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The blue and brown clothes in my wardrobe are getting quite a workout this week.

Before you stop reading for fear that I’ve changed my passion from showdowns to fashion shows, let me explain.

No matter what we do as sports reporters at the Journal-World, people perceive us to have some sort of bias when it comes to the city’s high schools. So in an effort to keep those rumblings to a minimum I often do whatever I can to avoid feeding the monster.

Orange, yellow and gray have joined blue and brown in the prime positions in my closet. I don’t want to give either team the indication that I’m pulling for the other. Truth is, I’m pulling for both.

Age-old media etiquette dictates that a reporter never root for a team he’s covering. For the most part, I adhere to that. But when it comes to high school athletes, it’s hard not to hope for good things to happen.

Who wouldn’t pull for a player like Lawrence High’s Travis Sanders, a young man who tore his ACL during the football season and worked tirelessly for months just to enjoy a week or two of baseball before he graduates? Travis will hit fifth in the Lions lineup this Friday at state.

Who wouldn’t enjoy seeing a player like Alex Hardman become so key in the Firebirds’ run to the top seed after barely being noticed this winter at the bowling alley, despite being named all-state in that sport?

It’s stories like those, and so many more, that make it hard for me not to cheer. But instead of cheering for one team to beat the other, I’m pulling for both teams to succeed.

I know that’s not entirely possible Friday, when the LHS and Free State baseball teams meet in the first round of the state baseball tournament, but what the heck.

The bottom line is both teams are made up of 18 quality student-athletes, coached by fantastic coaches, who care first about their players. That’s the way things should be. In this day and age, when college programs are lobbying for oral commitments from 14-year-olds, it’s refreshing to see guys who do things the right way.

Teams like this might be a dying breed, but these coaches, along with so many others in this city, work day and night to ensure that their young men and women learn the right way.

With that in mind, I figure thinking for an extra minute or two about what color I’m wearing is the least I can do.