Long Stretch Off

Both Anne Arundel County Public Schools and Baltimore County Public Schools have decided to close Feb. 10, 11 and 12, meaning no hoops in our public schools this week.

Combine that with the Presidents' Day holiday on Monday, Feb. 15, for which both school systems are closed, and that means many of us will have quite a long stretch of no basketball. That's assuming the school systems will not play on Feb. 15. Normally they would not. But with the back-log of games, I wonder if the administrators would make an exception and allow their schools to play that day.

Stay warm and safe. Crank up the fireplace at home if you like, but no, do not toss your rule books into the fire as kindling just yet. Come another blizzard or not, there's still plenty of basketball remaining in the 2009-10 season. So if you're stuck at home, pull out the rule book and do some late-season studying to make sure you're sharp for the stretch run and the playoffs.

As always, stay on top of your availability at http://www.arbitersports.com/. The more time you can free up for Rick for the rescheduled games, the better we can serve our school systems. Even if you can free up parts of a day that you had previously blocked...you never know when games might be rescheduled.

-PK