Travel is a bear, and not pleasant, outside of drifting down rural roads towards the goal of seeing something special.

It consumes the-ever-more-precious gasoline, saps energy and is a vacuum of the only commodity nothing can fill: Time.

Yeah, it makes no sense to the outside observer how y’all deal with sports in North Dakota, and being here might lead to investing in oil stocks while diversifying into Goodyear or Michelin to hedge your bets. It takes a great amount of energy to be an athlete in “the 701,” and you kids might wanna express some gratitude for the parents who sit in the stands to appreciate your talents. (Do it now, young-uns.)

For the imbecile sportswriter, it’s a challenge. But I appreciate your hard-work towards what might seem ephemeral efforts. Don’t get me wrong … I’m selfish and get paid-well for what I do, but it’s astounding the lengths you go-to in-order to satisfy relatively minor goals. So-far as I can tell, you athletes, parents, (especially grandparents) and schools deserve a massive level of gratitude.

I heard recently that in rural communities they accommodate the travel-time by hosting half-squad practices in the gyms at co-op schools to deal with mid-week nonsense and that blew me away. In the interest of working-out with your team(s), you split interests to manage the act of being part of effort? Four prep athletes separate from 7 other teammates because of the sundial, while recognizing how important the workouts are?

Just, wow.

For the goofballs who don’t recognize how important “sports” are, that should show them what lengths people go to in the pursuit of being “teammates.” The team is everything; the team leads to success; the team is who you trust when the chips are down. Honestly, I have enjoyed great teammates and crummy ones, benefited from the hard-work of the one and decried the lack-of-impact of another. You-know-whom-you are: You’re either part of the team, or you aren’t.

As an adult, working in any environment, I can tell the people who stood in the high-school hallways — looking-cool-while-not-being-cool — from those who sweat for the gain. The tragic lack of character that foments the mindset of not-caring is foreign to me, and while I recognize those who cannot be part of the game because of a lack-of-skill it doesn’t mean ya cannot try, no?

Rural North Dakota cannot be satisfied by “specialization,” as it pertains to the big-city landscape. Let’s say you care ONLY about hockey, and invest 100 hours-per-week towards those goals and only wanna focus on the one sport? If you’re talented, people depend on you … it’s your obligation to satisfy-the-demand, because you CAN. Truth-be-told, it’s not up to you. Those of you who grew up here know what I’m talking about, and it’s not a matter of pride. It’s a matter of necessity.

In rural Ohio during the 1960s, they let my Dad run track at meets outside baseball-game-days because they needed him and he did it because he could.

I have a buddy called “Fuzzy” from Nebraska, and his description of that hometown is similar to Bowman: “There was nothing-else to do,” so that’s-what they did. I can think of roughly 25 things that are more destractive (and participated in roughly 5 or so), and I wish I wouldn’t-a been so selfish. Three-sport athletes were the norm for “Fuzzy” and his school in Nebraska, not the exception.

While it would be fun to “Spider-Man” people into the understanding (“With great power comes great responsibility”) of community, it’s obvious some get-it while others don’t. What’s incumbent on us all is that there are many jobs that only can be accomplished by roughly 10% of us.

Be part of the 10%; that’s my advice.

YOU know who you are; look in the mirror and tell me it’s not true. I know the high-school parents who travel all-over-heaven’s-half-acre to satisfy the demand, and they ain’t doing it for themselves. While I recognize they should invest in gas-stocks and tire-rubber, they prolly don’t … it’s because their personal-investment matters.

Yes, some of it is a desire for the halcyon days of their youths and occasionally because they need something to do on a Tuesday-, Thursday- or Friday-night, but it’s mostly because they know athletics make their children better- and more-altruistic people. And because they truly FEEL it.

I dunno about you, but I would rather feel-something than feel-nothing. Also, it’s a preference to recall success and know what it built in myself.

But: The work comes first. And it’s gratifying to see people willing to toil, travel, and I’m looking forward to seeing you out there. Y’all matter.

Gaylon is a sportswriter who originally is from Jensen Beach, Fla. and his column appears weekly. He can be reached at

gparker@thedickinsonpress.com

and/or 701-456-1213.

Gaylon is a sportswriter from Jensen Beach, Fla., but has lived all over the world. Growing up with an athletic background gave him a love of sports that led to a journalism career in such places as Enid, Okla., Alamogordo, N.M., Pascagoula, Miss. and Viera, Fla. since 1998. His main passion is small-town community sports, particularly baseball and soccer.