Today's Sports

 I can’t believe it’s September already. But Labor Day is past, yellow school buses roll along our roads, and yellow wildflowers bloom along the shoulders of the road to my house.

School has started and soon cold weather will return. This is the time to think about feeding the birds during the winter. Days are still warm enough to set feeder poles in concrete, and many stores have fall sales on seed.

EMPIRE — Seven years ago, Ari Coats saw an online advertisement about mountainboarding and thought it would be fun. That — and because her boyfriend is professional rider Devin Garland —is among the reasons she’s a regular at the Altitude Cup.

The fifth annual competition, held Labor Day weekend at Empire Park off South Main Street and Cemetery Road, has become a tradition in Clear Creek County.

It’s a feeling that never gets old. Be it the first time or last year’s fifth championship since 1999, the joy of winning a state football title is sheer euphoria for Andy Lowry. It always brings an infectious smile.

The Columbine head coach has a pretty good handle on what it takes to be successful. He’s seen it quite a bit over the years.

It’s not like Julia Berggren, then 6 years old, didn’t like gymnastics. She loved it. So did her brother, Victor. For their parents, Erik and Karin, both avid outdoor athletes in their native Sweden, it wasn’t their cup of tea. So they encouraged, or as Erik would say tricked, them into trying other sports for a couple of months just to see if they’d like something else.