Now that I’m becoming an older sports nut, I’ve found my needs are beginning to change.I’m no longer satisfied with just attending area sporting events. Instead, I want to leave our venues with a feeling that I’ve been entertained.Much to my pleasure, four assignments between last Thursday and Monday resulted in an entertainment fix that satisfied my new addiction.On Thursday night, a Luverne girls basketball team with a bright future exchanged blows with a solid Pipestone team for the better part of 32 minutes before falling by four points in the end. With better luck at the free-throw line, the Cardinals would have given coach Jason Phelps his biggest conference win since he took over the program in 2001.Friday night brought me to Adrian, where basketball fans were treated to a double-overtime game that was a tight battle from beginning to end.I retuned to the Cardinal Gym Saturday to get my first look at the Luverne boys basketball team this season. Coach Tom Rops and the Cardinals are experiencing their best season since the middle 1990s. Their come-from-behind win, that featured a 25-2 scoring run during the second and third quarters against West Central, was an impressive sight to witness.Monday’s schedule sent me to Hills, yielding an opportunity to watch an H-BC boys basketball team which currently ranked third in the state. I had a hunch the Patriots were going to be a powerful team in the future when they won the Red Rock Conference title with a young squad two years ago, and they didn’t disappoint anyone when they disposed of a solid Sioux Falls Christian team in front of a big crowd Monday night.Since you can read about any one of the games I attended in the surrounding sports pages, I’ve opened the door to be criticized for redundancy with the contents in this column.That’s a risk I’m willing to take in order to make my point: The opportunity to be entertained on cold winter nights doesn’t exist exclusively for me.For a small fee, you can attend many a sporting event at your favorite area venue on nearly a weekly basis. The athletes from Luverne, H-BC, Ellsworth and Adrian High Schools are great kids. They may be your friends, relatives or neighbors, and they will appreciate the fact that you took the time to attend one of their performances.The way I see it, showing support for local schools by taking in an event brings a community together.And who knows? You might find yourself being entertained like I was during my travels this week. That’s a risk everyone should be willing to take.
