Team spirit is a great thing. It builds a sense of pride and community - and pride in your community.

Who doesn't watch the television and root for their favorite team, enjoying by proxy the thrill of victory, the agony of bad refs? (Never defeat.)

Maybe it's time to expand that team spirit. We do it with our sense of patriotism all the time - fiercely proud to be Alabamians, we are even more proud to be Americans.

We are fiercely proud to be from Andalusia, from Opp, from

Red Level, and so forth. We can also be fiercely proud to be from all of Covington County, letting the city limits be forgotten for a moment as we work together.

There is traditionally a strong rivalry between the municipalities and between the municipalities and the counties, and on the football field, there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, it's a lot of fun. But there are times to drop the rivalry and work together - all of Covington County working together is going to be stronger than three or four individual entities in Covington County working separately.

The airport has been excellent proof that this sort of cooperation is not only possible, but profitable. The recent United Fund pledge drive, which combined forces throughout the county, broke all previous records in the amount of money raised.

Now, there is another possible way for the entities to unify for the benefit of all. It has been suggested a sports complex be built, one bigger than the one we have now, capable of handling tournament action every weekend. This complex, which would serve everyone in the county, no matter its location, would serve several purposes. It would provide a place for local teams to play and practice during the week, and a location for tournaments every weekend. With tournaments come players, their families, and their money, increasing the money flow into Covington County, and every coffer, municipal or otherwise.

We believe

a steering committee is called for - drawing from the sharpest minds in the county, in the cities, in the towns - to study the possibility of increasing the capacity of the current complex or creating a new one, perhaps between Andalusia and Opp. Working together, we will all succeed, and we will all reap the from the results.