Life and death. Love and hate. Happiness and despair. Thrill of victory and agony of defeat. George Carlin and Pauly Shore.
In Washington County, we have a thin line of our own - and no idea how to approach it. For some reason, if you attend anything from most local high school events to HCC games to any Hagerstown Suns game, two things are usually the norm. The stands look like Mother Hubbard's cupboard and the loudest audible noise comes from the crickets.
Cheering here is a forgotten art. It used to be sports was a great bonding event with the feel of a spontaneous New Year's Eve party. People screamed, yelled and whooped it up all in the name of fun.
Nowadays, crowds at many local sporting events sit there like they are either waiting for a dentist appointment or have too much cheese in their diets.
Buying a ticket usually allows fans to scream, yell, turn different colors, vent and release hostilities ... and that's just because of the cost to get in. Once inside, it's almost a rite to have those same gyrations, which can not only be used to pump up the home team, but can also become an effective stress release for the tensions of the week.
Mannequins don't ride rollercoasters. Why should they be on display in the stands and bleachers of games?
I'm here to tell you it's all right to get whipped up into a frenzy if it moves you. Get wild. Stomp your feet. Yell. Get vocal.
Let your favorite athletes and your hometown know you care about someone ... something ... anything.
But remember, it's like anything else. It's not always what you say. It's a matter of how you say it.
In the effort of trying to promote sportsmanship - another one of those thin lines - area schools make an announcement before events, telling fans to cheer in a "positive" manner.
There can't be any signs, bells, catcalls or anything that could give the home team an advantage or make an opponent feel belittled. Nothing negative can be said, which takes away some of the creativity of cheering.
Instead of hanging out of the stands and yelling "AH-HA-HA-ha-ha, Quarterback. You can't throw," big plays in football are acknowledged with polite golf claps and, "Thank you very much for making that error in judgment and passing the ball to our player by mistake."
Around here, it sounds like an upper class polo match or yacht race, complete with Bloody Marys and ascots: "Pursue them. Pursue them. Make them relinquish the ball. Rah."
So, in an effort to educate the public - and these self-appointed czars of fan etiquette - on the concept of cheering, here's a game primer.
Correct: The right balance between motivating your team while annoying the opponents, all done in fun and good taste.
If you could answer at least three of these definitions correctly, please voice your pleasure and have a good time at an event near you.
Remember, stadiums and arenas are built on the large side so they have space for all the noise. That explains why libraries and museums are usually so cramped.
Stadiums and museums. Arenas and libraries. Just two more of those thin lines that must be straddled.
Bob Parasiliti is a staff writer for The Herald-Mail. His column appears every other Tuesday. He can be reached at 301-733-5131 ext. 2310 or bobp@herald-mail.com
The six local Edward Jones investment representatives will host a free one-hour satellite broadcast titled "Paying for College" Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. at several Tri-State area locations.
The broadcast will explore the ins and outs of saving for college and applying for financial aid. The broadcast will include discussions about the benefits and suitability of a 529 plan, the different types of financial aid available and strategies to combine public and private financing.
Washington County middle school counselors will be in their buildings Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. to assist parents and students with middle school registration.
If the student is registering with the Washington County Public Schools for the first time, parents will need to supply the following:
n Proof of immunization - The immunization record must be signed by a physician and show that the second MMR was given after age 1.
n Proof of residency - Bring any of the following: rental lease, utility bill, mortgage payment, credit card bill or property tax bill to show that the student resides in Washington County.
If the student is transferring schools within Washington County, parents only need to supply proof of residence.
School administrations and staff will present information about the programs, policies and procedures for the 2005-06 school year.
Eighth-grade Meet the Teacher Night will be Sept. 6 at 7 p.m., and seventh-grade Meet the Teacher night will be Sept. 7 at 7 p.m.
It was thrown mercilessly off the back of the Warriors football team, and chased out of town with Boonsboro's first season-opening win since 1998, a 40-13 drubbing of Moorefield on Friday night.
"You're never as good as (the score) might show in a game like this. I'm happy with our defense, but our kicking game needs some work, and I thought our passing game was a little off."
Kyle Kane got Boonsboro started early, rolling 77 yards on the Warriors' second play from scrimmage for a quick 6-0 advantage.
"I had blocking the whole way down the field," said Kane, a junior. "It was just a great team effort. There were always people around me. I don't think I saw the end zone until I got to the 25 (yard line)."
Meanwhile, the defense didn't allow Moorefield (0-3) any running room at all, limiting the Yellow Jackets to minus-12 yards rushing on 32 tries.
After touchdowns by Matt Wetzel and Adam Rippeon made it 21-0, Moorefield scored on freshman Jesse Thompson's 74-yard kickoff return.
Boonsboro responded with its fourth score with 19 seconds left in the half, when quarterback Zach Shoemaker ran it in from 2 yards out to cap a 68-yard march.
The only success the Jackets experienced offensively came in the second half, with quarterback Steven Fulk throwing for 130 yards and a touchdown on Thompson's juggling, one-handed catch from 34 yards out to make it 27-13.
"In the second half, we played a lot of our second group at linebacker, and started to mix it in a little," said Anders. "Our kids were cramping up some, and the situation allowed it."
But Boonsboro wiped out any concerns of a Moorefield comeback with a pair of Jeremiah Mills scores from 1 and 5 yards out to complete the scoring.
"This sets the tone for us," said Anders. It gives us a chance to feel good about where we are, and what we can do."
Tired of inching your way down Hagerstown's Eastern Boulevard, or alarmed at seeing your property taxes rise as assessments soar?
Well, don't blame the developers or Washington County's new residents for the congestion and the higher costs that go along with growth. Blame the law of supply and demand.
It isn't anything new or mysterious. English economist Alfred Marshall described it in 1890 in his book, "Principles of Political Economy." Simply stated, it says that as demand increases, so do prices, as long as the supply of goods is limited.
If raspberry-flavored bottled water becomes the latest fad, the manufacturer can easily speed up production. If, however, you want a fancy car like the 500-horsepower Dodge Viper, you had better be prepared to pay the $80,000 list price, because it is only produced in limited quantities.
So it with houses today. There are more people who want to buy homes than there are houses for sale, especially in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.
What that will mean to Washington County was described in "Growing Pains," an eight-part Herald-Mail series on growth and related challenges that concluded last Sunday.
An out-of-town client shifted her home search to Hagerstown because she was tired of being outbid for homes in the metro area. She was priced out of the market and so she came west, where there is more inventory at prices that seem, at least to metro-area folks, more reasonable.
She's not the only one. Judging from the surge in local construction, many people have decided that getting a house they can afford makes a longer commute worthwhile.
In this westward movement, Frederick County took the first hit, with its population growing by 30 percent between 1990 and 2000 and another 9.4 percent between 200 and 2003.
As a result, officials there had to plan on building a new school each year for 10 years. The number of sheriff's deputies nearly tripled in the past five years and the housing price squeeze that fueled Frederick's growth began happening all over again, so much so that Frederick County has adopted an ordinance mandating affordable housing in new developments.
In hindsight, James Gugel, the chief comprehensive planner for Frederick County, said the county's zoning codes should have been updated sooner and the county should have added an adequate-public facilities ordinance (APFO) and a workforce housing law.
Washington County has an APFO, but after more than two years trying to revise its zoning laws, local officials came up with an ordinance that they admitted was imperfect when they passed it. The affordable housing issue was only addressed because the Washington County delegation to the Maryland General Assembly mandated a study of it in March, as the price of passing an excise tax on new construction. The commissioners say they were going to do this anyway.
Washington County is also behind in road construction and maintenance as well, with millions needed to upgrade intersections that are clogged now and roads that carry more traffic than they were designed for.
Gary Rohrer, the county's director of public works, said that part of the problems came because instead of rebuilding many roads as growth increased, old farm lanes were just paved over. Rohrer blamed other problems on the lax enforcement of development standards during the 1980s and 1990s.
The Washington County Hospital has only kept its emergency room from being overwhelmed by opening an Urgent Care Center at Robinwood. A second one is planned for Pennsylvania Avenue. A new hospital is planned, but county government finally decided to take the lead only after hospital officials spent two years jousting with the Hagerstown City Council over the project.
There is an ongoing debate over who is responsible for the delay, but while it was going on, building codes changed, according to hospital CEO James Hamill, and plans that have already been drawn will have to be reviewed.
The new hospital is one issue, while getting emergency patients there is quite another. The series points out that the fire/rescue service hasn't expanded with the population and the estimated cost of replacing a 30-year-old emergency communications system has grown from $15 million to $20.8 million.
Then there are the soon-to-be overcrowded schools, which were already facing a backlog of maintenance and reconstruction projects, in part because previous county boards didn't always contribute enough matching cash to get state funding.
Two things are true: The county could not have avoided this, unless all residents had agreed that that was what they wanted to do. But judging by all the grief the County Commissioners heard when they tried to restrict the number of lots that could be developed, there are plenty of people who've been "banking" land, knowing it would go up in value. For them, growth is welcome and, as a result, probably inevitable.
But it was also predictable, and just as President Bush has admitted that Hurricane Katrina wasn't his administration's finest hour, if they are honest, the commissioners will admit that when this wave of growth hit, their "levees" weren't in place.
The Washington County Commission on Aging offers noon lunches to anyone 60 years and older at seven locations - Hancock, Smithsburg, Keedysville, Williamsport and three in Hagerstown.
A two-day reservation notice is required and a donation is asked per meal. For information, call 301-790-0275.
Wednesday - Baked macaroni and cheese, stewed tomatoes, sweet trail muffin, mandarin oranges and milk.
Regarding this comment (Roger Simmons, TV wants to get close, July 6): "Speaking of pre-emptions, fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (I'm talking about you, Jerry Greene) and other UPN shows, please pay attention. WRBW-Channel 65, Orlando's UPN affiliate, has renewed its deal to carry up to 35 Magic games this season. The bad news is that Magic coverage will bump UPN programming, as it did this past season. But that's good news for basketball fans."
You left the impression that WRBW did not show the UPN network shows. Nothing could be further from the truth. If a UPN network program is pre-empted for a live sports telecast, the network program is rescheduled and shown in its entirety. Usually your paper prints the rescheduled date and time. Viewers can always find the latest details from our Web site.
Please note the green-lined linked article text has been applied commercially without any involvement from our newsroom editors, reporters or any other editorial staff.
Using PowerPoint presentations, all speakers can become a good speaker, if one knows how to use the PowerPoint presentation! Presentations are a great means of communicating with a large number of people, however, it is advanced presentation skills that creates interest and excitement in your subject, and thus, trust and enthusiasm in you!
Just because you have a word processor installed in your computer does not make you a writer or author; neither does having PowerPoint in your computer make you a good speaker! PowerPoint is just a tool that is used to help you in your presentation, but in no way makes you a good speaker. It is actually the fear of speaking in front of people that makes people look for ways to overcome it to become a good speaker. And one of the more convenient ways of overcoming this fear is by using PowerPoint. The best way of overcoming your fear of speaking is to be comfortable with your material and message so that it becomes a conversation with the audience.
Use PowerPoint to bring the key points of your presentation to life with its� added visual dimension. However, you have to know the whole matter of your speech well while using the PowerPoint presentation as PowerPoint is there only to help you while you give the speech.Create slides for your PowerPoint presentation while keeping good design principles in mind. Use contrasting colors and big fonts in the presentation fonts, as they are more effective in grasping the audience�s attention. However, avoid using the PowerPoint as a teleprompter as this is one of the things that audiences hate. It is of no use having all your text on the slide, and then just going on reading each slide to the audience. Use the PowerPoint slide just to help you along in the presentation by having only the main points for the presentation on the slides.
When using PowerPoint presentations, it is very important that you prepare yourself to collaborate your speaking and the use of the computer to give the PowerPoint presentation. The best way of doing this is to practice your presentation on a colleague or friend. So with practice, you find that giving your presentation with a PowerPoint presentation increases your prowess as a good speaker. . If you can�t do both these jobs together, it would be better to get someone to help you with the controlling of the computer, so that you can give a good speech using the PowerPoint slides. However, it is important that you test the equipment before the presentation, as sometimes the PowerPoint program may seem as though they are out to get you when it is spoilt; so prove that you are in charge, and not them by checking on the equipment before the speech!
Using a PowerPoint presentation gives you visual aids to be used while giving your speech. Visuals give a big picture quickly, and also graphics, pictures, and bar charts that you can used during your speech to enhance the meaning of your presentation. However, it is better to keep your PowerPoint slides simple with not much matter on it, as otherwise, it may seem that you are showing your audience your speaker notes! Using the PowerPoint as a teleprompter as this is one of the things that audiences hate. It is of no use having all your text on the slide, and then going on reading each slide to the audience. Use the PowerPoint slide just to help you along in the presentation by having only the main points for the presentation on the slides.
So it can be said that PowerPoint is no magical software that makes you a good speaker. It is just a tool that can help you in your presentation. It is actually you yourself who becomes a good speaker using your own speech techniques, with the help of a PowerPoint presentation!
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