Beepadeebeep. Beeep. Babeep.

The telephone summons.

“How come you never have anything in the paper aboutour team?

Beepadeebeep. Beeep.Babeep.

The telephone summons.

“How come you never have anything in the paper aboutour team?

“We have a lot of people down here who read yourpaper. We have a good team and our kids deserve somecredit.”

Certainly we appreciate the readership. Obviously,The Daily Leader is well read. According to a recentsurvey, it reaches 79.8 percent of the potential readers in thisarea. Throw in several relatives and neighbors who borrow the dailyedition and the readership percentage climbs evenhigher.

The caller had a good question. The inquiry was about aparticular high school softball team.

What was our response?

“Ask the coach. Perhaps (insert name) forgot to call in thescore; or the scorekeeper didn’t fax the scoresheet tous.”

The caller grumbles. There is a small hint ofsatisfaction.

Football coaches have one game a week so you can expect themto have a higher level of cooperation. Softball coaches, bycomparison, play a minimum of two games a week and often play atournament, too.

Interest in junior high football appears to be on the rise.The winning coach usually calls in the scores. The loser could careless, for obvious reasons. Many junior high coaches try to downplaytheir games and preach participation instead of winning.

During the week, we often receive results from a junior highfootball game involving two area schools. Unfortunately, the namesof players who either score touchdowns, make tackles orinterceptions aren’t available for both teams. It would be nice ifthe coaches would agree to pool their information resources beforecalling us.

In softball, the situation is compounded. Usually, thewinning team will either call or fax the results to us. In mostcases, losing pitchers and leading hitters from the opposing teamare omitted from the report.

Readers don’t understand why Buffie’s name was omitted fromthe story. Even though her team lost 16-2, Buffie still had threehits, including a homer. Poor Buffie.

Coaches, please ask your scorekeepers to obtain a fulllineup from the other team. That’s first and last names. Itcertainly makes for a better report if the scorebook is correctlykept. It also makes a lot of parents and relatives happy; plus theplayers.

On the flip side, Professor Hoopla, B.S., was trying tochange his name because some angry readers didn’t agree with hispredictions. A few of the printable names Hoopla has been calledare “Dog, Jackass and Stupid.”

Hoopla fearlessly predicted the winners of 24 games lastweek and got 17 correct. He was 9 of 10 on the college level. Hereis this weekend’s forecast, starting with two junior collegespecials.

Co-Lin at Itawamba: After a long bus ride to Fulton,the Wolves are ambushed. Itawamba 17-14.

Southwest at East Mississippi: The defensive-mindedBears are looking good on offense, too. 22-6.

Franklin County at Brookhaven: It looks like asuccessful first home game for the Panthers. Brookhaven21-7.

Columbia Academy at Brookhaven Academy: In a battleof the Cougars, the host felines have the sharpest claws.Brookhaven Academy 28-12.

Loyd Star at Puckett: The Hornets survive adifficult road test. Loyd Star 19-14.

Enterprise at Sumrall: In a battle of unbeatenteams, the Yellow Jackets stay perfect. Enterprise24-12.

Wesson at North Pike: Jaguars produce a narrow winin Hurst Stadium. North Pike 14-12.

West Lincoln at Bogue Chitto: After two toughsetbacks, the Bobcats taste victory. Bogue Chitto27-14.

Lawrence County at West Jones: It’s a third straightroad game for the Cougars. Lawrence County 22-10.

In other area games, Hazlehurst should take Prentiss22-14, McComb should escape Tylertown 28-20. Manchester should maulCopiah Academy 36-6, Parklane should ambush Jackson Academy 21-14and Warren Central should clip South Pike 24-18.

In Magnolia State college games, Ole Miss shouldoutscore Auburn 33-24, Jackson State should edge Texas Southern27-23, Delta State should dump Valley State 28-8, Belhaven shouldedge Mary Hardin 14-10, Alabama State should smash Alcorn State35-13 and Millsaps should clip Austin College 14-7. Southern Miss,Mississippi State and Mississippi College have open dates toregroup.