Pick a local team and follow them

Love sports? Have I got a deal for you!

Like to watch baseball, basketball, football and other sports for free? Would you like season seats front and center? How about a hotdog and pop for $1? Want to see some top athletes playing without having to pay for parking? Almost every day, there are games played by young people, Little Leaguers to college players. There are the “cute kids,” the beginners, through the very serious teen athletes who give their all for their favorite sport and team. Still not satisfied? Watch the college teams, the young people who are balancing their love of sports and their educations, achieving at both.

I read the Thursday letter regarding the battle for retention of the Sonics. It acknowledges that there has been trouble with the professional teams, the Mariners and the Seahawks. They will leave town if they can get more money elsewhere. They aren’t playing for the love of the game. This is about money, and the Sonics were never your team any more than a factory is your factory.

These teams are large corporations, big businesses, with highly paid employees and contractors. These businesses want the taxpayers to provide a building and other facilities, and even allow them to get a rebate on payroll taxes, and then pay to watch them work. What a deal. Every struggling business should be so lucky. Kind of like the big banks and mortgage companies who want the government (taxpayers) to cover their behinds.

If you want to watch a team you can call your own, watch some local youth sports. It is baseball season; come on down to your local field on a nice warm spring day. There is no sport more exciting to watch than one played by a young athlete who loves every moment he/she is on the field.

Ramona Fletcher

Everett