I will make an admission: I don’t follow high school in the Panhandle very closely. My sons didn’t attend school here; they graduated from high school in Beaumont and were close to completing their college educations when my wife and I arrived here in early 1995.

But we attended our first high school game in Amarillo this past Thursday at Dick Bivins Stadium. My impression of the venue? Very impressive place.

The field is spectacular. The grounds are immaculate. The men’s restroom is spotless; I did not use the women’s facility, obviously, so I am not qualified to speak about its cleanliness. The food is perhaps a bit overpriced but a hot dog has this way of tasting like a filet mignon when you’re sitting in an outdoor sporting event.

What took us to this game, Amarillo High vs. Monterrey Lubbock? We wanted to see a young friend perform as a cheerleader. His parents, Jay and Lonna, are good friends of ours who are dedicated Sandie parents. Brolin is a delightful young man. So, we went to cheer for the cheerleaders — to be honest. But the weather was too cold and wet for the kids to throw each other around on the sidelines. We didn’t do much cheering for the cheerleaders that night.

We cheered for the Sandies’ team, who won 21-6 in a fairly ugly game under cold, wet and windy conditions.

But I have to say that the Amarillo school district has developed a first-class venue on the west side of the Tri-State Fairgrounds — unlike the Dilla Villa baseball park at the other end of the complex. I’ll hold out hope that Potter County gets its money’s worth from the outfit that is promising to invest money to improve the baseball stadium.

It will have to go some to come close to equalling Dick Bivins Stadium’s quality.