• Be a sponge.
• Go to camp.
• Keep working.
• Work as many games as you can.

You've heard all of those and many more. Let's be frank about climbing the ladder.

Click the title to read some of my "frankness."

Then there flashed through her mind what her mother had said
With her antepenultimate breath:
"Oh, my child, should you look on the wine when 'tis red
Be prepared for a fate worse than death!"
She let go her glass with a shrill little cry.
Crash, tinkle! it fell to the floor.
When he asked: "What in heaven ... ?" she made no reply,
Up her mind and a dash for the door.

"Have some Madeira, m'dear!"
Rang out down the hall loud and clear.
A tremulous cry that was filled with despair,
As she paused to take breath in the cool midnight air;
"Have some Madeira, m'dear!"
The words seemed to ring in her ear
Until the next morning she woke up in bed,
With a smile on her lips and an ache in her head-
And a beard in her earhole that tickled and said:
"Have some Madeira, m'dear!"

Click the.... Oh, you know that already.

Click the title to go inside for Ed's take on this looming subject. (Two-a-days have already started in Texas high school ball.)

But first, let's not forget that a pitcher may still "legally" deceive the baserunner. He may vary the time spent in set position and the tempo of his stretch and his delivery. He may vary his move to first, from stepping to the base, to stepping off the rubber, to the jump turn. He may even vary the distance and direction (up to a point) to which he steps to first. Just because a move is deceptive doesn't mean it's necessarily a balk. Agreed? Good.

Click the title to go inside, where I'll finish the list of deceptive balks.

Perhaps that is how the late Rod Serling would introduce the on-going debate that many football chapters have with trying to officiate a varsity high school football game in the 21st Century with only five men. Contributing writer Darin Hayes will identify the deficiencies of the five-man game in this, the first of a two-part series.