When it comes to the best time to be a sports fan, there are plenty of dates on the calendar to choose from. The first Friday night of football is certainly high on the list, as are those times where you can go to a basketball game and football game on consecutive nights. But I’d argue that this very moment, where basketball has reached the postseason and baseball and softball are just beginning, as among the very best times in Marion County.
Just look at this past week for example – Woodlawn Prep played in the MAIS Class 2A State Championship game, both Columbia, West Marion and the East Marion boys’ basketball teams played in postseason contests and the baseball and softball seasons officially started, highlighted by the two-game series by West Marion and Columbia. If that wasn’t enough, there was also the 2024 Waldo Cleland Cougar Classic transpiring all week, which saw countless schools from around the state partake in. There was a little something for everyone, and each school in the county saw action.
This is also the point in time where the weather typically heats up, though it’s significantly cooler at press time than it will be when this comes across your desk or screen. It’s Mississippi, after all, and the weather changes on a dime.
But the last seven days have been a period that had both the excitement of big game atmospheres indoors while also having the excitement of a new season outdoors. It truly is the best of both worlds, and it wasn’t really a time I respected enough until I arrived here last May.
Back home in George County, there was football season, and there was baseball season. Football is football, and the baseball teams were pretty strong, winning three South state titles in four years – though, they suffered a similar fate to the Buffalo Bills. Basketball seemed to fall by the wayside, even though the boys were led by the always respectable Ron Renfroe. Now that I’ve spent nearly a full hoops season in Marion County, I see the sport for the priority that it is. There have been no shortage of success stories this season, all the more reason to celebrate this time of year at the climax of an exciting year.
You may have a different preference, but this scribe will stick to this time of year.
