By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
Two weeks ago, I drove to Louisville for the Kentucky Press Association’s annual meeting and awards ceremony. There was lunch and dinner. Drinks were had. Stories were told. New contacts were made and old friends reconnected. And we won a few awards.
Nicole was recognized with a first-place win for designing the best advertisement series in a Kentucky weekly newspaper. The series of ads for the Grayson alcohol beverage control office discourages drinking and driving. She took second place for another responsible drinking ad in the holiday category.
We took second in the column category with my weekly musings here in this space, and third place for sports feature with my submission on the end of West Carter’s record-breaking football season last year. That last one really shocked me.
I wasn’t very athletic as a child. I was small, bookish, more inclined to the library than the ball field. I tried to watch sports, but even the ones I enjoyed – baseball and hockey – didn’t really hold my interest long term. I never really followed professional or college sports, and hadn’t attended a high school game since I graduated from Greenup County in the early 90s.
But since I’ve started this newspaper, watching our high school teams play has taught me to appreciate football in a way I never did before. Even when my cousins and classmates were on the field, I was there first and foremost because I was in the band.
Now, though, I was on the sideline. I watched those boys struggle. I saw them come off the field, bruised. Bloodied. I saw them persevere. I saw amazing feats of athleticism that you didn’t need to understand the game to appreciate; displays of strength, and speed, and grace. I began to understand the game. The strategy. The rules.
I had to if I was going to write about it. But it was only after watching, repeatedly, that I began to understand what I had been reading about.
Along with that came something that I think was much more important; an understanding of what it meant to those young men on the field. An understanding of the hard work they put in, and the sacrifices they made for the sport they loved. An understanding that a football play could be as beautiful as a ballet.
And a basketball layup, double-play, soccer goal, or volleyball spike can be just as astounding and inspiring.
I will never care enough about the NFL or the NBA to follow their seasons. That just won’t happen. I can understand a little more why folks enjoy that now, but it’s just not for me.
I truly regret every local game that I’m not able to attend and cover, though. Not just because the young athletes work hard, and deserve the coverage. But because I enjoy watching them play.
They’ve taught this old man so much about work ethic, and sportsmanship, and dedication.
I’m humbled and delighted that a bit of what they’ve taught me translated to the page well enough to earn some recognition.
Thanks, y’all, for being good teachers.
Jeremy D. wells can be reached at editor@cartercountytimes.com
