It will be sad that Jim Malak will likely not be returning as Rondout Valley football coach.

In the 17 years he was coach at Rondout, Malak has been a good guy when it comes to dealing with the media. Win or lose, he reported every game -- a trait not shared by a good number of coaches in the area.

We don't know all the reasons behind his likely ouster -- and we probably never will -- but if this is the end of the run for Malak at Rondout, I wish him well in his next endeavor.

In any case, football weekends won't be the same around here.

Did everyone see the recent news that college football is looking to stop players from celebrating, they say taunting, when a touchdown is scored?

That is one of the most ridiculous things I have heard in quite some time. While I agree that, in some cases, players take their celebrating to the extreme of taunting, you can't just look to put everyone in the same category and try to tell them they can't celebrate.

Celebrating in sports is a must. Without it, there is simply no fun.

As long as you're not being disrespectful to your opponent, why should these kids have the fun taken away from them?

It just doesn't make any sense.

Boy, I go away for a relaxing vacation to the Caribbean and I seemed to miss everything.

For Tiger and Phil at the Masters to opening day of baseball season to the NCAA men's and women's basketball championships, April really got started off with a bang.

Locally, a quick congratulations to Kingston's DaVonne Dunlap and Rachel Coffey, who were named Freeman boys and girls basketball Players of the Year. Although the competition was great, these two truly deserved the honor.

Roosevelt softball received a huge blow by losing Freeman All-Star Jen Reitemeyer for the season because of a shoulder injury. I watched her shut down Valley Central in last year's Section 9, Class AA championship last year. The Presidents will surely miss her.

Speaking of missing things, I don't know if it's me, but April doesn't seem to be the same without having the Kingston Classic to look forward to at month's end. I'm not a runner, but I always enjoyed watching the elite runners as well as the local running enthusiasts race past the Freeman twice during the race.

Who said April is a quiet month. And we're only halfway through.