Soccer season nearly over

If you're one of the folks around here who has trouble feeling good about where you live, I have a suggestion.

This Saturday morning, between 9 a.m. and noon, head out to the Blytheville Youth Sportsplex. Drive around to the north of the baseball fields, via the appropriately named "Corner Kick Drive," and you will find a wide expanse filled with soccer fields.

This is the home of the Blytheville Area Soccer Association. Every Saturday for the last month and a half, the association has filled up its fields with local soccer players. It's a wonderful sight to behold. You have boys and girls of all ages and races, running around, having fun and getting exercise. There are big fields for the big kids, smaller fields for the smaller kids, and a tiny field for the tiny kids. And with the kids in their bright, shiny uniforms of red, blue, yellow and green, there's not a more sunny, upbeat sight to be found on a Saturday morning in the fall.

This has been my family's second season of playing soccer, and we think the world of the whole program.

As compared to some other youth sports, soccer is a great option for kids. As I've said before, with other sports, there is a whole range of skills that must be mastered in order to play with any level of success. There's throwing, catching, hitting and running, and a fault with any one of them results in a busted play. But in soccer, it's simple. You run and you kick. Anyone can do it.

Better yet, soccer offers kids non-stop action. In t-ball, for instance, kids spend 95 percent of their time waiting. Waiting to bat, waiting to run, waiting for the ball to roll their direction. This is not the case in soccer. In soccer, all players are always in motion. If activity is what you want for your kids, soccer is your sport.

(For that matter, as a parent/spectator, soccer is infinitely more exciting than t-ball. I'd just as soon watch the cotton grow behind my house than watch a t-ball game.)

As mentioned earlier, this was our family's second season of soccer. But new to us this year is that I agreed to serve as a coach. Coaching a youth sport is something every parent ought to do at least once, and with my own limited knowledge of sports like baseball and basketball, soccer seemed like the right niche for me.

I won't claim to be an expert on the sport by any stretch of the imagination; however, my elementary school up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was host to that city's English as a Second Language program, and as such, I attended grade school with dozens of kids who's families had recently emigrated from Vietnam, Cambodia and other countries. And as such, the sport they knew how to play was soccer. And so naturally, my school went soccer-crazy. At recess, we didn't play basketball or football; we played soccer.

So it was those elementary-school memories that I called upon as I became a soccer coach for the first time. I ended up coaching my son's 6-and-under team, which has proven to be quite the experience. I have six kids on my roster; four are kindergartners, and the other two will start school next year.

And though I may joke about our games being barely organized chaos, the truth is I've had a blast. I've loved working with my team, and I don't think you could find a better group of little soccer players anywhere. We called ourselves "The Spiders," and to Drew, Samantha, Aliya, Sierra, Grace and Ty, I say thank you for a great season, and for letting me be your coach.

And for that matter, I need to give props to my daughter's 10-and-under team — "The Bulldogs" — who I enjoyed cheering for all season. They exuded skill, teamwork and sportsmanship that should be a model for every team that plays. Here's to Katie, Alysen, Morgan, Alex, Bella, Haley, Chandler, Jasmine, Karina and coach John Barton.

Saturday will be the last game of the season. I would have thought that I'd be burned out by this point, eager for the games to end. But I'm not. The truth is I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday than watching kids happily kick a little white ball around a big green field.

So the season will end, but soccer will not. We'll still play in the back yard, and we might even catch a game or two on the television every now and then.

But most of all, we'll look forward to next year, another year playing a fantastic sport.

Happy Halloween!

On this beautiful Halloween-eve, a couple of notes:

• Trick-or-treating times for both the City of Blytheville and the City of Gosnell have been established for 5-8 p.m. The county has not established any specific trick-or-treating, so if you live outside the city limits, I guess you can trick-or-treat for as long as you want to.

• Blytheville is lucky enough to have TWO nice haunted houses in operation. "The Return to the Haunted Theater," which operates out of the Ritz Civic Center, is open Tuesday and Wednesday beginning a 7 p.m. both nights. Cost is $5, with proceeds benefitting the Arts Council of Mississippi County. "The Flightline of Fear" at the Arkansas Aeroplex will open its doors at 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday. Cost is $5, with proceeds split between muscular dystrophy and the Red Cross.

• Several local churches are also planning holiday celebrations for Wednesday night.

However you choose to celebrate it, here's wishing you a great holiday.

The outing of Albus Dumbledore

By now, you've no doubt seen the news, probably the biggest news story in months, a revelation that will surely change your life.

The news: Albus Dumbledore is gay.

And there's only one word I can think of to describe this earth-shattering, ground-breaking development: Yawn.

In case you don't know, Albus Dumbledore is the beloved headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the fictional setting in the hugely popular "Harry Potter" books. Dumbledore's sexual orientation is never mentioned in the books, but author J.K. Rowling outed the fictional character during a public appearance Friday, in response to a question from the audience.

The reaction to the news will no doubt follow a well-trodden script.

From the Christian right, we'll hear the criticisms. No doubt the outing of Dumbledore will be just another opportunity for the book-burners of the world to declare the inherent evil of the "Potter" series, and clamor for the books to be removed from public schools and public libraries. They'll denounce the new-age political correctness that Rowling may or may not be promoting.

And on cue, we'll hear from the "progressives," of the world, who will trip over themselves in their race to praise Rowling for her "courage" and "bravery." They'll denounce anyone who criticizes the "Potter" books as closed-minded bigots, and canonize Rowling as an idol in the international crusade for "tolerance."

Quite frankly, this is a trite storyline, and I'm quite sick of it.

I've been a big fan of the "Potter" books, and I see no reason to change that. I'll keep the books on my shelves and watch the movies. The books are just what they are, and no new "revelation" made by the author after the fact is going to change what I think about them. So what if Dumbledore is gay? I couldn't care less than if Rowling suddenly revealed that Dean Thomas is left-handed or Luna Lovegood dyes her hair. It just doesn't matter. The books have been written. The story is over.

But therein lies what could be part of what fueled this latest news. After selling about a bajillion copies of the final "Potter" book — "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" — over the summer, the book has been making its way down the best-seller lists. And while it would be ludicrous to suggest Rowling needs to boost book sales, you have to wonder if the multi-millionaire author has missed being in the limelight. After all, with the release of "Hallows," the "Potter" series was supposedly concluded. There are no more stories to write. Could it be that Rowling isn't quite ready to put the series to bed, thus leading her to make dramatic, yet undisclosed until now, revelations about characters? It certainly served as a way for Rowling to get her name back in headlines, at least for a couple of weeks.

But no matter. Dumbledore is Rowling's brain-child, and she can do with him what she wants. And if the pop culture world wants to follow Rowling down this road of fabricated controversy, they're welcome to do so, insipid and boring as that road might be.

As for me, I'm staying out of it. I just want to read the books, watch the movies and enjoy them. You should be able to do such things without having to make a political statement.

Sports blog launched

As we continue to grow in our latest Internet venture, the Courier News has added a third blog to our inventory. It's called From the Bleachers and is designed to be a forum for local sports fans. CN Managing Editor Mark Brasfield is moderating the blog. Link is to the right. Check it out.

Now these are some good cookies

My 5-year-old son, Drew, was disappointed a few weeks ago when we didn't go out for pizza.

Truth be known, though, it wasn't so much the regular pizza he was interested in. Instead, it was the chocolate-chip "dessert" pizza served by one of the local pizza establishments.

To console him, my wife, Jena, offered to bake him some chocolate-chip cookies at home soon, and Drew accepted this proposal as an suitable compromise.

Unfortunately, Drew is not the type of child to easily forget about such a deal. So pretty much every day for the last two weeks, he's asked his mom, "When are we going to make our cookies?" or "Can we make those cookies today?" So finally, Sunday afternoon, Jena sent me to the store to pick up the ingredients she needed. And then she and Drew, along with 8-year-old Katie, spent the afternoon baking cookies.

And I must say, they did a bang-up job. I've had many a chocolate-chip cookie in my day, made by both my wife and others, but these were some of the best I've ever had.

I don't think my wife would claim to be a gourmet chef, but she can bake up a tasty treat when she wants to, an ability no doubt inherited from her mother. Indeed, when birthdays come around at our house, the idea of a store-bought cake is scorned. At our house, the birthday cakes are baked in our very own oven.

The only downside to all this is that I'm generally not much of a dessert kind of guy. Sure, I like my birthday cakes and my chocolate-chip cookies every now and then, but I'm much more of a cheese-and-crackers aficionado than a pie-and-cobbler connoisseur.

I'm especially adverse to any fruit-based dessert. Whether it's cherry pie, or peach cobbler or apple crisp, I'm just not into it. This is particularly troublesome at civic club or community luncheons, where it seems that apple and peach cobbler are the only desserts local restaurants know how to serve. I end up skipping dessert almost every time.

I'm also not a fan of anything in the nut family. This includes everything from peanuts to almonds to pecans. I doubt you'll see me eat a slice of pecan pie in my lifetime; and I believe there should be a constitutional amendment banning the sprinkling of mixed nuts on cakes and ice creams.

When it comes to desserts, I prefer the basics, like chocolate, or perhaps white, cake. I can maybe stomach one slice of pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, but that's it. Though it's more of a breakfast food than a dessert, I can never get enough of my mother-in-law's cinnamon rolls. And if they're cooked just right, I always enjoy a good chocolate-chip cookie.

The batch Jena and the kids made was gone in about two days. This was in part a directive of my wife, who really didn't want the temptation of cookies sitting on the kitchen counter all week. I was happy to oblige, gobbling up about six Monday night. After sending a couple in the kids' lunch boxes and having one on the way out the door Tuesday morning, they were gone.

But now I'm ready for more.

So I'm thinking ... if I can just con Drew into thinking he's entitled to some more cookies, he'll surely start pestering his mom again. And then, it's only a matter of time before we'll have another batch. It all seems too easy ... (insert evil laugh here.)

Only one thing as dumb as baggy pants

Make no mistake: If you're one of those people out there wearing jeans three sizes too big, letting them hang down halfway across your bottom, showing the whole world what underwear you're wearing each day ... you look like a complete idiot.

But that idiocy is only matched by city councilmen is places like Atlanta, Pine Bluff and Hot Springs, who have introduced city ordinances outlawing the so-called baggy jeans.

You may have read about the baggy jean bans. Atlanta was the first city widely publicized for its attempts to outlaw this fashion faux pas.

Apparently emboldened by the Atlanta initiative, a Pine Bluff, Ark., city alderman proposed a similar ban for his city. That measure was dropped when it was determined that there wasn't enough support on the city council. Threats of a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union may have had something to do with that.

Most recently, Hot Springs joined the fray. Just this week, the news broke that a councilman in that Arkansas city is pushing for a baggy-pants ban.

Now, while I've visited Atlanta, Pine Bluff and Hot Springs, I admit I can't speak intelligently about the specific challenges and struggles each city is facing. But I can reasonably presume that in the grand scheme of things, baggy pants just aren't among the top municipal problems.

I mean, these communities can't be all that different than Blytheville. Here at home, I expect our city councilmen to busy themselves which such issues as crime prevention, parks development, street improvements and economic development. Issues like that are more than enough to keep them busy for the next several decades or so.

And if the day ever comes that saggy, baggy pants rank among the biggest problems in our community; well, that would be a pretty happy day.

In other words, any city councilman wasting his time on a baggy pants ban clearly has his priorities out-of-whack

And besides that, there's the simple fact that you just can't outlaw stupidity.

Suppose you get a baggy pants ban passed. Fine. And suppose the ban somehow survives the inevitable legal challenge brought forth by the ACLU. Congratulations. But do you really think that's going to stop young people from "expressing their individuality" by the way they look and dress?

Heck no!

The baggy pants will just be replaced by something else. Whether it's marking every inch of their body with tattoos, or piercing themselves into oblivion, or wearing baseball caps inside-out, upside-down and backwards, young people will always come up with a new fashion phase that, to those of us with better judgment, looks stupid.

And no ordinance passed by a city council is going to magically make young people stop doing stupid things.

And aside from all that, this is America. As we all learned in elementary school, America is a free country. And the nature of living in a free society is that sometimes some of our members will engage in stupid behavior. But that's their right. After all, as poet John Ciardi once said, "The Constitution gives every American the inalienable right to make a damn fool of himself."

And, really, that's all these idiots with their baggy pants are doing. They're making fools of themselves. They look stupid, and one day they'll probably realize that. And until then, the best thing for the rest of us to do is just shake our heads, wonder where their parents are, and maybe point and laugh.

There's no need for a law. City leaders — whether they're in Atlanta, or Hot Springs, or even Blytheville — surely have much more important matters they could be pursuing.

A good news day

This was one of those days that Mississippi County Judge Steve McGuire would call "another beautiful day in Mississippi County."

And not just because some nice fall weather has finally seemed to arrive.

No, today's good news is that PIZO Operating Company, a joint venture of the Nucor Corporation and The Heritage Group, will bring 43 high-paying jobs to the Blytheville area. The company's 43 workers are expected to earn between $50,000 and $60,000 a year. Going online in late 2008, the new plant will process electric arc furnace dust from the Nucor Steel Arkansas and Nucor-Yamato steel plants, converting it into marketable products used primarily in the metals industry.

So, yes, it is another beautiful day in Mississippi County.

For the complete story, see Tuesday's edition of the Courier News.

Well, here we are

I'm not even sure I know what a "blog" is, yet here we are.

This blog, dubbed "The Fast Talker," is one of two blogs being started at the Courier News. The other is by columnist Tena Furnish (link can be found elsewhere on this page.) The idea is to bring some more dynamic content to the Internet offerings of the Courier News.

The nature of this blog will be a work in progress. I'll probably post my weekly column here, and maybe talk about the news of the day every now and then. And you'll no doubt hear a little about my kids from time to time. Hopefully, I'll write something worthy of a little feedback once in a while. After all, that's one of the whole points of having a blog, and I'm looking forward to exploring this new interactive medium.

But it can't be denied that this is uncartered territory for both myself, and this newspaper. I don't know where this project will lead us, but I'm looking forward to the journey, and I hope you'll come along for the ride.