Is delaying a game a new thing?

One of the weirdest weather nights for a football game was in the early ?60s when Augusta came to Hillsboro. The games were still played at Memorial Field and there weren?t very many lights and the poles weren?t very high.

A really cold rain started during the first half. We were losing?and then the lights started popping. Actually, the glass was breaking because the heated bulbs were hit by the cold rain. To save the lights?and maybe the team?the game was called.

If you suspect you might be a nerd, you can find out by taking the nerd test on the Internet. Go to www.nerdtests.com/ft_nq.php .

I?m afraid to take the test, but Kevin did and learned he is only 76 percent nerd.

I can?t remember how it came up, but while I was recently visiting with Lyle Leppke about football he mentioned he had played for Dennis Franchione when the current Texas A&M coach was at the Peabody High School helm.

Lyle told me of a time he and son Mitchell were at a KSU- A&M game and went by the A&M bus to see if they could get a glimpse of Franchione.

They did. ?Fran,? as Lyle called him, recognized Lyle and took a few minutes to chat. Lyle figures Franchione remembers him because he yelled at Leppke all of the time during his days at Peabody High.

Bar-soap manufacturers could make more money if they would take my suggestion. The center of the bar could be hollow or filled with a plastic bubble that you throw away when the bar gets too small to use.

I have a tip to pass on to anyone looking to raise funds for local causes. It is much more likely that you will be successful if you or your family is a really good customer of the business you are soliciting?as opposed to those who never have been in the store before.

We recently added two new features to our Free Press Web site that I?d like to share.

We have created a ?top ads? section on the home page for autos, jobs and real estate. This makes for a good balance between print and Web for placing an ad message in front of our readers?regardless how they choose to access information.

We have also brought back the opportunity to purchase photos that have run in the print edition?as well as many photos that were taken but not published. Plus, you can buy a print of any page of the newspaper as a keepsake of something you or junior did that was noteworthy.

Halloween brings back memories of something I did when I was in about eighth grade. I was walking through the city park near Tabor. I threw a lit firecracker into a little grove of trees on the northeast corner of the park. Out stepped our chief of police, Dan Wolgemuth. He asked if I wanted my parents to know. Of course I said no. And then he confiscated everything I had.