In regards to sports and education:

I’m not an avid reader of newspapers, nor avid watcher of any other media source. I like the Pike County Courier, because as yet I haven’t found a non-objective article whilst reading. That’s not to say there haven’t been (for all you nitpickers), but I haven’t found them while reading. Then again, I only read the Courier when it happens to present itself to my view. Which is not really that often. I’ve sent in a few letters to the editor over the years, which of course either came under scrutiny or were lauded. Most of the time, I must admit, they came under scrutiny -- the nature of Americans, I am proud to say. I will speak plainly here: I’ve taken note that Tony Splendora has at least twice (to my knowledge) tried to bring to attention, the opinion that sports should probably constitute only a fraction of, not only costs, but effort associated with the educational process. I can’t say that I disagree, since I’ve never been keen to go about life throwing a pigskin a mile. I wasn’t brought up around here, but I am happy to note (if true) that coaches in DV do more than teach kids how to roll around in the dirt. I can’t recall that my high school coaches did more than teach the drivers’ education course, and scream at obese kids like myself for not being physically fit enough to throw a pigskin a mile, or even wanting to do so. I do recall at least one of my gym teachers making fun of me along with the rest of the boneheads in physical education. That said, like the land of Paul Bunyan, Northeast Pennsylvania is the land of Jim Thorpe, and whether you’re kicking a checkered ball, throwing a pigskin a mile, beating your friends with a hockey stick, putting an orange ball in a metal hoop, et cetera, et cetera, sports is ingrained in the culture of the area, as with anywhere else in America. I hesitate to give the brainiacs full control of the educational system, even though for all intents an purposes, I was one of those brainiacs. However, I do opine that a sports scholarship might perhaps be more important to many DV students (and their parents) than any other type of scholarship, and honestly, get sacked too many times on the field or slammed too many times into a wall, and a sports scholarship can only get one so far. After that, the only thing that’ll get you along in life is respect of local law enforcement and the use your brain. Now when I was younger (and that was not too long ago), we had things like the Boy Scouts of America to keep us busy on weekends, and even though my father would catch pneumonia on a weekend to keep me dry inside of a ramshackle tent, I suppose the activity would keep me from getting cuffed for some stupid juvenile incident. After all, being a bored kid in the suburbs was about as likely to get you in trouble as being a street-savvy hustler in the city. I think a happy medium should be applied when in discussion about which is more important, the books or the playing field. However, with all of that said, in my personal opinion, the pigskin is secondary to pretty much any other form of education. William Wade Milford