No. 1 I read this statement by a Polish soccer (football) player recently in The Athletic. I shared it with C.J. Taylor: “A few days ago, I woke up in bed, turned around and saw something strange lying next to me on the pillow. You know when you wake up from a really good sleep and everything still seems like a dream? Well, my first reaction to seeing this thing was like, What? How did this get here? I had some hazy memory of being at a ceremony and receiving an award. But it seemed too bizarre to be true. Then I grabbed this thing and I thought, Wow … That wasn’t a dream. That was REAL. They named you the best footballer in the world. And you have taken the trophy with you to bed! Hahahaha :-D”
No. 2 C.J.’s response: “Trust me, I slept with it the first week I got it. Lol.”
No. 3 Every exceptional athlete I have met can take and give a lot of ribbing, sarcasm. They can really make you laugh. C.J. not only makes me laugh, he made me appreciate Warren County football again. Warren County is full of exceptional male and female athletes, and they are a lot of fun to be around.
No. 4 When I was a senior in high school, my football coach went crazy over a freshman lineman. Practice would be stopped, and my head coach would exclaim, “Only a freshman! A freshman just made that block. Are you guys paying attention?”
I was a linebacker and slot back, and although the coach was not talking to me, we all got tired of hearing about THE FRESHMAN! Well, I am about to do the same thing and it will annoy my small group of readers. THE FRESHMAN, SABLE WINFREE is an exceptional basketball player.
I do not want to be late to a girls game because I do not want to miss what The Freshman is doing. It is too bad that you cannot see The Freshman in person, but you can watch the Lady Pioneer and Pioneer home games for free in real time on the high school YouTube channel.
No. 5 If you were attending basketball games, you would probably see SROs standing outside the gym observing basketball games. Crowds are restricted and Warren County Schools is asking everyone to wear masks.
It would certainly help if the SROs would help enforce this policy with at least their physical presence. Moreover, it would really help if a SRO went to a person not wearing his or her mask and asked that person to put his/ her mask on.
Here are two reasons I wish everyone would keep their masks on in the gyms. No. 1, Kevin Grizzle was a fellow worker at the Southern Standard. He passed away from COVID-19 on Dec. 24. No one wants to see anyone pass away from this virus.
Secondly, Todd Willmore, the Warren County Athletic Director has an underlying condition and works at the home games. I do not want to see him exposed to the virus by people refusing to wear their masks.