While covering the Vicksburg vs. Ridgeland softball game last week, I noticed that all five of Ridgeland’s infielder were doing what appeared to be a choreographed dance routine.
From the third to the first base and even in the circle of the thrower, all players waved their hands in front of their faces and shook hands together.
It was different, but rehearsed applause is a big part of softball culture. So why not dance? Maybe they combined the two into a new art form, I thought.
A few seconds later I realized the truth – they weren’t dancing, they were shooing.
Yes, folks, it is this time of spring that we welcome back our outdoor friends, the mosquitos. These little bugs swarm around golf courses, baseball and softball fields, and in general anywhere where the times are good and there is a piece of natural grass.
As I was leaving our Washington Street office the other day, I noticed that a group of mosquitos – cloud or horde, both very aptly – are the appropriate terms according to the Internet, although I rather enjoy the alternative term “rabble” – that can be found in gathered near our office. I’m sure rabble was up to no good.
I tried to take a picture, but photographing mosquitoes in fading sunlight is almost as difficult as keeping them away from you.
This week I was swamped by them at 9 a.m. on Clear Creek Golf Course, swallowed a few for lunch in downtown Vicksburg, and knocked some off at Bazinsky Field. During the softball game mentioned above, I stayed calm and quiet and they mostly left me alone. Maybe they enjoyed dancing in the field too much to bother me.
Mosquitoes are some of the most annoying insects. Mosquitoes are terrible, but you can’t feel every bite. Mosquitoes can also bite and then fly into your ears, nose, and eyes. The real idiots are the ones who hum close enough to your head to make you beat yourself up like an idiot. They just know that they all laugh at their friends.
I know the COVID-19 mask mandates are no longer welcome for many people, but they have an advantage. A mask prevents you from swallowing a mosquito or from letting a mosquito fly over your nose. Sometimes the latter route leads to swallowing. We’ve all probably gained a pound this week.
Unfortunately, there is not much we can do to win the world back from our new insect overlords. Mosquitoes seem to be seasonal and this is their peak. We just have to wait and see.
In the meantime, does anyone have any cool mosquito dances? Maybe we can post them on YouTube or TikTok and make them go viral. Might as well let them work for us while they’re here.
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Ernest Bowker is the sports editor for the Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at ernest.bowker@vicksburgpost.com
About Ernest Bowker
Ernest Bowker is the sports editor for the Vicksburg Post. He has been a member of the Vicksburg Post’s sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-serving sports reporters in the newspaper’s 137-year history. Born in New Jersey, he is a graduate of LSU. In his career, he has won more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and Associated Press for coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.
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