I was one of the few lucky enough to see the McNally Senior All-Star Field Hockey Game Saturday night. Some people will laugh and not be able to appreciate that. I know, because I used to be one of them.

Like a lot of males who became sports fans, I grew up on baseball, football and basketball. I can remember watching Super Bowl XVI in 1982, when I was 5 years old. But field hockey? No way. Until I took this job, I had seen one field hockey game in my life, and I didn't have a clue what was going on.

That's the thing with field hockey. Like football, it takes a few games and a friend who's good at explaining things before you can really tell what's happening out there.

But if you want to see a high school sport at a high level in this area, field hockey is one of your best bets.

I put together the list in our papers each Sunday during the college season where we list former high school players and what they're doing now in college. Last fall, we had 52 former players playing in college. The same statistic for football? 22.

What's more, you'll see former field hockey players from central Maine playing for nationally-ranked teams, like Nellie Poulin at Providence and Zara Saydjari at Michigan. You won't see that in football or basketball.

This is not a knock on football and basketball. Those sports are played at a very entertaining level in central Maine. A lot of times the basketball games are ugly, and there are too many 54-6 football games for my taste, but when the games are good, there's no better place to be.

People in the area are showing good taste by liking football and basketball (except in Waterville, where they curiously ignore the football and girls basketball teams most of the time). People in the area would also be showing good taste if they gave field hockey a chance, because the player you watch in the all-star game today could be on one of the best college programs in the country in a couple years.