By MONTE DUTTON

We’re in an oddly opportune, not in bad way, place for hurricanes.

The little desk is made of wood. I’m knocking on it.

Most Atlantic hurricanes bore into the coast and curve upward instead of clobbering us with a direct hit. Most Gulf hurricanes weaken, particularly where the land is hilly.

Hurricanes are predictably unpredictable. That’s why TV shows us track models that could feed a family spaghetti.

The worst I remember was Hugo, severe enough to give the Charlotte Hornets a mascot. A friend wrote about it from Charleston. It, too, turned north at Columbia and roared through Charlotte. It was bad here and worse elsewhere.

The following weekend Sandy Cruickshanks and I drove to Hickory, N.C., to broadcast the football game between Presbyterian and Lenoir-Rhyne. We had to detour several times because huge trees had fallen across large highways. Luckily the game was at night.

From the window of a hotel room, I watched a tornado head northward about two miles away. I saw a twister wreck my sister’s mobile home.

Into each life, some rain must fall. – “The Rainy Day,” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

(I once knew a minor-league pitcher named “Bean” Stringfellow.)

Disasters make me think of the Jonathan Edwards sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”

Forgive me for flashing modest literacy. I know it’s out of style.

Now it’s back to watching The Weather Channel and waiting for schedules to change.

The Raiders need a breakthrough. They’ve needed one since the season started.

It almost occurred at A.C. Flora.

An upset at home of Fountain Inn (4-1) is the next best thing to do the trick. The Fury, like Flora, is good but not overwhelmingly so.

“I think what they’re doing at Fountain Inn is amazing,” said LDHS head coach Greg Porter. “It’s amazing, the energy … I think we can get that here.

“I think our community is waiting to see a little more progress. ‘Coach, we’ve been promised before the things that you said and got the same results. We want to see a little bit more.’ … The kids are playing from the beginning till the end, but we’re losing.”

Porter, who missed nine days on the practice field due to illness, returns next week.

“I told them, if they played like they did against Union County (jamboree), the second half against Hillcrest, Flora, we’ve got a chance to win the game,” said the LDHS coach after falling, 29-0, to Lexington. “If you play it like the Clinton and BHP games, we’re going to lose.

“Mistakes, fumbles, not blocking, not protecting – we didn’t protect the quarterback at all – and that’s embarrassing. That’s coaches. That’s not kids, and we’ve got to do better.”

If Laurens Academy (4-2) doesn’t play Newberry Academy at home Friday night – and does play the Eagles on the mutual open date of Oct. 18, as reported – the Crusaders will play the county’s only home game on that Friday night.

Drake is to play at PC on that Saturday.

If not for Helene, every county team would have played at home, including Davidson-Presbyterian on Saturday night.

It may happen yet. Laurens High is in the clubhouse.

It’s, uh, possible that Friday night will be saturated with water but clear.

Times change. If Keith Richardson still coached the Red Devils, right now I’d be pondering whether not I could hold an umbrella and take a photograph at the same time.

Sydney Lassiter and Allie Williams scored their first college goals, but Presbyterian (5-3-2) women’s soccer had to settle for a 2-2 draw with USC Upstate (3-3-3) on Wednesday night at Martin Stadium.

Ten players have scored goals this season for the resurgent Blue Hose

PC doesn’t play again until Oct. 2, visiting Charleston Southern for a 3 p.m. start.

Coming off a 6-1 loss at Wren, Laurens girls’ tennis awaits a time and date to host Westside, formerly scheduled for Thursday.

Clinton (4-1) won its junior-varsity football game, 32-8, at Union County on Wednesday evening.

Wellpilgrim.com surpassed the 100,000 mark in page views over a week ago and has already exceeded the numbers of the entire 2023 year. At least one story has been posted for 58 consecutive days.

Still, the future of the site is threatened.

More details later.

Advertising alone will not keep me going, but there’s room for a few more. Every ad is inset in every story.

You can support my site in several ways.

Support the advertisers. They are all fine people who support my efforts, not to mention those of the kids, coaches, parents and fans.

Please donate whatever you consider appropriate via Venmo at DHK Sports. You may also reach me by mail at 11185 Highway 56 North, Clinton  29325.

If you choose, make a monthly donation via Patreon. The Laurens County site is here. The Furman site is here.

In the off chance you’d like to read my novels and other books, they’re available on Amazon and many prominent bookseller sites. You can read them on your phones and other devices for a modest cost. I make a bit more if you purchase the actual books, but what I mainly want is for folks to read them.

Read my novel of small-town crime and corruption, Forgive Us Our Trespasses. Download it for $3.99, or order it in paperback for $16.95.

Photo galleries are posted on Instagram @furmanatt and @laurenscountysports.

Thanks for putting up with me.