In the field of Parks and Recreation, volunteers are relied upon so heavily to help teach our kids.

A volunteer, who has been developing Scotland County's youth in athletics, is retiring after almost four decades of service.

John Murray, has been a volunteer and coach for Scotland County Parks and Recreation, for 38 years.

Murray, who also serves also one of the chain guys for Scotland High School home football games, was the coach of the Minor Midget league Falcons up until last season. He decided to step down due to prior obligations.

As a child of someone who volunteered in youth sports for 12 years, I can relate to this story.

Most of the time it usually starts with a father (or mother) coaching their kids team. Once the kid ages out of the program, the parent does not see it as useful to volunteer anymore.

For Murray, the man gave so many years of time and energy out of the goodness of his heart and deserves our recognition.

Ritchie's bunch eyes .500

If you haven't been following Scotland boy's basketball since the beginning of December, you've missed alot.

Since dropping their first four games of the season, the Scots have strung together a three-game winning streak, including an overtime win over Anson County this past Monday.

"It's a great feeling, and it's an opportunity that the kids have earned," Scots coach Mike Ritchie said on what the winning streak means. "They've hung in, kept working hard, didn't give up and kept fighting. They've been able to get better and get a little more confidence."

With a win Monday against Marlboro County, Scotland (3-4) can get back to .500. The Scots knocked off the Bulldogs, 45-36, on the road last Friday.

Seniors Mo Covington and Lamar McIntyre, played almost the entire second half and overtime of the win over the Bearcats. For them, they know that Marlboro is going to be looking for retribution.

"It's going to be a tough game but the atmosphere's going to be great," said Covington. "We're going to have to come out and play hard."

With any rivalry game, crowd plays such a big role in a game. Marlboro had a big crowd when Scotland played there, McIntyre hopes that the Scotland faithful will be out in full force.

"We have to have our crowd with us, like they did down at their (Marlboro) place," McIntyre said. "I know that some of their crowd is going to be here. We need to have the crowd with us and get the momentum going early."

Scotland's road has been a bumpy one at times, especially early on in the season with double digit losses to Pine Forest and Jack Britt, a pair of Fayetteville-based basketball teams that have a tradition of deep playoff runs.

The Scots still have two games left to play against teams from Cumberland County, when they play Terry Sanford twice.

Despite the tough non-conference schedule, Ritchie has no regrets for scheduling challenging games, and hopes that the experience will prepare the boys for Southeastern Conference action, which starts the first week in January.

"I told Coach (Tommy) Britt last spring, I wanted to play anyone that's won the (former Mid-Southeastern) conference or gone two or three rounds deep in the playoffs or even a state champion," said the second-year coach. "I knew that those teams were going to be good, and it's going prepare our team for conference play. The kids can't understand what it takes to get to that level if you don't compete against those people."

Things not so shiny in Steel-town

Can you hear that beeping sound?

It's the sound of the Steelers playoff hopes, and after Thursday night's 13-6 loss at Cleveland, those aspirations are clinging to life support.

Pittsburgh lost their fifth straight game and to make matters worse, quarterback Ben Rothlisberger, was sacked eight times in the loss.

Being sacked eight times says more about how bad the Steeler offensive line is as opposed to how good the Browns defensive line is.

The tough road that Pittsburgh has to haul, does not get any easier as they host the Packers, who are improving every week, next Sunday, before finishing the season against the Baltimore Ravens and traveling to Miami to face the Dolphins on Jan. 3.

Unless the Steelers win all three games and get some help from the rest of the AFC, they will not get their chance to defend their Super Bowl championship.