When I was a boy, I can remember watching and admiring Howard Cosell, on ABC's "Wide World of Sports", and thinking to myself that it must really be cool to watch sports and report on it, and actually call it a job…imagine that!

I believe spectatorship is a sport all to itself, and have spent my entire life trying to perfect it.

Equally enticing to me has been writing in general.

During the period of 1990-1997, I wrote for the Greenville Advocate from an old IBM typewriter at the Greenville Fire Department.

But back then, I was writing on issues of safety and human-interest, as well as reporting on the activities of the department that I worked for.

My father, George Jr., has written two books that sold nationally, on the subject of trapping, and I was raised-up learning to appreciate and wisely use the bounties of nature,

By that, I mean wildlife.

We were taught at the age of ten to hunt, and I was trapping at the age of five years old, tending to a trap line alongside my father before school each morning.

If Mom served store-bought meat to us, we thought that maybe we were being punished for something.

We cooked just about everything we ever caught.

I spent a lot of my early life in the Boy Scouts, camping, fishing and hunting (until, at about the age of 16, I started hunting animals of a different kind, by that, I mean "girls").

But now I find myself in a unique position, being able to write about sports, and let me tell you, there are certainly some talented young athletes in this area.

I had the opportunity to watch the first round of the Dixie Minor Sub-District Tournament last weekend, at Day Memorial Park.

I had my reservations about it to begin with, but I would now have to echo the sentiments of my predecessor, Robert Blankenship…those little guys can really play some ball.

I would hate to get hit with some of the fastballs that were pitched from the mound lastweekend, and equally amazing, was the ability of those guys to hit a ball moving that fast so hard.

If you don't have any plans for the rest of this week, or even if you do, change them, and go watch the Dixie Minors play ball, at Day Memorial Park.

For a very small price, you and your family can take part in some good clean fun, without having to put a small fortune into your gas tank to get to it.

Equally impressive is the way in which the Greenville Parks and Recreation Department has renovated Day Memorial Park.

The turf is well manicured, the fields have been well maintained, and ample parking and seating provide for

a good family outing, so come out and root for your favorite team.

Over the next few weeks, I will be preparing myself for what I am sure will be one of the busiest seasons I have ever lived through: football season.

People in Alabama take their football very seriously and I know through personal experience that the people in Butler County are no different.

We have some new coaches and a lot of young players, and what The Advocate really needs is help.

Each year The Advocate uses parent/student stringers to help us cover games from our area, and anyone who is interested in helping this year is encouraged to get in contact with me right away.

It doesn't take any writing ability, and we won't send you out with a camera, so anyone who has an interest in area football can help. If you are interested, call me here at The Advocate and I'll give you the details.

I am looking forward to working with The Advocate again. I have already been challenged in my first few days, and I am sure the challenges will keep coming.

I wanted to take this opportunity to let the community know that we want to provide Greenville and Butler County with the best sports coverage possible. If anyone feels like we are overlooking something, ignoring someone or not getting the whole story, just let us know. We'll do everything we can to get it right.