Go away. Get out here. February, so long. I won’t miss you. March, let’s go.

February comes to an end on Saturday. And, as the saying goes, don’t let the door hit ya where the dog should’ve bit ya.

This February has been brutal as far as the weather is concerned. Snow, cold, ice. And by cold we are talking about numbers with a minus sign in front of them. Up -14 one morning. Not a fan. Get out here. Done with you.

As far as March goes, it has an old saying as well. In like a lion and out like a lamb. That is about a week off. The lion was last week. March will actually roll in with temps in the 50s and 60s. That is nice. Especially after last week.

March is also the climax for prep basketball. College basketball winds near an end as well. Spring sports start practices for the high schools across the state as outdoor activities spring into action.

So goodbye February. I won’t miss you. Hello March.

Prep Sports

It is a crazy time for high school winter sports. The smaller schools have already started post season basketball. The midsize schools get rolling tonight with big schools set to start next week.

The Great Bend boys still need to pick up a win at Hays Friday to wrap up that top spot as well as sole possession of the WAC title. Great Bend will be at home Wednesday to start substate action. If they earn the top spot, either Goddard or Goddard Eisenhower will be the Panthers foe. The girls will hit the road on Tuesday to either Topeka Seaman or Andover.

So far at 1A, just two boys teams made it to the semifinals. Central Plains will host Ellis Monday and Macksville will be at home against Kiowa County. Meanwhile five girls teams will play Saturday for the right to move onto the substate title game. Central Plains and St. John will be at home. Macksville, Pawnee Heights and Otis-Bison will all hit the road for semifinal play.

Both Ellinwood boys and girls will be at home for first round play at 2A. Tonight the boys host Trego while Friday the girls will play Hill City.

At 3A, Larned and Hoisington will hit the road for both boys and girls games. The Hoisington girls are headed to Holcomb and Larned to Russell for first round action tonight. Friday, the Hoisington boys head to Southwestern Heights while Larned travels to Holcomb.

It’s state tournament time for area wrestlers. The Great Bend boys and girls will be at Hartman Arena in Wichita. The boys will have seven competing at the state meet and the girls will take nine. Larned will compete at the 4A meet in Salina with five girls and one boy. Not sure why the top part of 3A for all other sports (except football) is competing at 4A in wrestling, but, hey, they didn’t ask me.

The 321A meet will take place at Gross Memorial Coliseum both Ellinwood and Hoisington will take two boys. The Hoisington girls will have seven competing and Ellinwood five. St. John will have one boy and Stafford one girl.

Whew. Busy stuff.

And Finally

The English language can be confusing at times. After all, the old saying ‘i’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’ is disproven by science. 

And why don’t words like cough, rough, and though rhyme? They are spelled the same way right?

But the greatest thing about the English language is listening to people butcher it. 

Now I admit that I use words like dadgummit and ain’t quite often. Mostly for effect. Or is that affect? No, I think it’s effect.

Anyways, I tend to pronounce words as they are written. My kids at school often times give me ‘the business’ when I say sophomore. I pronounce the ‘o’. I say soph-o-more. Not sophmore. Of course library is often mispronounced liberry.. 

But what I like to hear is how slang has taken over some words. For instance ‘worsh’ instead of wash. ‘Crick’ instead of creek. Those can be geographical. Or ‘sherbert’ instead of sherbet. Make sure you don’t get sherbert on your shirt when camping or you might have to worsh it in the crick. Right? Check it out in the liberry if you want.

Some words tend to confuse many. A frustrating one if ‘are’ and ‘our’. I see ‘are’ used so many times for ‘our’. He is are hero. Are yard is the best on the block.

Then there are words that are just tricky to say. Aluminum. Cinnamon. And that there snowman fella. Abominable. Yeah, that one.

As you can tell by the use of ‘that there’ I like to have fun with the English language myself. My daughter Katelyn hates the use of ‘funner’. So I say it around her often. That is funner that it was last time.

Oh yes, fun with the English language. I guess if communication was achieved, we should all be okay with it, right?

I guess it’s better than text speak, huh? Lol. Oh, BTW OMG there is someone at the door. BRB. CU L8R.THX.