First Lines - Opener at Belmont 5:30 P.M.

First lines matter, like first impressions. "Call me Ishmael," wrote Dickens in Moby Dick. "My beat is death," opens Michael Connelly's The Poet. "All happy families are alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in a different way," penned Tolstoy in Anna Karenina.

Melrose volleyball tips off at Belmont today at 5:30. 

Write a compelling first line. Writers want to share worthy stories. Your tryouts, practices, scrimmages were first drafts. Nothing registers as much as the regular season...until the postseason...when that comes.

I'm working off childhood shame. Growing up, I seldom almost never saw girls' sports, family or otherwise. Before Title IX, girls sports played second fiddle if at all. Girls' sports and girls everything didn't count. Whatever you imagine, it was worse.

Volleyball has become a thing, nationally and locally, women with elite skill and athleticism. Every play decides a point. 92,003 fans attended a 2023 Nebraska volleyball outdoor match. Caitlin Clark can only dream about those eyeballs. 

The first text yesterday read, "One day to go!" That wasn't about the Patriots-Raiders home opener. 

You remember your first varsity game forever. Excitement sears experiences into your memory like nothing else. Give it your best shot. That is all anyone can ask. 

Lagniappe. Gratitude makes happiness. When you lineup before the game, take a moment to think of the one person or two people who most made this possible.