Cook This is a different kind of job, working at a newspaper.

Most folks go to work, Monday through Friday, home in the evenings and off on the weekends.

Not in this business.

It’s Monday through Friday (at a weekly that is ... a daily is a different kettle of fish) with an occasional evening or Saturday (or Saturday evening) thrown in. And there’s just not a lot of folks that make their living by writing. The very phrase “making a living by writing” should be considered an oxymoron, in my opinion, because I’m beginning to believe that the only ones making a living are guys like Tom Clancy, Stephen King, John Grisham, W.E.B. Griffin and the like.

The rest of us make just enough to get by ... most weeks.

There are perks, though. Much of your work product comes from inside of your head. Granted, much of that work product is because of our young athletes and their games. That’s another difference in this job. Not many people have the job duty of watching a football, basketball or basketball listed in their job description.

So, I can’t complain too much. It just wouldn’t be fair.

•••

For example, the Bears playoff football game in the new Corsicana stadium. Now that was fun.

I know that Brownsboro fans had a good time, too. It’s a nice stadium. It has a big leage feel to it. And it was a fairly easy trip to make. Granted, the outcome wasn’t what we wanted, but it was still an enjoyable evening of high school football.

It was really fun on the sidelines.

And that’s another privilege of the job. You not only get a good view of the game (most of the time.... some- times you can’t see because all the athletes are way taller than you are), but you get to see how everyone reacts to the ups and downs of a game. When Austin Adair finished off that long scoring play in that playoff game by diving over the goal line, the entire sideline got really pumped. That’s a cool thing to be around.

And, hey, I got a great picture out of the deal, too.

•••

I’m not sure sometimes about being on a baseball or softball diamond. The possibility of a line drive off the noggin seems to cross my mind from time to time.

Hey, I could get clobbered on the sideline when a running back goes out of bounds at the end of a sweep, but you usually can see that coming. In baseball or softball, glance away for just a second and you might just find yourself stretched out on the ground with a knot raising up on your head courtesy of a Brad McDonald or Chelsea Holcomb foul ball.

So far, I’ve seen the football play coming my way in time to do a little “running backwards” move while taking photos and not gotten hit. I’ve had to skip out of the way of some rocket line drives and that’s much harder.

••• Sometimes, covering sports feels like it must be similar to being a teacher in a school district ... at least as far as the schedule goes.

Think about it. A lot of teachers not only have the Monday through Friday schedule, but have some night and Saturday work in association with student clubs or as activity sponsors. That’s a bit “over and beyond” a regular day.

And, as a sports guy, I find myself noting when the school year ends ... which quickly brings along with it, the end of school sports, shortly thereafter, depending on playoff situations.

So I find myself, at the first of the summer, like many of the teachers ... with nothing much going on. I guess the only difference between my summer and the summer of many teachers is that I have to show up at the office.

But the paycheck still shows up. Thanks, boss.