Letters to the Editor

Editor:

There’s a new professional baseball team in town, Long Beach Coast. They are in the Pioneer League, similar to single A. They play at Blair Field off Seventh Street in Long Beach.

I recently went to a game, and it so enjoyable to be outside, fairly inexpensive, good food and adult beverages. Parking was easy, even bleacher seats were comfortable. It was fun to cheer on these baseball dreamers.

Kathy Olinger Mutual 1 Editor:

I started my first overland adventures in West Africa with a group called African Trails. If possible, we mainly went through small villages. The only time we went to cities was to get visas.

All villages had kids playing football in dirt or grass fields. We carried soccer balls to give away, and they were always a hit. I had seen some football/soccer games as a kid but never really followed it closely. In Africa, it is everywhere and so much fun to watch. Sometimes we would see power lines as we got closer to a village of small town. I was always excited because it meant the possibility of cold refrigerated drinks, an internet café and a bar with a TV showing football.

There were 28 people on this truck and only four Americans. The rest were from Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, Sweden, England, Wales, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland and Scotland. All were keen football fans.

Sometimes we would play the village kids. I decided that being a referee would be fun and threw a lot of “yellow cards.” Most suntan lotion comes in yellow, so I had plenty.

By the end of the trip I too was a lover of football. Sherry Thomas Mutual 3 Editor’s Note: The 2026 World Cup is accelerating soccer’s popularity in the U.S. As a host country for the tournament, nearly one in three Americans plans to watch the matches, while Nielsen data reveals the U.S. now boasts the fourth-largest global soccer fanbase. Some of the best content on social media now features foreign fans’ reactions to American culture, specifically free beverage refills at restaurants (unheard of abroad), giant big box stores like Costco and the robust friendliness of Americans.