And yes, other activities often get less attention and are even completely overlooked, both by the public and the media -- again, as in life in general.

But we're here to say that the situation is not desperate; there is recognition in this town for all kinds of things other than sports, and while unequal in duration and quality perhaps, there can even be overkill in recognition by the schools, we feel.

First, there have always been the major sports overshadowing all the other sports -- in schools here and elsewhere and going on for decades. We think it was ever thus. Here in the Boothbay Region football, basketball and baseball for boys, and field hockey, basketball and softball for girls are the big three's. Swimming, wrestling, track and field, golf, tennis and other, more individual sports, are the "second-class citizens" of school athletics, as far as public support and attention go, not to mention other team sports such as soccer that remain distinctly unsupported by fans here. The big three are the favorite spectator sports, and a champion basketball team is likely to get more of a following and hence more coverage than a champion runner.

Secondly, the other, non-athletic endeavors do get favorable participation and support, such as dramatic and musical performances, student art shows, science olympiads and math teams. But unlike the others just mentioned, math meets are, let's face it, not spectator sports. With a son participating in math competition for four years, I wanted to take a photo for the paper, but there's no action there, just kids leaning over desks, heads in hands, doing problems.

Thirdly, the schools -- and local organizations such as the American Legion, DAR, Lions and Rotary Clubs, Coastal Club, and many more -- DO recognize academic achievement of students here. There are speech contests, Good Citizen Awards, top student awards, scholarship awards, too many to mention.

Awards and honors may be lopsided sometimes. Ever been to a Renaissance Awards night at the high school? There, during a three or four-hour ceremony kids get called up and recognized several times over, for every A or B they get, for improving their grades, for helping others, even for just showing up at school regularly. It goes on and on, with teachers patting kids on the back for just about everything, including smiling. Awards seem a bit much sometimes.

And sometimes they are not there at all for kids who genuinely earn them. In the high school, the National Honor Society is an example of an honor that eludes many of the most deserving students year after year.

So, yes, recognition is indeed uneven. But that doesn't mean it's not there. As far as newspaper coverage goes, here's the story: the big three are covered by a hired, part-time sports writer for whom that is his only assignment. Everything else in town is covered by an editor, one full-time reporter, and two or three part-time reporters, depending on the season and staffing. There are lots of things we can't personally cover ourselves, so we depend on coaches, parents, or volunteers from local organizations to bring in the news. For years, there has been swimming, soccer and gymnastics news only because volunteers wrote it and brought it in. For many sports we try to call coaches and get results; sometimes they call us back, sometimes they don't.

We do cover plays, concerts, dance recitals, art shows, science fairs, and other student events, as long as we know about them ahead of time (and that's another story, because we are not always informed of bees or other events). Very often the newspaper gives quite a lot of space to student endeavors -- to the exclusion of other segments of the population such as the senior citizens, the adult sports leagues, the nursery schools, etc. We feel we recognize students in every way possible, especially in the high school years when there are so many awards assemblies and special recognition of graduates.

But, as many eulogizers said of the late Charles Schulz recently, the theme of his popular comic strip Peanuts was "Life isn't fair. Get on with it." Good grief.