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The Snoop 9.19.2013

It seems I always get the good ideas too late to do any good. If I would have just been thinking last weekend I could have put this column up to the highest bidder following the Ava-Mtn. Grove football game and I could be driving a new car now.
To say Ava fans were upset last Friday night is an understatement, and from what I can tell they have a right to be. But what’s done is done and it’s time to move on. Coach Dan Swofford was correct in telling his players this week to put it behind them and play the game.
Although the bad calls always stick in our craw, its rare that one can honestly say a particular call cost their team the game. As long as there are minutes on the clock and the game is still being played, no one can predict what might have been.
Ava fans were upset to have two touchdown passes called back for penalties that were apparently called incorrectly. But after one of those plays the Bears scored anyway.  After reviewing the game film, Coach Swofford said the plays were executed properly and Ava should not have been penalized. In addition, he said the line judge was informed of the unusual offensive set, and he either didn’t agree or didn’t understand.
As I’ve had time to think about it, here’s what I think happened.
The Mtn. Grove coach was ejected from the game the previous week so according to MSHSAA rules he was not allowed on the premises Friday night. We had this little discussion prior to the game (we being myself, a certain bus driver, a former bus driver whose son coaches for Ava and a former coach and athletic director. All shall remain anonymous). Anyway, in our discussion, we considered where the Mtn. Grove coach might be positioned with binoculars and a cell phone to keep in touch with his sideline coaches.
Then it dawned on me. The Mtn. Grove coach was actually on the field, disguised as Rip Van Winkle as part of the officiating crew.
Seriously now, Ava and Mtn. Grove fans witnessed a hard-fought football game Friday night and both teams are to be commended for playing hard to the end. Yes, Ava was victimized by some questionable calls, and perhaps one or two of them may have changed the outcome of the game. But there is no way to say for sure.
That game is over and it can’t be replayed. This week the Bears have to go to Mtn. View and face one of the better teams in the state, the Liberty Eagles. We’ve had time to mope and gripe. Now let’s look ahead and focus on giving Mtn. View-Liberty a game they won’t soon forget.
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I ate a Hershey’s candy bar this week, and when I unwrapped it I noticed an imprint on the label, “Since 1894.” I was surprised to learn that the Douglas County Herald is older than Hershey’s chocolate. I thought for sure Adam and Eve ate Hershey’s chocolate in the Garden of Eden.
Anyway, with this issue, the Douglas County Herald is completing 127 years of continuous publication. The Herald was established in 1887, seven years before Hershey made his first chocolate bar. Wow!
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Another milestone is being celebrated this week. The ladies of the DAR remind us this is Constitution Week. September 17 is observed as Constitution Day, to commemorate the signing of the Constitution on September 17, 1787.
The United States Constitution has endured longer than any other constitution in the world and has been used by many other countries as a model for drafting their own constitutions.
This Friday, Sept. 20, is also POW/MIA Day, which is observed annually on the third Friday in September.
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Mark Twain once said, “The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.”