After a spring's worth of blood, sweat and tears by local athletic teams, it all comes down to the final days of the 2008-09 preps sports season this weekend.
As the baseball and softball semifinals and the girls soccer finals get ready to take place, a couple of things jump out at Kosmo.
One, why isn't there an area softball team in Battle Creek? Kosmo is not the biggest softball historian, but he wonders if there's EVER been a year when there hasn't been at least one Oakland County team in the semifinals. It's a strange sight, but after Lakeland and Troy lost in the quarterfinals, that's unfortunately the situation.
Second, it's too bad there aren't any public schools left in any of the three sports. Orchard Lake St. Mary's in baseball and Birmingham Marian and Madison Heights Bishop Foley in soccer are the only county teams still playing this weekend.
And no, this doesn't mean there should be separate tournaments for private schools. It's all cyclical.
Some years, the finals are dominated by public schools teams from the area. Back in 2007, Lake Orion and Farmington met in the Division 1 state baseball final, while Novi and Rochester played for the Division 1 girls soccer title.
It's just surprising no public schools are still alive this weekend in any of these sports.