I love my job. I don’t see how anyone that does what I do could complain about covering sports for a living.

Sometimes this means I’m in for a long day at a basketball court or a baseball diamond, but so be it. It’s all part of the job.

Parents, fans and players that attended the North Regional Softball Tournament will all know exactly what I’m talking about with this column.

I got to Kiwanis Metro Sports Plex, the site of the regional, about two hours early. The teams I was covering there, Belgreen and Tharptown, didn’t play until 3:30 p.m., so I had some time to kill. That last thought became the story of my life for the two days I was in Huntsville, as it was for the teams.

After game one was over both teams had a break. Pretty much all there was to do was wait around for the next game, which was only two hours or so later, which isn’t too bad.

Belgreen and Tharptown ended up playing late into the night on Friday, so everyone involved got to spend a good deal of time at the complex.

Again, this was to be expected at a tournament such as that one.

Day two, on the other hand, would be an entirely different animal for everyone involved, especially me.

Both teams played on Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. That was when Belgreen was put out by Spring Garden, but Tharptown’s winning streak continued, putting them at the top of the pack in the winner’s bracket.

Word had spread between the umpires and media personnel that the last round of games, scheduled for 5:30 p.m., were going to be moved up 90 minutes.

This was great, considering how long of a break was between Tharptown’s games already.

The only problem was, it never happened. Tharptown was told to be back in time to play a 3:30 game, but the 1A side of the tournament ran as scheduled, meaning the team waited for six and a half hours to play their second game of the day.

This doesn’t result in a good time for anybody, having to wait so long.

Not to mention that I had stayed at a friend’s house and had to be back at the park at 7:30 a.m.

Again, this wasn’t so bad, even with the three hours worth of sleep I got on Saturday morning.

What I wasn’t prepared for was being at the Sports Plex for 14 consecutive hours. Oh well, I got my coverage. It’s all part of the job.

J.R. Tidwell is sports editor for The Franklin County Times. He can be reached at (256) 332-1881, ext. 31.