Don't look at the date

I said don't. Don't do it. If you do, I'll regret it. Why? Because once again an entire month has slipped away, and I haven't taken the time to post anything.

Granted, I have been rather busy. We've had the Seward County Fair and related results section, the fall sports preview sections (hooray for that!), the start of school (again, I'm hearing hoorays from parents with school-aged children) and this week a short deadline. Excuses, excuses, I know. But that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

I didn't want to bring up coronavirus because I'm really, really tired of hearing about it. Every story I write, every picture I take has corona overtones. The county fair was dialed back to just 4-H and FFA this year out of corona caution. I wasn't sure if we'd actually get to have school or fall sports because of potential corona cancellations. We have seen a few games called off because of coronavirus, but it's not been overwhelming. Unless, of course, you're the Big 10, in which case we've seen corona crazy.

I'm still shaking my head over the Big 10's decision to call off fall sports. It's one of two major conferences to make this decision. I understand caution. I understand not wanting to risk exposing students to the potential of the virus. But this was extreme. The Big 10 leadership is taking a deserved beating, I think. Nebraska has been at the forefront of a push to get these leaders to change their minds. The athletes just want to compete. The coaches just want to coach. The fans just want to cheer for their teams. That's what they do. But so far, no dice.

And then there are officials at a Nebraska high school who decided visiting teams can't bring fans. The home team gets to have family members and friends, but no one from the visiting team can come. Talk about your home field advantage. Not the wisest of decisions, in my opinion.

Anyway ...

I think we've all overdosed on the 'rona, as I've heard it called. It's all we hear - how many new cases, how many tests, how many deaths, where's the risk dial, where's my mask. I decided one night a couple weeks ago to time how long one of our local news stations spent on its evening broadcast talking about corona. Seven minutes that night. Seven minutes of the 24 or so they have (35 minutes minus commercials) devoted to the virus. That's 1/3 of their time. Granted that night one of the stories in the sports segment was about a former Husker battling CV. But still, we're talking 25% of the newscast. No wonder we're sick of coronavirus. (See what I did there?)

But the return of high school sports, at least, has allowed us to feel more normal. We have a space where coronavirus isn't the primary topic of conversation. We have another topic of conversation! We can talk about the Goldbugs or the Flyers or the Cats (or whatever your mascot is), even if we can't talk about the Huskers. We can argue over a referee's call or a coach's decision.

At last.

Go Big, well, Blue (times six), Red (times two), Orange (times two), Purple and Green.