So much for not being very competitive at the Winter Games.

The United States is having a banner year at the Olympic Games in Vancouver.
It has been a pleasure following the exploits of our athletes at these games.

Usually I have to wait until the Summer Games to get excited about the Olympics.
I still am not a big fan of having professional athletes compete in the Olympics, but it is what it is.

I can only hope that we continue to let amateur athletes take part where they can and keep the professionals to a limit.

That being said it was great to see the US hockey team hang one on the Canadians the other day.

I was getting pretty sick and tired of having Canada rub our faces in hockey throughout the years in Olympic competition.

It wasn’t quite the Miracle on Ice from 1980, but it was kind of nice to see the US team earn a big win the day before the anniversary of the ‘Miracle in Lake Placid.’

Seasons coming to a close
It’s hard to believe that the winter sports season is quickly coming to a close.

It seems like only yesterday I was going to my first wrestling meet and then the first basketball games of the 2009-10 season.

Now wrestling is in its final two weekends of competition and the girls’ basketball tournament starts up next week and the boys’ tournament the following week.
It’s been a pretty successful season for our area wrestling and basketball teams.

Edwardsburg was the king of our wrestling this year as the Eddies will compete in the Division 3 state quarterfinals today in Battle Creek.

Five of the six schools we currently cover have wrestlers still alive in the individual portion of the state tournament.

Brandywine nearly ran the table in girls’ basketball this season and is now getting ready to start its defense of the Class C district championship next week.

The Bobcats were the only girls’ team of the six we cover to win a conference or division championship.

Niles came close to winning at least a share of the Big 16 West Division title, but were knocked out of first place last week following an upset by Mattawan.

The Vikings will begin defense of their Class A district title next week by taking on defending state champion Benton Harbor.

Niles had the best boys team among the squads we cover by far.

The Vikings won the Big 16 West Division championship and already have 13 wins to their credit.

Niles will face a strong test in the district tournament as highly ranked Kalamazoo Central is one of the teams in the Class A district.

I am hoping our teams will have a strong finish to what has been an enjoyable winter sports season so far.

But to tell you the truth, I can’t wait for spring sports to arrive.

I can’t wait to get outside and take in some fresh air and get a little sun on my face.
It’s been a long winter weather-wise and I am ready for a change.

Scott Novak is sports editor for Leader Publications. He can be reached at scott.novak@leaderpub.com or by phone at 687-7702