More Sports News. . . the Midwest Oilers return home.

While I don't follow sports much, yesterday I ran this, which I found interesting:

Lex Anteinternet: Sports News: I rarely read it, but today's Tribune sports page has two items of interest. First, Casper is getting, for the third time, a non yo...

And today I'd note that the Midwest Oilers are reported to have returned home to their own field.

People tend to forget, for some reason, that Natrona County doesn't have two high schools. It has four, or 4.25 if you count Pathways, which you probably better do before its down and out for the count as closed (or before it's converted, as it should have been. . . maybe . . into an actual high school).  One of those high schools is Midwest.

Midwest's school used to be a football titan here locally.  This, of course,, way back in the day prior to transportation being very good.  In those days, the sons and daughters of the oilfield workers in Midwest (and probably a few sons and daughters of Navy personnel stationed on Navy Row in Midwest who were assigned to the Naval Petroleum Oil Reserve)  had to go to school there.  Many still do, but some now drive to other schools or are driving by their parents.  At least some people from Midwest that I know attended school in Kaycee, for example, which is in the neighboring county.

And the oilfield there just doesn't require the workforce it once did. The NPOR is closed.  Trends in technology and production have reduced Midwest and neighboring Edgerton to shadows of their former selves, even though they are still there.   The evolution of high school sports has meant that the Oilers and the other two high school teams are no longer in the same class and don't play against each other.

The times have long passed since Midwest played the Casper teams. . . or had that the town had its own newspaper for that matter.

But the team was a local giant once.

Well, the schools there still have a swimming pool anyway. . . .