Sidelines: For the love of sports

Introductions are in order to readers of the Valley Press/Mineral Independent. I am the new guy on the sports beat for VP-MI, the new reporter set to cover high school sports in Sanders and Mineral counties starting later this month.

The man I am replacing is the now retired but previously hard-working Chuck Bandel, a prolific reporter of local sports who frequently expressed his own unique views in his weekly column called Kvelve’s Comments, a practice I plan to continue in this column called Sidelines. 

In his column, we frequently read about Chuck’s all-out love for all things sports, and you could see it anytime you saw him at a local sport event. He was always on the spot with camera in hand, relishing the opportunity to take it all in, and then later, finding a way of telling us all about it in an entertaining, meaningful way with his writing. 

A couple of times in his columns, Chuck mused about how he was kind of amazed that he was actually getting paid for doing something he loved to do so much and sincerely seemed like he felt a little guilty about that. He even once called this VP-MI sports reporter gig the ideal retirement job for a sports addict like himself. 

Reflecting on what he had said in his column, I got thinking that I have some of the same sports mindset, the same addictive symptoms that he has. I should just face it, I might as well admit that I too am addicted to sports as a matter of fact. It seems that I have always been a sports junkie, and it’s a hard habit to break. 

Why do I love sports? Consider my personal way of thinking about it. 

In my mind there are no real losers in sports, everyone who competes, who is out there trying, is a winner, if not necessarily the champion. After all, how can there even be champions if not for all the others who are also out there trying to be the ones, the champions, themselves? 

If you are putting yourself out there in front of everyone in an honest competition on an even playing field, are trying to do your best and are accepting of the result in the end, whatever that may be, win or lose, I think you are a winner. 

We are all in this sport, this game of life together, and sports can teach us so much about playing that much bigger, more important game if we let them. Competing against each other actually ends up bringing us together in many ways. We are all playing for the same reasons, striving for victory, trying to win one for the home team. But it is not, or at least should not be with a win-at-all-cost mentality. 

I like seeing the W of course, but what I like more is seeing the effort, the common desire, the joy of the win, the agony of the loss… it’s all part of it, that bigger game we are all playing together. 

To me, sports are about team-building, about developing self-discipline and learning to cooperate with others in pursuit of a common goal. About creating the courage to compete and do your best to win in the end but also to be ready to accept the result no matter what. How can anyone that puts in the work, does everything in their power to get better each day be considered a loser anyway I ask? Let alone let that fate be determined by the final score of a game, match or race? 

The way I see it, someone always wins and someone always loses, but we all go home better for the experience because of the effort put into it by both sides. We came, we saw and maybe we didn’t conquer this time, but hey, there is always a next time, another chance to try, yet another hidden beauty of sports. We all live to play another day. 

The trying to win part is the primal instinct inside of all us, the reason why we are here in the first place, why we compete. In sports and in life we want to win. But, in reality in sports at least, we try, we win sometimes, we lose sometimes, life goes on either way for better or worse. 

I can’t speak (or write) for Chuck on this topic of sports and life but would be thinking he might feel largely the same. Long live sports! Admitted sports addicts like us wouldn’t have it any other way. Right Chuck? 

Now that I am embarking onto the second phase of my sports writing career here in western Montana I feel a lot like Chuck did, almost guilty about getting paid for doing something that I have always loved to do, and now have the opportunity to do again. 

I found I liked being heard through words while I was away from this business and that I missed having the responsibility of reporting on these important events in peoples’ lives. Important not just to the athletes involved but also to all the fans, parents, alumni, friends and student bodies involved. 

I again have the opportunity to go to new places (and some old haunts), meet new people (and old friends) and report on the sports of our lives in Sanders and Mineral counties, and welcome the challenge. Give me your best all you athletes out there ready to rumble this fall, in whatever sport you may be involved in, we all will be watching, appreciating your efforts and reporting on your results, win or lose by the way. 

My only hope is that I can do half as well as Chuck has with this job, he did it right and his absence has left an aching void on these pages since his retirement. My wish is to hopefully fill that void. I look forward to doing my best for VP-MI readers. 

There you have it then, my very first two cents’ worth as the new old sports guy for VP-MI, let the games begin! Looking forward to your efforts y’all!

    Thompson Falls-Plains-St. Regis boys soccer players during a drill in Thompson Falls Friday. (John Hamilon/VP-MI)
  

    Thompson Falls-Plains-St. Regis head boys soccer coach Michael Scharfe (third from left) meets with his team during practice in Thompson Falls Friday. ( John Hamilton/VP-MI)
  

    At the stroke of midnight, as is a tradition with the Thompson Falls football team, practice for the 2025 season began at 12:01 Friday morning at Previs Field for the boys who turned out for this year’s squad. Coach Jared Koskela and the Hawks later hit the field for another workout, the first of the two-a-days, at 5 p.m. Friday. (Photo provided)