NATCHEZ — Now that the calendar has changed over to December, the bone chilling temperatures have come in full force.

The past couple of days have been by far the coldest of the season, and snow even fell on the Miss-Lou late Friday and early Saturday.

It sounds like the perfect time to get out and play some soccer.

What, you say? It’s much too cold and windy to go outside and kick a ball around, or go out and watch people kick a ball around.

But that’s exactly what takes place about two times a week, as the MHSAA’s soccer season is smack dab in the middle of winter.

So a sport which uses a t-shirt and a pair of shorts is played during the coldest time of the year.

In fact, the night that it snowed, Cathedral’s boys and girls soccer teams were on the field in Wesson playing on a field that had a dusting of snow on it. We usually think of football as a sport that is made for snowy fields, but that’s the American kind, not the kind played by the rest of the world.

Fans of the local soccer teams in the area usually can be found bundled up in blankets, ski caps and gloves. Coaches are bundled up in their heaviest coats and hats, and even the referees usually put as much warm clothing on as they can.

Soccer games in the Miss-Lou usually include several things – cold, wind and wet, muddy fields. All in all, it’s not that pleasurable of an experience.

So why is the beautiful game played in some miserable conditions? That’s a good question.

Some say that the reason soccer is played in the winter instead of the spring is because the athletic association doesn’t want it to conflict with other spring sports such as baseball, softball, golf and tennis.

The fear is that enough players would choose the other sports over soccer that it would hurt the soccer programs.

That’s a thought, but that certainly hasn’t seemed to hurt soccer programs in other states that have their soccer seasons in the spring, such as Alabama.

Fans of soccer in those states get to watch games in nice spring weather in short sleeved shirts instead of shivering in 40 degree weather with a 15 mile per hour wind.

Why not move the soccer season to the spring for just one season, just to see what will happen?

If the programs are hurt by the move, then move the season back to the winter. However, I would be willing to bet that soccer will survive just fine in the warmer weather and season.

It’s worth a try. But if not, we’ll all just shiver and clutch that hot chocolate tight as we watch the beautiful game in some sloppy conditions.