 (253,600 miles and counting) down the road in time for the second half of another game. 

Where is a helicopter when you need one?