DEMAIN EVENT: Take the time to take in a game

Here's a nice sight: Full bleachers and crowded sidelines.

It's always fun to rub shoulders with members of the community, but after attending some of this weekend's events, something dawned on me.

As Friday's River Valley-Marysville baseball game rolled along, so did the cold weather.

But for the most part, the stands were full. People crowded around Falcon Field to enjoy the first crack — or ping — of the bat this season.

Farmer's Hall was the setting for a rekindled rivalry — Gridley vs. neighboring Live Oak — in the Northern Section boys basketball playoffs. Once again, the bleachers were full. By all accounts — I wish I attended — it was loud, humid and filled with friendly banter, just the way a high school basketball game should be.

Interestingly enough, on the same night, another 600-700 fans were in attendance for the Yuba College men's basketball team's regular-season finale.

And on Saturday, I witnessed hundreds of Sutter High faithful withstand winds of up to 30 mph — even sending the ball backward at times — to watch the Huskies capture their ninth straight section title.

I'm rambling, I know, but here's the point: I'm amazed at the extent to which we all go to support local sports.

Pat yourself on the back, because the fact is, all of these programs need your support, and probably now more than ever.

With school budgets being cut each year and rising expenses, as parents, family members, alumni, friends, or just fans, these teams need you in attendance, not just for encouragement and mental support, but they also need that $5 you dish out to unfold your chair.

A bus, a bus driver, multiple refs, gas, uniforms, equipment and field maintenance are things that come out of schools' and districts' piggy banks. It certainly doesn't help that the California Interscholastic Federation does not always make geographic location the number one priority during league realignment meetings.

Some of our teams are busing it to Napa, Rancho Cordova, Quincy, Woodland, Natomas and Winters for league games.

During football season, Maxwell travels 100 (Redding), 157 (McArthur) and 165 (Portola) miles for three games. Gas isn't cheap, folks.

So the next time a strand of goofy car washes, where strangers hold signs and yell at you from the street corner, begin to take over this spring, go ahead and pull in, and hand over that $5, because it goes a long way.