It’s going to hurt for a while for Pace. Losing a state championship game typically does.

The Patriots seemed to be on the brink of winning a title in softball for the first time in 16 years when they took the field two weeks ago against Bartow on a hot and sunny afternoon in Clermont.

Five innings came and went. No score. Jay still was very much alive in its quest to repeat as state champions as it battled Branford in a 1A state semifinal last Monday in Clermont.

Then came the sixth. Branford scored two. The Royals tried to rally. They poured their heart and soul into it. But this was one of those days where the hits and the runs just were few and far between.

Rewind to the 2020 spring sports season. It seems like a lifetime ago in some ways because of how different the world was then in the midst of a pandemic.

The current seniors who will receive their high school diplomas this week were only freshmen at the time. Their spring seasons were cut short just a few weeks in.

I made a donation to a GoFundMe for one of the local teams traveling to a regional tournament game last week.

I have nothing against giving to a good cause. It beats sending money to some random person who emails you asking for money so that he or she can get off an island they are stuck on in the middle of nowhere.

I’ll never pretend to be an expert when it comes to movie reviews.

But if you haven’t seen “Air” yet, it’s worth the price of admission.

I’ve been in this business for nearly as long as it’s been since the Dallas Cowboys last won a Super Bowl. That’s a long time for those scoring at home.

But the Cowboys and their lack of NFL glory over the last two-plus decades is not the point of this column.

I’ve said it about the girls when it comes to weightlifting, and the same can be said about the boys.

When it comes to this corner of Northwest Florida, the athletes here dominate the sport.

It’s a start. That was my initial thought when I learned that Santa Rosa County is dipping its toes into the middle school sports game.

Starting this coming school year, the county will finally offer what we’ll call an appetizer menu of sports for junior high athletes. Cross-country, track and 3-on-3 basketball are the options those athletes will have an opportunity to compete in.

I’m going to say for 364 days of the year, most of America could care less about women’s college basketball.

Most of America doesn’t put it on its list of sports to watch on a Tuesday night in late January and no one is racing to fill out women’s basketball brackets for an office pool.

Heaven still doesn’t have a newspaper subscription. I know. I can’t believe it either.

I also can’t believe it’s been a year since my dad passed away. 365 days have come and gone.