Youth baseball isn&8217;t a sport around here, it&8217;s a life.

Moms, dads, aunts, uncles pack up the snack cooler, grab the lawn chairs and the battery-powered, handheld fans and head to the ballpark nearly daily.

Some folks know all the stats, others just know when their boy hits a home run. Regardless, the ballpark is where the action is.

This time last year our paper was making some design and content changes. My assignment was to review our sports pages, talk to readers and find out if you guys like what we do.

Because it was summer, I headed to the youth ball fields to find the local sports fans. They are a vocal bunch.

I think it&8217;s the fans who line the outfield fences on the beds of their trucks I like best. There&8217;s smarts in this &8212; you are only an engine crank from an air conditioner and it&8217;s not necessary to haul lawn chairs and coolers anywhere.

Between innings I made the rounds and got an earful.

I heard compliments and criticism. They had good ideas, and some weird ones. Some folks like us, others hated us.

We took a few of the suggestions and implemented them into the paper, but we probably didn&8217;t do the best job possible.

Covering sports in this area is a balancing act. Many of you want to hear about the NBA, NFL, LSU and Ole Miss in our paper. Others get that information from ESPN and would rather read about the Dixie Youth 9- and 10-year olds in The Democrat.

Though we&8217;ll never succeed, we like to keep both sides happy.

For several years now

Adam Daigle

has been the one responsible for your sports needs. He knew the gang, made the rounds and worked very hard.

But Adam&8217;s recent departure for a job in Tulsa, Okla., means our sports department has a new face (or two).

Adam established a long list of sources and an award-winning section. We&8217;ll miss him.

But the new blood is ready and willing to make things even better.

Tim Cottrell is the new sports editor. You&8217;ll meet him soon. He has experience as sports editor at two weekly papers in Alabama.

And Rick Breland is filling a long-open sports writer slot for the paper. Rick will also serve as outdoors editor.

Both guys are going to work to give you that balance of national and local sports news you want.

They are interested in your stories, your children and your world. And they want to hear from you. Sometimes we don&8217;t know about stories unless someone tells us.

Because our area has so many schools, we simply can&8217;t make it to every game, every week. But we&8217;ll try to spread the coverage around, makeup for the things we miss and get the story out there.

No sport is more important than any other, though some do draw in more readers. If you think we are excluding a sport you love, let us know. We won&8217;t always be able to please, but we&8217;ll try.

Tim and Rick are both excited about a sports-centric community. They&8217;ve heard good things about friendly coaches and parents who call in scores, and they are ready to experience it all.

Rick has a running list of outdoors stories he&8217;s planning to tackle, and he&8217;d love for you folks to invite him on a hunt and show him the Miss-Lou secrets.

From and outsider, sports is a community of its own. Hopefully there&8217;s room for two more in the local world.

Julie Finley

is the managing editor of The Natchez Democrat. She can be reached at 601-445-3551 or

julie.finley@natchezdemocrat.com

.