Hittin' the road

Times sports editor Scott Ferrell and I hit the open road -- well, I-20 -- Friday afternoon in search of mugs for our weekly Area Preps pages.

And I'm happy to report a good, safe time was had by all.

In all seriousness, one of the best parts of covering high school sports is watching the looks on student-athletes faces when you show up at a school specifically to see them.

Heck, it even makes snapping 18-20 mundane mug shots somewhat of a joy -- especially during basketball season.

If there's a line of kids around, the person standing in front of the camera is going to be hit with every joke, insult and everything else in an attempt to mess up his or her picture. Sometimes it works, most of the time it doesn't.

But what it shows is, as many times as we forget, these still are kids who are playing games they love.