Not only am I the soccer coach for a bunch of 9 and 10 year olds, but the baseball Angels are still in the playoff hunt, USC is searching for the third football title in four years . . . If only SC had, just once, tackled Vince Young it would be 4-for-4 . . . Anyways, da?EUR??,,????'??? Raiders are ready to kick-off another season, and the weather is still good enough to get in a weekly game of golf . . . OK, so my handicap is that I have to hit the ball, but at least I don?EUR??,,????'???t hit it far enough to lose it . . .

Ahhh, yes . . . This is a great time of year for sports fans, especially for those sports fans who like the games played on a grass field (whatever form of live or manufactured green that is . . .)

For you, though . . . You Landscape Superintendents who are working your tails off preparing those sport fields for play, this is a busy time of year. And things are only going to get busier as the summer sun turns to the autumn rains and those fields get torn up, ripped to shreds, and divoted by everything from big feet to Big Bertha (see above reference re: handicap . . .)

Anyways, as I sit in my nicely sheltered office writing this column . . . with a bobble-head George Toma staring down at me from a sacrilegious patch of artificial turf . . . It comes to mind the tremendous affect you have on the people of this great nation.

One only has to watch the FOX telecasts of the poor Afghani?EUR??,,????'???s kicking a ball across a dusty patch of minefield, to see how great we have it here, thanks to the work that you do every day.

Sure they yell at you when the turf doesn?EUR??,,????'???t drain . . . Sure they yell at you when the new sod lifts by the square yard . . . Sure they yell at you when the lines run crooked . . . But just as sure they appreciate the fact that what they are hoping to find in a sports field is actually what they are used to getting.

They might not understand the hours you have put into making the field playable. They might not understand the fact that while you have been doing this work for many years, it is not an exact science. They might not understand that after a game the field quite often needs an overnight renovation . . . And they might not understand or realize how much they appreciate the fact that the field is playable all season long . . . But in the end, the work you do makes the whole experience a good one . . . beyond understanding . . .

So on Monday morning when your crew is out there driving the trash-vac around the parking lot, loading the ?EUR??,,????'??Gator?EUR??,,????'?? with sod, seed and supplies of all kinds, and/or rolling out the mowers, spreaders, markers et.al . . . Just remember that what you do makes an impact on just about every member of this society in ways that they may never understand.

As such, take a moment to pat yourself on the back and give your team a high five. This is a great time of year for America and your ?EUR??,,????'??grass roots?EUR??,,????'?? work makes it so . . .

?EUR??,,????'??+God Bless