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a tree every weekend to draw people to Jasper,”
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• Opinions • Community Views • Good ‘01 Common Sense
2
Oct. 10, 2013
It’s a bonding thing:
Cheering for the home team has
surprising benefits
Getting behind the Dragons - or the Fal
cons or the Dawgs (but definitely not the Yel
low Jackets) may be beneficial to your health.
Whether your favorite sports team is the
local high school football or softball teams or
the NFL, NBA, or MLB, cheering for a team
sport is all about coming together in the name
of good times as part of a community. And
that’s a good thing. Bonding over sport - the
highs and lows of the game - strengthens ties
and gives us a sense of family. When we iden
tify with a local team we instantly build con
nections to those around us -
and that is great for our overall
wellbeing.
According to a Gallup poll,
64 percent of us Americans
are pro football fans, 54 per
cent love college football, 41
percent call ourselves fans of
college basketball while 38
percent are fans of profes
sional basketball. And it’s not
just men. As of 2010, women
make up 44 percent of the
NFL fan base. And the num
ber of people who enjoy those “other” fall
sports are growing too.
The bonding we do with friends and others
we may meet while sitting in the stands cheer
ing can bring us together and make us more
than strangers that happen to live in the same
area. Rooting for - or against - a certain team
provides us with some common ground that
otherwise may be hard to find in daily life.
While some of us may have more interest in
the sporting event itself and what is happening
between the yard markers, baselines or on the
basketball court, a family or group of friends
can just as well enjoy the conversation, the
laughs, the highs and the lows of the competi
tion.
Research shows us that maintaining a
strong social network, especially with healthy
pals, improves our chance of living longer by
50 percent - and who wouldn’t want that?
Sharing good times with friends - like at a
sporting event - can even reduce our risk of
cardiovascular disease and help us cope with
stress. So even if the team we’re pulling for
loses, at least we have our friends or neighbors
in the stands to cheer us up and help forget
about it over some laughs. Being a sports fan
can benefit us both emotionally and psycho
logically and studies show fans that identify
with a local team have higher self-esteem and
are less lonely.
Like the beer commercial that says “It’s
only superstitious if it doesn’t work*’ while
showing men lined up in a row on a couch
with color-coordinated socks
while another group rubs
each others’ heads just before
their team attempts a field
goal, it’s the commonality of
a sporting event that’s just
plain fun. And even non
sports fans can enjoy the
comradery that comes along
with cheering on a team, es
pecially a local team with
kids giving it their all in sup
port of their school.
Beyond the bonding
aspects, watching sports can motivate us to
keep up with our own workouts and maybe
bum an extra calorie or two on the treadmill
after we watch that local cross country runner
sprint across the finish line for a personal best.
Even if we can’t run 26 miles after watching
the New York marathon, we might just be in
spired to hit the pavement and churn out an
extra 3-miler that week.
If you’re looking for some spectating op
portunities this weekend, check out the Drag
ons on their home football field at PHS Friday
night or our local cross country runners as they
host the biggest running event of the season at
Roper Park Saturday morning and see what a
fun and exciting time you can have cheering
them on.
Get out there and jump up and down in the
stands or on the sidelines, do some fist pumps,
throw your arms in the air after an amazing
play or performance. And remember - it’s
good for you.
Emotional benefits
abound when we
identify with a
local team and
build connections
to those around us.
AGREE OR DISAGREE? Tell us your thoughts on this week’s editorial either with a letter to the editor
that will be published next week. Letters may be e-mailed to news@pickensprogressonline.com. All let
ters must have a valid e-mail address, full name and telephone number for verification. We still take
them by regular mail at Pickens Progress, P.O. Box 67, Jasper, GA 30143
The Essential Bad Attitude
By Alan Gibson
Movie Night at Apple Mountain
THIS IS FRED.
%
THE DAY HE
WAS BORN...
THE DAT HE
WAS MARRIED...
THE DAY
HIS SOM
WAS BORN...
We were
were.
AND WHEN
FRED PASSES
AWAY/ WE'LL
BE THERE
AGAIN.
WHO
ARE
WE?
THE LOCAL
NEWSPAPER
National Newspaper Week Oct. 6 - Oct.. 12
Newspapers are still
the cornerstone of democracy
By Caroline H. Little
President and CEO,
Newspaper Association of
America
We’ve been calling it the end
of an era for a long time now.
It’s supposed to be the end of
newspapers, according to
naysayers who have been pre
dicting their ultimate demise for
years. But the facts prove the
newspaper industry is growing
and transforming rather than
dying. Of course, there are al
ways bumps in the road to inno
vation, but as it turns out, we’re
actually in the midst of a prom
ising and exciting time.
Top businessmen and in
vestors such as Warren Buffet,
John Henry and Jeff Bezos are
demonstrating that newspapers
are still lucrative investments.
And despite gloomy predictions,
our circulation revenue is actu
ally rising.
We’re experimenting and
transforming to match the pace
of our innovative and digitally-
driven world. Digital and bun
dled subscriptions accounted for
a five percent uptick in circula
tion revenue in 2012 - the first
national rise in circulation rev
enue since 2003.
Newspaper content is now
ubiquitous, available and ac
cessed on every platform and de
vice. Recent Scarborough
research also shows that across
all print, digital and mobile plat
forms, a full 70 percent of U.S.
adults read newspaper content
each week. That’s more than 164
million adults - 144 million of
whom, still pick up the print
copy.
And despite the common per
ception that the younger, digi-
tally-native generation has
abandoned newspapers, this
study shows quite the opposite.
Some 57 percent of young adults,
ranging in age from 18 to 34,
read newspaper content in a
given week. This is a strong in
dication that the industry is still
a relevant and vital source of in
formation, even to Millennial,
who coincidentally also con
tribute heavily to the growth of
mobile readership, which
jumped 58 percent over the last
year.
The reason for this is simple.
With the deluge of information
available on the Internet, people
of all ages rely heavily on
sources they trust to provide ac
curate content and quickly sift
fact from fiction.
Newspapers consistently and
reliably provide the most up-to-
date, accurate and important
news. And our audiences recog
nize this, rating newspapers as
the most trusted of all media
forms in a recent Nielsen study.
While 56 percent say they trust
newspapers, 52 percent trust
local television and only 37 per
cent trust social media.
Today’s technology has only
proven how valuable this content
is by providing a platform to
widen the audience for each
story, which can now be taken
and repeated, shared, tweeted,
condensed and emailed countless
times a day.
Newspapers have always
been the cornerstone of our soci
ety, and that did not change with
the digital revolution. Ever since
the Philadelphia Evening Post
first published the Declaration of
Independence, our newspapers
have continued to unite us as
communities and as a nation.
News media connects us through
stories, keeping us informed on
school board decisions, local he
roes, national budgets and inter
national conflict.
The public’s right to know is
essential to preserving our
unique American democracy,
and newspapers serve the vital
role of independent watchdogs -
keeping governments, businesses
and other institutions in check.
Without a free press that can pro
tect its sources, American
democracy will suffer.
The newspaper industry will
continue to innovate and trans
form with the times, just like any
other industry. But one thing will
never change: Our historic prom
ise to connect, inform, investi
gate and foster an educated
society.
Bad company and former owners
can leave a stench in a teen’s vehicle
Progress intern reporter Laiken Owens learned that a car’s
former owner or anyone who rides in a vehicle may leave a
drug scent that can be picked up by a trained dog during a
search.
At Apple Mountain gated com
munity, Movie Night had a pref
ace: the live reenactment of a
classic slice of cinema by volun
teer thespians. Tonight it was psy
chologist Gissix Lund (he of the
faintly European air) and wife Sab
rina performing the death scene
from Camille.
Skulking at the Lunds’ ascen
sion as Apple Mountain’s Number
One Fun Couple was the mali
ciously sophomoric Goofy Thun-
derton, now deposed from the
number one spot and heartily re
senting it.
“Get over it Goofy,” counseled
wife Del. “Nobody wants to see
you do the bean-eating scene from
Blazing Saddles.”
“Fve eaten nothing but beans
for two days,’ grumbled Goofy.
“Just so I’d get it right.”
“He’s a method actor,” ex
plained Goofy’s co-star and crony
Two Beers Ed Hoffman.
Across the woods on Gam
Mountain Court, Sabrina Lund’s
hors d’oeuvres were as exquisitely
designed as the lady herself. “I
only wish Goofy would see you
professionally,” she told Gissix
who demurred. “Behavioral sci
ence has no category for Goofy.
That’s why he’s an entire chapter
in my book. If a man refuses to
grow up, no one can compel him.”
Decided Sabrina, “We’ll simply
have to perform Camille so beau
tifully that even Goofy will be
touched.”
“Then it’s Project Goofy,” Gis
six smiled as glasses clinked.
The affair opened splendidly.
Sabrina expired nicely as
Garbo/Camille and Gissix evoked
Robert Taylor in his masculine
grief. Then came the unscripted,
almost manic, entry of Goofy and
Two Beers Ed Hoffman shouting,
“They’ve got it wrong. Camille
lives! She lives!” Sabrina leapt
from her death chaise to be chased
from the stage by a besotted but
still pugnacious Ed Hoffman.
(“Two Beers indeed!” cried Sab
rina.)
The audience booed Goofy and
Ed from the stage, imploring Sab
rina and Gissix to continue death’s
eloquent defiance.
Goofy’s nemesis Mavis Boggs
was to later note the circumstances
in the Apple Mountain Admon-
isher: GOOFY FAILS TO DIS
RUPT MOVIE NIGHT. NEXT
MONTH: GISSIX AND SAB
RINA LUND IN
CASABLANCA.
Goofy was reflective in the af
terglow. “You realize, Del, that
Skeezix is writing a book about
me.”
“His name is Gissix, not
Skeezix.”
“Yeah, right. Hey Ed, what’s
your favorite movie that’s not Mel
Brooks?”
Two Beers Ed Hoffman tugged
on his martini. “I dunno. Lost
Weekend, I guess. You know, we
ought to do that sometime.”
[For more of the same, visit
Alan’s blog, essentialba.com]
Weather
By William Dilbeck
Oct. 1
- Oct. 7
HI LOW
RAIN
Tuesday
74
53
.00
Wednesday
77
57
.00
Thursday
78
59
.00
Friday
79
58
.00
Saturday
80
59
.00
Sunday
78
55
1.4
Monday
78
52
.00
Are We
Getting It
Straight?
Have you spotted
an error in our pages?
Let our staff
hear about it.
706-253-2457
By Laiken Owens
Intern Reporter
When you hear of a drug
search going on at a school you
may think of bad students getting
busted for their crimes, but what
if the person being searched was
n’t really a bad student?
I am a junior at PHS, a mem
ber of The National Society of
High School Scholars, a dancer
for 14 years, and I am an intern
at the Pickens Progress.
I have never been one to
cause trouble in school; if any
thing I’m a teacher’s pet.
September 3 the school was
put on a non-emergency lock-
down for a random drug search.
While on lockdown one of the
administrators came into my
class. He said that they “had a hit
on my car,” which meant the dog
had smelled some sort of odor
that comes off of drugs.
My first thought was, ‘What
is going on, there’s no way that
this is happening.’ I had to un
lock my car while a few police
men searched my car, but found
nothing of course. I was frazzled;
if they didn’t find anything, then
what was it that set the dog off?
Sergeant Blake McFarland
called my mother later that day.
He told her the dilemma and that
he recommended my car be pro
fessionally cleaned to get rid of
any “odors.”
I have not been driving very
long and I remembered that
when I got the car (my first) it
was not clean. I had found paw
prints, stains, and dog hair all
over the seats, as well as toys,
change, and gum under the seats.
My mother and I had cleaned the
vehicle inside and outside.
I had to take my car back to
where it had been bought. After
they gave us a hassle it finally
got cleaned - professionally.
My mother took my car back
to Sergeant McFarland, who had
his partner Sergeant Bleckie (the
highly trained drug dog) search
again. Sergeant Bleckie didn’t
pick up any odor, which means it
was clean.
Sergeant McFarland ex
plained to my mother that Ser
geant Bleckie was trained in
Germany, and part of his training
was to learn to only pick up on
specific drug odors (not food,
other dogs, Tylenol, or anything
else).
He also explained that when
the odor gets on your car, it stays
unless it is professionally
cleaned. It is even possible that if
you are in a public place and
someone around you is doing
drugs, the substance will get on
your car. Isn’t that scary that it’s
that easy to have a drug odor get
on your car?
I think this is why it is so im
portant for teenagers to watch
who they hang out with and who
they let in their car. Not only
could it damage your reputation,
but could also get you into some
deep trouble.
I don’t look at what happened
to me as a bad thing, I look at the
bright side. I can share this story
with other people and hope they
take these words of advice into
mind.
(USPS 431-820)
Published by Pickens County Progress, Inc.
94 North Main St. P.O. Box 67 Jasper, GA 30143
(706) 253-2457 FAX (706) 253-9738
www.pickensprogress.com
JOHN A. POOL DAN POOL
Publisher Editor
WILLIAM E. POOL
Managing Editor
Published each Thursday at Jasper, Pickens County Georgia. Entered
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