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It's time for a nostalgia column.

I try to limit these columns because I don't want to be one of those guys who people read and think: "Man, get over it already. You thought you were cool once, it's time to move on."

Just because I look through my high school scrapbook twice a week doesn't mean I have a problem, does it?

Anyway, preparing to cover the Moffat County girls in the regional tournament this week has brought back some of my fondest high school memories.

During my sophomore and junior years, our girls basketball team was one of the best in the state.

I played basketball, but let's just say I don't have too many clippings in my scrapbook that were about us winning. Our girls team may have been able to beat us my sophomore year.

After the boys season ended, I would exchange my sneakers for drumsticks. I played drums for the pep band when I didn't suit up for hoops. The cool part was that the band traveled to state, as well.

The format for state basketball in Kansas is different from Class 4A in Colorado. The state tournament is a three-day event in which teams have a chance to play on back-to-back-to-back days.

If a team won its first game, it was guaranteed two more games, because there was a game for third and fourth places.

The school district canceled school so everybody could go watch. Basically, the town of Baldwin City made the trip.

Just the atmosphere for the games made the experience memorable. It was in a stadium that seated 15,000 people. Our gym had a maximum occupancy of 3,000.

During the games, the bands would take turns at timeouts playing songs. It was like we were having our own competition within the competition.

Our band didn't have enough money for hotel rooms so we had to load up on the bus and make the two-hour trip back home after every game. That is, unless we had our parent's permission to stay.

During my sophomore year, I stayed with my cousin and about seven or eight of our friends instead of riding back.

During the first day my cousin tore a hole in his oil pan by driving over the speed bumps in the parking lot a little too fast. Our caravan was reduced from three to two cars.

One of our buddies had "connections" with some hotel in another town that he predicted was "oh, about 15 minutes away."

It seemed like we drove past Baldwin to get to the hotel.

It was about 45 minutes away. We might as well have slept in our sleeping bags outside the arena. The hotel was being remodeled, so no furniture was in the room except for one bed.

The hotel-connection buddy also happened to have feet that reeked of every bad smell imaginable. Being the poor high schoolers that we were, we all stayed in one room. I nearly suffocated during the night, because I had the pillow on my head to block as much of Mr. Foot Rot's aroma as possible.

Somehow I remember it as a fond time.

I think it was because I was a sophomore in high school, and I spent four days hanging with my friends on our own. It was a part of growing up.

My cousin and his friends graduated after that year. I hooked up with an even bigger group for the trip during my junior year. Originally, 20 of us booked four rooms for one day beyond the tournament because it was the start of our spring break that weekend.

Our group of rooms became the Baldwin hostel.

It probably ended up looking like every parent's worst nightmare. We had about 50 high schoolers sharing those rooms.

I'd be lying if I pretended that 50 unsupervised high schoolers just were sitting around watching television and playing cards.

It was the first time I was really ever experienced peer pressure in the way the DARE officers talked about.

That was the first time I ever had to stand up for myself in that sort of situation. By saying no, I grew up that weekend, as well.

There are a lot of memories to write about from those weekends, such as our school getting the best spirit award both years (because, in my humble opinion, our band rocked), the girls winning the state title and a whole town coming together to support 12 girls and their coachs.

I hope that this weekend provides great memories for everybody from Craig, and that next weekend will provide the opportunity for even more.

Go Bulldogs.