Any football fan can tell you the year's biggest game, the Super Bowl, will be played Sunday.

This is the 48th edition of the game that has become America's biggest sporting event. Forget the Daytona 500, The Masters, the World Series or college basketball's Final Four — nothing compares to the Super Bowl.

At 55, I'm old enough to remember the first Super Bowl, which was played Jan. 15, 1967 in Los Angeles between the Kansas City Chiefs and Green Bay Packers. I was 8 years old at the time. The Packers won that game that was simply known as the AFL-NFL Championship Game.

By the time the New York Jets beat the Baltimore Colts in the third championship game, the title Super Bowl had been attached to the game and a piece of Americana had been born.

I was more interested in playing and doing things boys do than watching those early Super Bowls. I remember watching few minutes of the games before running outside to play with my friends.

I guess you could say I grew up with the Super Bowl and as both the big game and I grew my interest and love for the game increased. By the time I was in middle school the game was a must see event, and I've rarely missed watching the game since.

I have watched the Super Bowl from the lobby of my college dorm and the comfort of my own living room.

My church in Knoxville would have Super Bowl parties after the Sunday evening service. One member would tape the game while the service was being held and afterwards everyone would gather in the Fellowship Hall to watch the replay until we caught the game in real time. I loved those Sunday evenings with friends.

The 1984 Super Bowl is one I barely remember, but will never forget. I was working as an assistant manager at a McDonalds in Tifton, Ga., that year when the Saturday before the game a crew member came in and I jokingly told her I was going to call in sick the next day because she was working.

I woke up that next morning three kinds of sick to my stomach. And yes, I had to call in sick on Super Bowl Sunday.

My favorite Super Bowl was Super Bowl 44 or, if you are into the Roman numerals, Super Bowl XLIV. The New Orleans Saints, a team I've pulled for since they first came into the National Football League, won that game over the Indianapolis Colts, led by my favorite player, Peyton Manning.

Manning will be back in the field Sunday to lead the Denver Broncos against the Seattle Seahawks and I'll be pulling for Denver. I will be watch Seattle wide receiver Doug Baldwin closely as he played his high school football at Gulf Breeze and becomes the second player from my alma mater to make the big game.

The Super Bowl turns 50 two years from now and I'm not a kid any more. These days when I get my hair cut there is my grey hair on the floor than the brown hair it used to be.

Yes, I'm getting older, but the Super Bowl seems to be getting better. The players in this year's game are young enough to be my sons and it won't be too many more years until they'll be young enough to be my grandsons.

I'll be watching the big game Sunday as I have for so many years. Yes, the Super Bowl has be woven into the fabric of our nation and into the fabric of my life as well.

Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Send him an email, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SIDELINE OBSERVATIONS: A super celebration of American sport

Once or twice a year, I make an impassioned plea for readers' help to make this a better sports section.

Those are not empty words. I just can't be everywhere at once or, for that matter, be everywhere I want to be or need to be.

I often look at a schedule that has multiple games on the same night and have to decide which game I should cover. Often, the decision is difficult, but I make it and move on.

During the school year, I do my best to cover as many high school games as possible. Most weeks, I cover four games and occasionally I'll cover five or six games during tournament time. I don't mind rearranging my schedule to attend a college signing ceremony or some other special event.

We at the News Bulletin want to increase our coverage of local youth and recreational leagues. This is a community newspaper, after all, and we realize high school sports are only one part of the community sports scene.

Unfortunately, I'm not able to cover youth league games, as there are dozens being played on any given evening. But with the help of a network of coaches, parents and league administrators, we can give our children and adult recreation league warriors the spotlight they deserve.

One of the most famous movie lines of all time simply says, "If you build it, he will come." That line, of course, is to persuade Ray Kinsella to build a baseball diamond in an Iowa cornfield in "Field of Dreams."

To paraphrase that line, "If you submit it, it will appear in the paper."

OK, so it doesn't have the same zip as a mysterious voice in a cornfield, but we are serious about creating space for our local youth and adult recreational leagues.

If your league or team as a Facebook page or website that has updated information you would permit us to use, we would welcome and appreciate that opportunity.

In the coming weeks, we hope to expand our sports section to include more submitted material from our local leagues, but we can't do it without your help.

If you are an administrator, coach or parent of one of our youth leagues' teams or someone associated with an adult league who can help, please email me. Thanks for your help.

Email News Bulletin Sports Editor Randy Dickson, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SIDELINE OBSERVATIONS: Wanted: recreational league news, announcements

At every district tournament or Florida High School Athletic Association-sanctioned state playoff game, an announcement is made to let good sportsmanship show.

It's too bad that announcement isn't made at regular-season games.

Sportsmanship takes on many forms including fans' reactions, officials' calls, the way coaches coach a game and players play a game, and how  players treat their opponents.

I was watching the National Football League playoff game between the San Francisco 49ers and Carolina Panthers on Sunday when 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick mocked Carolina quarterback Cam Newton's touchdown celebration.

Any chances there were of me pulling for the 49ers in this week's game against Seattle went out the window with Kaepernick's classless gesture.

I love the attitude of Emmitt Smith, the NFL's all-time leader in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns. Smith, who scored 164 rushing touchdowns and another 11 receiving TDs, said, "Act like you've been there (in the end zone) before."

Smith never spiked the ball or did a fancy dance after a score. He simply handed the ball to the official and celebrated his score with his teammates.

It's a good example for our local teams. I witnessed a couple of unsportsmanlike incidents this past week. Each involved teams from Chipley High School.

The first incident occurred Tuesday night when Chipley's boys basketball team played at Crestview.

The Tigers led Crestview by 11 points with four seconds left in the game. Rather than let the clock run out, Chipley Coach Joel Orlando called a timeout, seemingly to set up one more scoring play at a point when the game had already been won.

Calling a timeout when you have the game well in hand is, in my opinion, poor sportsmanship.

Chipley's boys don't have a corner on poor sportsmanship.

Friday night, Chipley's girls traveled to Baker in a District 3-1A game. The Tigers led Baker 37-11 at the start of the second half and quickly scored the nine points needed to push the lead to 35 points and start the running clock.

Even with the game in hand and the clock running, Chipley Coach Kimberly Tuel continued to have the Tigers push the action against the outmanned Gators.

Running up the score on an outmanned opponent should be considered unsportsmanlike in anyone's book.

Many fans and coaches would argue that they aren't responsible for the other team's inability to score or to keep their team from scoring. The coach might say his or her job is to prepare the team to play and the opposing coach's job is to stop them.

That argument is good at college or professional levels, where teams are supposed to play on a more level playing field. But a high school coach is stuck with the talent on campus unless he or she recruits and breaks the rules.

No high school team will win a state championship by running up the score against an overmatched opponent. Good teams will win their playoff games and march to the state finals.

At the end, it only matters if you win, not by how many points you win.

One of the things I've always admired about Baker School football Coach Matt Brunson is his willingness to take his foot off the gas when a game's in hand.

Yes, Brunson-coached teams have won games by big margins and with a running clock, but it's not because he intentionally ran up the score for the sake of beating a team into submission.

Matt Brunson knows the importance of sportsmanship — and it shows.

I can think of some coaches who could learn a thing or two about sportsmanship from Matt.

Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SIDELINE OBSERVATIONS: Good sportsmanship needed at all levels

By nature, I enjoy cold weather. While my coworkers bundle up at the thought of a 45-degree day, I walk around in a short-sleeve shirt basking in brisk winds that bring me to life.

Only when temperatures dip below 35 do I consider things to be cooling down. And, even I have to admit, a windy 25 or 30 degrees here in Okaloosa County at least feels cold.

We will have plenty of those cold days the next couple of months, and some of the cold will linger into mid-March and perhaps as long as early April.

As much as I enjoy the cooler weather, it can become a problem this time of year.

Soccer season continues into February. As the soccer season wraps up, softball, baseball, tennis and track will get started.

The first day for softball practice was Monday. Baseball practice starts next Monday. Softball preseason games can be played beginning Jan. 27, and regular-season games start Feb. 3.

Baseball teams can play preseason games Feb. 3 and start the regular season Feb. 10.

In other words, half the softball and baseball seasons will be played in the winter.

Now, I'm a baseball guy. Baseball and football are my two favorite sports. I'd be as happy as a termite in a lumber yard if the only two sports I ever had to cover were baseball and football.

But something's just not right about covering a baseball game in February when I can't grip a pencil to take my game notes because my hands are numb from the cold.

The scheduling of Florida's sports seasons is heavily influenced by the state's large metropolitan areas, which, except for Jacksonville, tend to be in the state's central and southern regions.

On any given winter night, Okaloosa County's temperatures typically run 15-20 degrees cooler than in other parts of the state. At times, those temperature differences can be more than 40 degrees. Factoring wind chill and humidity in the equation can drive down how cold it feels by several more degrees.

Cold weather can be more than just an inconvenience for players and fans. Athletes have greater risk of injury in colder conditions when it is more difficult for them to stretch and warm up or stay warm.

Looking on the bright side of things, kids, even here in Northwest Florida, are throwing baseballs and softballs in January, February and March. Their counterparts in northern states are having snowball fights as they wait for the first signs of spring.

In a perfect world, so-called spring sports wouldn't actually start until spring in late March. But the academic calendar often conflicts with the seasonal calendar, and we are forced to make do with what we have.

So if you plan on watching a game on a cold winter night, make sure you bundle up and bring a thermos of your favorite hot beverage.

You'll be glad you did.

Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SIDELINE OBSERVATIONS: Winter no time for outdoor sports

I love New Year's Day. There's just something fresh and exciting about the clean slate of 365 days that await us.

Yes, this time of the year is filled with more football than the most avid fan can digest, but that's OK.

And the year ahead offers so much more than football.

Since I ranked the area's top sports stories of 2013 in Saturday's edition, it seems only natural that I look ahead on this, the first day of 2014. I have no idea what the new year holds, here are some guesses:

•The Seminoles will win 42-31 in the National Championship football game between Auburn and Florida State.

This is a tough one because it involves my two favorite teams not located in Knoxville, Tenn. That said, I like Auburn's running game, but I think FSU has too many offensive weapons for the Tiger defense to contain.

•Laurel Hill will bring home a title in the District 1-1A championship. Although Laurel Hill boys lost their recent game at Paxton, I see many good things happening in basketball.

•The Bulldog basketball teams will make the playoffs.

I think Crestview's boys have a chance to be mighty good as well. Bulldog guard Ronnie Baylark might just be the best player across Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties. With Baylark leading the charge, and strong play all the way around, look for the Bulldogs to make the playoffs.

Crestview's girls basketball team is an interesting mix of youth and a few veterans. The Bulldogs have lost some close games and should improve enough to make some noise in the district tournament.

•In track, Crestview freshman KK McTear will be one of the area's top female sprinters.

I base my prediction, in part, on McTear's quickness on the basketball court. I'm also considering her family history of great sprinters; that legacy includes an uncle, Houston McTear, co-world record holder in the 100-yard dash.

•Laurel Hill's baseball team will struggle this year. I don't think the Hoboes have enough pitching to survive the district schedule.

•Laurel Hill will improve in softball, but the Hoboes will finish out of the running for the playoffs.

A new District 1-7A has Crestview up against Fort Walton Beach, Niceville, Navarre and Tate.

The Bulldog baseball team lost many players to graduation, but coach Tim Gillis should have Crestview in the thick of the district race.

Corey McSween takes over Crestview's softball program, becoming the fourth coach in four years. McSween inherits some strong returning talent, but I think the Bulldogs will fall short of a playoff spot.

And finally we reach the fall sports.

•The Baker volleyball team's string of 11 consecutive district championships will come to an end. The Gators, the past few years, have lost too many irreplaceable players to graduation.

•Laurel Hill's volleyball team will win the District 1-1A title again and Crestview's volleyball team will return to the playoffs.

As far as my football predictions go, anything can happen between Jan. 1 and the start of the season.

I expect big things from Crestview's football team in the fall. The Bulldogs got the Niceville monkey off their back last fall by beating the Eagles for the first time in more than three decades. I see Crestview returning to the playoffs for the first time since 2010 this fall.

Bulldog Emmanuel Reed might be the best returning running back in the county. Crestview has experience at quarterback in Cory Armstrong. And, all of the Bulldogs have been in Tim Hatten's system.

Up the road at Baker, I don't see a let-down from the Gators as they come off their first district title since 2001. Baker and Northview will again be the teams to beat in a competitive District 1-1A.

Junior quarterback Jon Beck will lead a Baker offense that just might feature the pass a little more than it has in the past. Don't expect to see a drop in the Gator running game, as Montae Barto could have a breakout junior year.

So let the games begin, and let's see how my prediction stacks up in 12 months.

!——-HUB NOTE: PLEASE IGNORE BELOW

Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SIDELINE OBSERVATIONS: Bold predictions for the new year