A couple of weeks after every sports season, your humble Vicksburg Post sports correspondents start to get asked a single question more than any other.

“When is the all-county team coming out?”

Sometimes, it’s easy to answer. Our all-county football team always comes out on Christmas. The spring sports of baseball, softball and track are in late May or early June.

When it comes to the winter sports, however, the best I can usually do is shrug my shoulders and sheepishly say, “One of these Sundays?”

Of all the all-county teams we select, soccer and basketball seem to be the most difficult. Not so much because the players themselves are hard to pick, but because of the timing of the whole thing.

Soccer season ended in late January, right about the time basketball was hitting its home stretch of division and state tournaments, which also happens to be the time when the spring sports are getting under way. It generates a pretty heavy workload for a two-person staff, so the all-county teams get put on the back burner until it slows down.

Which, unfortunately, is right when everyone goes on spring break.

On the best days, tracking down a boatload of information and pictures you thought you had and don’t, and arranging two or three interview and photo sessions can be like herding cats. When most of the cats are four hours away at a sunny beach in Alabama or Florida, you’d have better luck finding and herding a pack of sasquatches.

We often set a date for it to run in the paper and then have to change it for reasons beyond our control. In the past, it’s sometimes taken until late April before we finally put the pieces together.

Thankfully, with a lot of help from our local coaches and a bit of luck, things are starting to fall into place. The all-county soccer and basketball teams have been picked, and we’re diligently working on the stories and sections as you read this.

The all-county soccer team will appear in this Sunday’s paper. Basketball, if things break right, will be next week.

Which brings up the second-most asked question we hear on this topic — “Who did you pick?”

Well, folks, some things will just have to remain a mystery for a while longer. Check out the paper to find out. I promise it’ll be in there.

This Sunday for sure. Or maybe the next.

One of these days, definitely.

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Ernest Bowker is a sports writer for The Vicksburg Post. He can be reached via email at ernest.bowker@vicksburgpost.com, or by phone at 601-619-7120.