The other night, I went to a middle school basketball game. Okay, my grandson was playing, so I was not a disinterested observer. Yet, it was a delight to watch these kids who two years ago could barely reach the rim with a shot, now running up and down the floor shooting three-pointers, passing and blocking shots on defense. It was terrific!

What was more predictable is that I knew that most of them would be looking in the newspaper in the following days to see if they and their team had made any headlines.

When I buy the newspaper each day and bring it home before breakfast, I can almost guarantee that my grandkids will be reading the sports page when they sit down for their cereal. This wouldn’t be happening if they lived in New York or D.C.–the big city newspapers don’t cover local sports.

It seems to me that the local sports coverage in our newspaper is better than ever. Some of the coverage, I think, also benefits from the fact that every fan at the game has a camera in their cell phone.

Thus, the newspaper can take those and, in a brief write-up, describe the game, its key players and what the final score was along with a photo or two of the action.

I have noticed that sometimes the newspaper editors will highlight certain sports, and you will also find that they will often alternate coverage between boys and girls sports. Girls sports receive as much coverage as the boys…a good change from when I was kid.

What is also positive is that this local sports news also continues into the play-offs when games are often held out-of-town. Just this past week there were vivid descriptions of Southwestern and Frewsburg girls, and Jamestown and Salamanca boys, winning regional basketball games and now heading for the state play-offs.

I have come to appreciate our local sports coverage more, as the Buffalo paper often seems to forget that there are schools and sports teams down here in the Southern Tier. You may see the name of one of our teams in an Erie County newspaper, but usually it is only when it is a big game being hosted up there.

One thing that I have a hard time keeping up with are the various levels given to sports teams–there seem to be more descriptions, different levels designated mostly under “A” and “B” headings. Some of this, I think, is related to the fact that most of our schools have been shrinking in size due to the decline in student enrollments.

Sometimes, in order to field a team, multiple schools will join together. When that happens, a new name begins to appear–like C/P/S–Clymer, Panama and Sherman. Yet, the editors of the newspaper seem to keep up on all of this and readers are brought along with the new designations.

Underlying it all, of course, is sport itself. Learning a sport, what sportsmanship means, what depending on others in team sport is all about–are life important aspects of growing up. Understanding that competition is good and that an opponent is not an “enemy” is one of the basics of life.

So, even if you are not a “news hound” or interested in what is going on in government…you should still get the newspaper or its online version just for the sports coverage. It is a good buy!

Rolland Kidder is a Stow resident and a former New York state Assembly member.