Commentary by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — I’m going to do something I haven’t done in years: write a random thoughts column…

… Random thoughts columns were popularized by TV personality Larry King, who wrote for the USA Today, a great national newspaper in the 1990s. He called it the dot-dot-dot column where he would broach a subject for a paragraph and then (dot, dot, dot), broach another in the next paragraph. It was social media before social media…

… Was there a better newspaper in the world than the USA Today in the 1990s? Well, maybe the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, or the Dallas Morning News, or the Wichita Eagle that came to my doorstep every Sunday morning bundled with a thick rubber band…

…Yes, I’m sounding like an old man, but that was one of life’s greatest pleasures – spending a cold Sunday morning reading a newspaper at home. I could read the latest Bob Lutz sports column about something as recent as a Wichita State game from the night before…

…Or I could flip over to the editorial page and rant how leftist the Eagle has become because they wanted to fluorinate the water…

… But perhaps the thing I missed most is reading that front-page feature about something or somebody or someone in the Wichita area, doing something unusual. One of those articles that took you 30 minutes to read and it was always about something local…

… And then there was the five-day-a-week Wellington Daily News that came out around 3 p.m. (maybe later if we reporters didn’t make our deadlines). Those telephone lights would light up if we missed later than that. Then there were those same random people in the front office every day who came in and waited for the paper…

… Damn, I didn’t mean to go off on a tangent like that, but this is a universal truth…

… The demise of the newspaper is one of the greatest tragedies inflicted by the Internet. It took away our personality…

… Boy, King is probably shaking his head in disgust from heaven on high how I’m butchering this whole random column format…

…Yes, that storm of 2026 didn’t match the hype last week, but I’ll say this. When was the last time snow just sat on the ground for more than 10 days in Wellington, Kans.?…

… If you are reading this today, get yourself down to the Wellington Regent and watch “Song Sung Blue,” a story about a Neil Diamond Tribute Band. It is a great family movie, the kind Hollywood used to always make. It runs tonight and on Monday…

…I took my mother-in-law and my brother and sister-in-law from Wichita. They marveled at the experience, saying they hadn’t been to an old-style one-screen movie theater in years and loved the experience. They want to go back…

…Wellington has a lot of problems. But still having a local theater is a great testament to how cool this town could be. Kudos to theater owner Jerry Fike for keeping it running…

…If you are working in Wichita, invite one of your co-workers to see a movie here. They might visit Wellington more frequently…

…Last week I almost threw a rock at my computer reading Facebook comments. People were lambasting the school for calling off classes on Monday, citing HVAC problems as one reason. Many believe the school officials were lying and using it to promote the bond issue…

… First of all, do you have any proof they are lying?…

… Secondly, have you considered the reason USD 353 is going back to voters for a second time is because they still need to replace 25-year-old HVAC units that aren’t properly functioning?…

…I don’t like the way a lot of people bash the school district on Facebook. Our school is about us…

…RIP Steve Sturgis. He was always the Wellington school district’s No. 1. cheerleader. We need him now more than ever…

… The Kansas State High School Activities Association has opened up the basketball schedule, allowing for three more games. It used to only allow 20 regular-season games. Now a school can schedule up to 23. What has resulted from that is some interesting basketball games we haven’t seen before…

… No. 1 Wellington girls played No. 2 Wamego the other day in basketball at a neutral site at Friends University in Wichita on a Saturday afternoon. Wellington won that one in a great ballgame. Last Friday, 6A Wichita East played 1A Little River in a standalone girls basketball game. The Little River gymnasium was packed and garnered plenty of statewide attention. Wichita East won that game 61-55…

… Kudos to the KSHSAA for taking such a progressive approach to its sanctioned sports. This is just one of many examples how high school sports in Kansas has evolved quite well in the 21st Century…

… Heard this quote on the big bad Internet: Happy people encourage. Attractive people compliment. Successful people support. And those that have nothing to offer bring you down…

… Thanks, for letting me be random.