Call me a bit of a homer, but I enjoy it more when we can write stories about locals excelling, whether it's in sports or life.

I kind of find myself rooting for area teams and athletes to succeed, which is why it was nice to see Mike Tulacz win the Wiltwyck Pro-Am the other day. I was equally excited to follow the exploits of the Ulster Fillies at nationals, Chris DeForest in his PGA Tour events and the Kingston senior and junior American Legion at states and regionals.

These are only a few examples from the summer.

Now that we're a little over a week from the grind of the high school and college seasons beginning, I just wanted to take a moment to congratulate all those teams and athletes for excelling this summer.

It's been a lot of fun following your exploits. Let's do it again next summer.