A quick Internet check of the prognostications of the weather for the next 10 days does not reveal any predictions of snow for this area. 
In fact, according to the expert visions of the meteorologist pundits on my particular site of choice, the next significant chance of rain (not snow) is Monday, Feb. 22, followed by an even greater chance on Tuesday, Feb. 23.
Uh oh! 
But then again one does not want to take long-term weather predictions to the bank for investment.   Not and expect a guaranteed return anyway. 
I’ll bet, however, that AIG or Merrill Lynch executives could find a way to get a return on that weather deposit. Of course, that return would not benefit any athletes clad in Red or White, but rather only the suits of Wall Street (editorial statement intended).
Anyway, if you have not read anything else in this sports section, check out the schedules. Monday of next week is a big day for the Screven County High School athletic department.  All kinds of things are going on.
Also remember, only soccer of the spring sports plays in the rain.  They don’t call it football in the rest of the world for nothing. 
Even though I wish I could,  I cannot control the weather. I tried to learn that in that other lifetime of mine, that of being a coach. The opening and closing of the Heavens is not for coaches to decide. 
To paraphrase a great local writer (certainly not me!), “Nothing says spring sports like snow!”
But we do need the $5 per ticket.
If you can’t find something to watch (bring your coat if necessary) at Screven County High School in the spring, then there is nothing you want to watch. 
Catch a tennis match and see the most consistent program in the area. Catch a baseball game and see the defending Region 3AA champions. Catch a soccer match and see the top scorer in the history of the program as well as a couple of the best soccer teams in the state. Catch a track meet and see the 2009 Class AA High Point Award Winner.
Make sure you have an all-sports pass. Of course, the SCHS athletic department will gladly accept full price for all who enter a baseball, soccer, tennis or track event. These are financial times that try the souls of athletic directors.
Did I say we need the price of admission?
Weather permitting, it won’t take long for a fan to take in at least one of all of the spring sports. 
Baseball and tennis will be available for the viewing on Monday. Tennis, when Statesboro gets here, and baseball at 6 p.m.
Bring a coat.
Soccer will play its first home match on the 24th at 5 p.m. Probably still a good idea to bring a coat. Maybe by the time track gets around to opening up March 4 at the new and improved SCHS track (pole vault pit included, if the equipment has arrived) it will be warmer. Field events start at 4 p.m.
By the way, the search for a new head football coach continues (as of Monday a.m.). There have been some bumps in the road. Some things are more difficult in the extremely depressed economy. There are no PE positions to be created for coordinators. Teaching positions for spouses are a lot harder to come by.
Reality bites. Just ask any teacher.
To throw out some other facts that the Gamecock sports fan might want to know, at the region basketball meeting on Saturday it was decided that there will be no required crossover contests for the next two seasons. What that means is that we do not have to play Bleckley County or Dodge County. What that means is that the athletic department does not have to spend $500 - $700 on a road trip to nowhere and get nothing in return (gate-wise) when they come here. What that means is spots on the schedule for home-and-home series with maybe Jenkins County and Statesboro. Those are money-making games. Basketball is now the No. 2 money maker in the program.
Did I say we need the price of admission?
At a recent region meeting that included softball planning for next year, logic finely prevailed. Subregion champions now automatically qualify for state. They will have to win three region playoff games in order to claim a region title, but will go to state regardless. 
Are chickens being counted before they hatch? Hopefully not.
See you somewhere on the SCHS campus in the next week or so.

Burton Kemp Jr. is a contributing writer to the Sylvania Telephone.