This past week, I had the pleasure of attending the inaugural Intramural Cross-Country Contest for the North Okaloosa County elementary schools.

It was a great day all around. Kids were excited to race one another, the Okaloosa County School District was proud to see an idea that started a year ago come to fruition, and parents got to enjoy watching their children compete.

My only mistake was wearing jeans, not knowing how much running I would also be doing, but that’s beside the point.

Although the day went great, there was something that stood out to me. Why, just now, are there events and competitions for kids?

I understand that when President Obama was in office, the Presidential Fitness Test was replaced with the Presidential Youth Fitness Program, but why did the competitive aspect have to be removed?

Competition is a great motivator in my eyes. And I’m not even limiting the lens to sports alone. In school, students compete with one another for valedictorian. Others may compete for first chair in the band. There’s even competition for student government.

Each of those examples has some form of competition, and each one pushes a “competitor” to better themselves. There’s even competition in the “adult world” when it comes to careers and promotions.

Now, I am happy to hear that the OCSD is reinstating the Presidential Fitness Test along with possibly installing other forms of competitive sports for younger children.

There are also plenty of lessons to be learned through competition. Let’s go back to the cross-country competition, for example.

Yes, kids were there to compete against one another to see who could run the fastest mile between fourth- and fifth-grade boys and girls. But in their eyes, it was simply watching their friends complete a race.

If the fourth-grade girls were running, the other three groups were cheering them on to the finish. When the fifth-grade boys ran, the same thing happened, with the addition of kids who had already run their race joining their classmates for a final push to the finish.

That’s called sportsmanship. Kids can also learn how to evaluate their emotions, show respect and take constructive criticism. There are so many valuable lifelong lessons that come from simply being competitive or participating in some form of competition.

Not to mention that if the goal is to get kids active and outdoors, and they enjoy a certain sport, then they will go outside to practice in order to become better. Throwing a football, batting practice at the fields, running at the park, playing a game of pickup basketball — the list goes on.

You also build a parental relationship because your kid is going to want to practice and play with you.

I could go on, but I feel like the point is made, and I’m happy that I got to witness kids from seven Crestview-area schools go out, be active and enjoy some friendly competition because that will set them up to persevere and push through anything they may face in the future.

The ending of the season is never an easy thing to swallow, especially when you’re a senior in high school who has dedicated years to a sport. It’s a moment you never see coming until you hear the final whistle blow.

You won’t get to wear that jersey you’ve worn for four years. You no longer get the excitement of picking your number. And as weird as it sounds, you don’t get to go through the grueling offseason with your teammates.

I know for some, leaving high school can be a checklist topic. Good grades. Check. Go to class. Check. Play this season because I’ve played every season. Check.

I also know that for others, it’s a lifetime to let go of.

Four seasons were spent pushing their bodies to the absolute limit so that they could get better than their competition. Four seasons of hard work outside of the classroom to maybe one day hoist a district championship, or even maybe a state title.

That same blood, sweat and tears that poured out over the last four years, it all comes to an end.

For me, I’ve been on both sides.

In Arkansas, I played my final games as a freshman in high school. My coach allowed some of the freshman players to suit up for a Friday night under the lights for the last two games of the varsity season. It was preparation for understanding the level of competition we would face next year, but I wouldn’t get that opportunity.

I continued to play sports in the spring as a baseball player. It had been years since I had played due to there being no middle school team, but I still played a part in some junior varsity and varsity success, with a district title to count for it.

We played well enough to reach the state tournament, but our season ended in the first round. It was at that exact moment that I knew I would no longer play with these same people or at that same school.

Transition to my new school. Here, I was the checklist kid. Do what you’re supposed to do and hit the road before your cap lands on the ground.

I still played sports, and I grew friendships through those final three years of high school, but my heart and drive for competition weren’t the same. I didn’t have my “brothers.”

Looking back, I should’ve had a better attitude about playing at my new school. Maybe then it would’ve meant something.

So here are my words of advice. Be diligent. Anything you do, do well, and may success attend your efforts.

The fall sports season is nearing its end, with some teams continuing into the postseason. That means the winter sports season is about to begin, and I’m excited!

Over the summer, I got to get a glimpse of what each school’s basketball teams could look like this season. Now, it was summer league, so the full rosters that come out in the next few weeks may have some variation, but the coaching style will remain the same.

Starting with Crestview, coaches Clay Hancock and Rafael Cratch have been hard at work building a culture at Crestview High School. Hancock has a talented roster full of athletes with size and skill. The story last year was that the team’s record didn’t reflect the talent on the court. Those two things will mirror each other this season, with what I predict will be a winning season.

As for coach Cratch, he has pulled out all the stops to get Crestview prepared for the season. Between summer league, summer camp, open gym and a trip to South Carolina’s basketball camp under Dawn Staley, Cratch has poured his heart into giving the team every chance to get better.

Over in Baker, coach Chad Martin and his returning players have had one thing on their minds: returning to the district championship. Last year, the Gators had the chance to go back-to-back but fell one shot shy to Paxton. That chip has remained on the Gators’ shoulders since Feb. 7.

Then there’s the girls’ team under new head coach Demeika McClendon. From assisting Niceville to a district championship of its own, Coach Mac looks to bring that same success to Baker. She’s a passionate coach who has worked hard over the summer to get her team into the mindset of “all for one.”

Laurel Hill also introduced a new basketball coach, Chris Bell. Coach Bell holds a very successful record from previous coaching ventures and has been welcomed to the Hobo family with open arms. The Hoboes aren’t afraid to put up a fight against big-time opponents, and Bell possesses that same “come and get it” attitude.

The girls’ team under coach Carl Henry is the same way. Coming off a very successful season last year, Henry and the Hoboes are ready to take on the 2026-27 season once again. His roster will see returning seniors, along with some new faces, but the winning mentality remains the same.

Before then, Crestview and Baker girls’ weightlifting will start their seasons Oct. 29. Coach David Oglesby at Baker has been eager to get his team back in the weight room, with a chance to win a 10th consecutive district title. For Crestview, coach Mark Purcell has taken over the program and will host Niceville and Navarre for the team’s first competition.

This may sound like a lot of sports already, but there’s more! Winter also brings in the soccer season and wrestling.

Now, fall is normally my favorite time of the year, but winter is making a great argument for itself with the lineup of sports coming into play.

There is one portion of each sport’s season that everyone looks forward to. Where the hard work has paid off, the anticipation has been built, and fans across the nation sit on the edge of their seats to see if their team can achieve greatness: the postseason.

Following recent news, the NCAA is nearing a decision on whether the College Football Playoff should be expanded to 24 teams. It’s a decision that could change how the sport is played entirely.

Now, the SEC hasn’t shied away from supporting its claim that it is the best conference in all of college football. Especially when you look at the new schedule structure that was implemented this year.

Nine conference games with at least one nonconference matchup against either Notre Dame or an ACC, Big Ten or Big 12 opponent. However, the expansion to 24 teams no longer grants bragging rights to a certain conference and takes away any meaning of a conference championship.

Compare this to how the FHSAA operates with high school sports. For the 1A-6A classifications, the top eight ranked teams earn a postseason berth, with the district champions earning an automatic bid. For the Rural classification, it’s the top four.

This means every game that a team will play during the regular season has weight behind it. To earn a chance to play in the postseason, each team has to be its very best and win as many games as possible.

It also puts a lot more meaning behind district tournaments. When looking at Crestview volleyball, the Bulldogs finished the season with a 9-13 overall record. But if things played out differently at the District 1-6A volleyball tournament, they would have been granted an automatic bid to the postseason.

That’s what makes these sports so exciting! I mean, look at March Madness, for example. The bracket is composed of 64 teams, and oftentimes a “Cinderella team” makes a decent run that no one was expecting.

Now, we could play devil’s advocate here and say, “Well, why couldn’t that happen in football?” and to be honest, we’ve seen what happens. Just last year, in the 2025 College Football Playoff, Jon Sumrall took Tulane to its first-ever berth in the playoffs.

The Green Wave then met Ole Miss out of the SEC and quickly had their postseason run come to an end with a final score of 41-10. James Madison also left in the first round when the Dukes took on Oregon and lost 51-34.

I mean, sure, maybe one day a smaller school will make a decent run in the playoffs, but what happens when they reach a Notre Dame, Big Ten, ACC, Big 12 or SEC school? Will the outcome be any different, or will we continue to see the same 10 schools we see year in and year out?

Not to mention the number of bowl games this expansion takes away from. There are already six bowl games being utilized under the current College Football Playoff.

There’s a lot more I could say about this topic, but I only have so much space. So, I’ll leave with this: more doesn’t always equal better.

Over the weekend, I got to see firsthand how the Okaloosa County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) operated. Multiple divisions were housed inside the building to keep up to date on how Hurricane Isaias was approaching the coast.

It was an all-hands-on-deck situation, and it really put into perspective how productive working as a team is. Here’s a room full of people and organizations who normally operate separately from one another, but in this specific situation they conjoin into one large group!

It makes you think about how sports require that same type of organization.

In football, a quarterback is unable to properly perform his duties if the offensive line doesn’t do their job. The running back can’t gain yards if the front line doesn’t open up a gap or pick up a block. A defense is unable to prevent a touchdown if a corner keeps getting beat deep, or if there is no communication about a shift being made on the offensive side.

So how do you get a team this organized? Well, with a coach, of course.

For Okaloosa County, Public Safety Director Pat Maddox is the head coach of the EOC. That job title holds a lot of weight when you think about his wins in terms of how many lives are saved.

Just as sports teams hold practice, so does the EOC. Back in May of this year, I attended the Emergency Operations Center Hurricane Exercise. Maddox laid out the scenario of a Category 2 hurricane approaching Okaloosa County and asked each division what they needed to do.

The exercise not only assured Maddox that his team knew what to do, but it also reassured those he asked.

Fast forward to October 9, and here we are with Hurricane Isaias just off the coast.

No one panicked. There were no screams of terror. The EOC was a habitat of cool, calm, collected individuals who knew they had a job to do, and a job that had to be done effectively to accomplish success.

As for me and my duty to the team, I guess you could compare it to a defensive coordinator. With no other media outlets present at the Okaloosa County EOC, I was the communication between them and the public.

Road closures, power outages, bridge closures- what is the EOC seeing that the general public may not be?

It was then my duty to communicate that information as quickly as I could so that the defense (Okaloosa County) understood what the head coach (Pat Maddox/EOC) needed them to do before the offense ran a play (arrival of Isaias).

As long as everyone played their part, there was no doubt that victory would be achieved.

The teamwork doesn’t stop there, however. There’s still damage throughout the county, throughout Crestview, and it’s time for the offense to respond.

So, help your neighbor, help local businesses, and pick up limbs and debris if safe to do so.

In recent college news, the “Protect College Sports Act” passed the U.S. Senate 77-22. However, that doesn’t make it a law just yet, and the House is on recess until after the November midterm elections.

So, let’s break this bill down for anyone who may not keep up with the NCAA or college athletics. Essentially, it’s a way for the NCAA to gain some sort of control over what’s being called the “Wild West Era” of college sports.

The bill would guarantee one free transfer for college athletes. After that, they must sit out for one year before becoming eligible to play again. It grants colleges and universities $27.5 million in additional retention spending on top of the House settlement revenue-sharing structure.

The NCAA also gets limited antitrust protection to enforce rules around eligibility, transfers and compensation due to recent lawsuits brought on by college athletes. But players also receive federal protection for scholarships, health care and NIL rights.

There will be no more seven- to eight-year super seniors as athletes are limited to only five years of eligibility nationwide, and coaches would be restricted from leaving for another FBS job in the middle of the season (Lane Kiffin). Although NIL is staying, there will be a new structure that will tighten the rules around booster/associated-entity payments.

So why does this matter?

College is the bridge between high school and professional. NIL was a way for colleges to almost “bid” on a high school athlete for them to attend and play at that respective university for a sum of money.

Although not every high school athlete gets the chance to sign with a DI university, this information is crucial for how they will have to navigate that road if the bill becomes law.

They may sign with a university and get the chance to transfer, but that choice of a new college becomes a lot harder when you get one free opportunity. The second transfer means sitting out for a year, and playing time is vital to getting your name known in the big leagues.

With tighter rules around booster/associated-entity payments, there may also be a reduction in how much money can be offered to a high school athlete when choosing where to play. Will it still be millions, or now a couple hundred thousand? Only time will tell.

There is some pushback about the bill, so again, this may not come to fruition. As an outsider, a sports fan and a journalist, here’s my opinion on the whole thing.

NIL was passed so that players may receive compensation from brands like EA Sports when they wanted to bring back the classic NCAA football game. Rather than back in the day where players were referred to by only their number, their names would be engraved into the game, for which they would receive payment for that use.

Because of the wording, colleges found loopholes and began pushing the limits of NIL (which is why we are now in the political realm with sports). The solution, in my eyes, is you leave the NIL for businesses who wish to use the name, image and likeness of a specific athlete for brand deals.

Scholarships will still be offered, but the leftover revenue goes toward recruiting. That way, universities can go recruit the players they want, but that money replaces scholarships and goes toward education rather than in their pockets or a luxury car. After all, college is utilized for furthering education.

We will know more about the bill once November comes around, but I would keep a close eye on it if I was a high school athlete.

With this new era of sports we’re entering, the voice of a fan is starting to hold some power. When you look at how college and professional sports are being run, you begin to see that they truly are a business.

The NCAA allows college athletes to be paid through NIL deals, which are like those of an NFL, NBA or MLB player signing a contract with a team. That money not only comes from sponsorships and other businesses but from the revenue from fans as well.

Since we are the consumers of their supply, they in some way have to meet our demand.

I see this more in college than I do professional sports. Take Florida State, for example. The Seminole fan base has been in an uproar about the performance of head coach Mike Norvell. In his seven years at FSU, Norvell holds an overall record of 39-36 and is off to a 1-2 start in 2026.

Seminole fans take pride in that football program and expect more of it. That same reason is why they’re calling for Norvell to be removed from the position. You can make the same comparison to Brian Kelly at LSU last season and Sam Pittman at Arkansas.

Fans want to see wins, and because they fund a portion of what goes into a university’s athletic program, their voices matter. That’s why LSU went out and spent $90 million to poach a coach while still having to pay $54 million to the previous one.

Now, although fans’ opinions do matter in this situation, they seldom get listened to. FSU wants Norvell gone. Instead, it fired Athletic Director Michael Alford.

Was this the right decision? Only time will tell.

Arkansas fans wanted a seasoned, high-caliber coach after Pittman. Instead, they hired Ryan Silverfield out of Memphis, who’s yet to prove he can compete in the SEC. Granted, he’s only in his first year, but this has been an ongoing issue in the state of Arkansas.

Then you look at Florida and Kentucky. These two programs listened to their fan bases. Fan bases that were hungry and ready to get back on track and return to a competitive level in the sport of football.

Kentucky went out and grabbed offensive genius Will Stein from Oregon, and Florida got Jon Sumrall from Tulane, which made a trip to the playoffs last season. Kentucky then took down Texas A&M at College Station, and Florida is the favorite over Ole Miss even though the Gators are ranked lower in the AP poll.

Maybe the fans do know what they’re talking about? Just a thought.

Anyway, I’ll step off my soapbox as a disgruntled fan for now, but I think this is something worth thinking about. Who knows, there may even be a whole ESPN or SportsCenter story about the rise in fan activity in college athletics decision-making.

Until then, enjoy your team’s wins or complain long enough that a change is made.

As I was going through my day, I was reminded that I’m coming up on my 10-year class reunion. In all honesty, it hit me like a brick wall. It doesn’t feel like that much time has passed, but it’s hard to notice those things when you enter the “real” world.

Although the reminder sent a shockwave through my body, I was nostalgic about the memories I made while in school.

I grew up in a small town in northeast Arkansas. The type of town where everybody knows everybody and your friends’ parents become your parents. The football field was surrounded by crops, as was most of the town, and your main system of transportation was a four-wheeler.

You knew every teacher by name, mostly because the one you had for science you also had for math or English, too.

As athletes, the majority of us played multiple sports. Football, basketball, baseball, softball, cheer. Nothing was off the table for us when it came to competition.

I later moved from that small-town 3A school to a larger 7A school states away. My previous graduating class of 94 exploded to 300-plus. I no longer knew everyone, nor did I remember every teacher’s name or see them out and about running daily errands.

The one thing that I found comfort in was sports. Now, I didn’t immediately jump into playing football because, in all honesty, I was intimidated. I had never had a field house or a practice field that was specifically suited for the sport.

I noticed my competitive spirit awaken, in a sense, while in PE and further on while playing flag football with my church youth group. I decided then to transition back into high school competition, and I’m glad I did.

That leap for me led to new friendships, new life lessons and new sports. I got to experience things in my life that I most likely never would’ve gotten to at my previous school.

I’m a little envious of the high school athletes that I now cover. I wonder if they truly know that those moments out on the field, the court or at the plate are going to be things they look back on with great appreciation.

The coaches who get on to them for making a mistake are their biggest supporters (outside of parents, of course).

Maybe that’s why I have a passion for being a sports reporter. I find myself relating to and remembering a time when I was in that position, and I never want their achievements and hard work to go unnoticed.

The other night I had the pleasure of joining a Zoom call with the legendary John “Flip” Filippelli. For those who may not know who “Flip” is, here are a few of the accomplishments he’s achieved throughout his 50 years of sports broadcasting experience.

Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer, Yogi Berra Museum Humanitarian Award, helped launch and build the YES Network, MLB on Fox and Baseball Network, senior adviser/former president for the YES Network, New York Yankees Lifetime Achievement Award, NYU Sports Business Executive of the Year and the only person in sports broadcasting with 100 national and local Emmy nominations.

Whew! Now that we’ve established who Filippelli is, let’s get back into what the experience was like.

Upon joining the meeting, the first thing I noticed was the row of Emmy Awards lined up overhead on the shelves behind him. I’d approximate a visible 10 in the small viewing frame that Zoom allowed. Below that sat around three to five camera lenses that “Flip” utilized for photography.

Eventually I, along with fellow students/alumni of Dan Patrick’s School of Sportscasting, got to hear about Filippelli’s life growing up in New York and the advice he had to share. One of the many wise sentences that stuck out to me was “Find a purpose for your passion.”

It sounded very familiar to one of our core values here at the Crestview Bulletin, “Passion for what you do.” See, when you’re passionate about something, you care deeply about it. Whatever your “product” may be, you make sure it feels good, tastes good, looks good and, in my case, reads good.

You have all your ducks in a row wearing the same uniform and walking in step with one another and none strays from the line. That’s how much passion can drive someone. But it can also hurt you.

If too passionate, you may think the achievement is too far, or you try too hard and begin to bury yourself. You could crumble under the weight of the pressure. Which brings us to another point made by Filippelli.

“Pressure is a privilege.”

Now, think about this. How often do you hear about someone being under pressure? Most of the time it’s probably during Game 7 of the World Series with two outs and two strikes, down two runs, or a 50-yard field goal with two seconds on the clock that either puts your name in the rafters or becomes one of the greatest “what ifs.”

In those moments, you see what you’re made of. That pressure to do well, to succeed, it makes the neurons in your brain begin to fire off ideas. A procrastinator might thrive in these conditions because the pressure of last-second work makes them work.

Lastly, Filippelli spoke about breaking away from a tour at NBC to walk around the offices and ask for a job when no one knew who he was, and how after working downstairs he got caught on a closed set of Saturday Night Live to be told he needed permission to be there. And that if there was a next time, “You tell them Lorne Michaels says you have permission.”

The lesson here is, don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Did Filippelli break the rules a little? Sure. But look at where it got him. He paired that lesson with “keep learning.” Mistakes often lead to knowledge. Constructive criticism from a boss or a partner is learning from your mistakes.

So be bold, be passionate, make mistakes and keep learning!

We’re coming up on the 25th anniversary of the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001. It’s a day that continues to live in the minds and hearts of Americans across the country as we hold true to “Never Forget.”

I was very young when that fateful day took place in 2001, but I am still reminded to “Never Forget.” As I went through school, something about learning what happened that day stuck with me.

I don’t know if it’s because of the slogan, because my birthday is in September or because I grew up in a patriotic family. What I do know is that even at a young age, hearing about 9/11 affected me.

Projectors pointed at classroom walls mirrored my teachers’ computers, showing videos of two planes crashing into the Twin Towers in New York City. Flames rose and smoke billowed from the World Trade Center as people panicked, looking for a place to flee.

I had empathy for them. I could understand their fear and confusion. I, too, wouldn’t know what to do if I were in the situation they were in.

Although many lives were lost that day, others were saved because of the quick actions of New York first responders. Police officers, firefighters and other emergency personnel ran toward the burning buildings rather than away from them.

It was a scene that anyone with common sense would want to stay away from, yet they went into it.

And let’s not forget that two other hijacked planes were headed toward targets that morning. On United Airlines Flight 93, ordinary passengers and crew members who had been on their way to see family, conduct business or reach other destinations fought back against the hijackers.

No one aboard Flight 93 survived when the plane crashed in Pennsylvania, but their courage prevented the hijackers from reaching their intended target.

Maybe that’s what it means to “Never Forget.” Yes, that day will live in infamy throughout American history. The sheer number of lives lost in the terrorist attacks involving four hijacked aircraft is hard to comprehend.

But instead of remembering only the events that occurred that day, we should remember the people.

The police officers who reached out a helping hand to pull people from the rubble. The firefighters who entered burning buildings filled with smoke to lead others to safety. The EMTs and health care providers who treated those affected by the attacks. The passengers and crew members who fought the hijackers aboard Flight 93.

It may have been an attack on the U.S., but American patriotism shone brightly that day. The actions of so many individuals portrayed what it means to be an American: selfless, heroic and brave.

So let us not forget the event. Let us not forget the people. And let us not forget the strength Americans have when we band together and stand side by side.