Right around now, for the next several weeks, it's a gray area of sorts. Volleyball is over, football is a few weeks from being pau, and the winter season tips off. For sportswriters like me, that means prepping for All-State material. Not so easy, but ultimately a challenge worth tackling.

Our system of selecting All-State players involves voting from every coach and media I can find. I wouldn't have it any other way. Maybe you imagine there's a coach out there who totally jacks up his or her ballot. Total bias. You might be right in some places, but for some reason, local coaches won't do this. Maybe they don't want to hear me get on their case for bias. Maybe they're just really good people.

The ballots are almost always solid. There's something to be said for submitting a list of top athletes based on performance rather than politics -- something that has gone on much, much, much more with all-league selections. That's right, when coaches from leagues have their post-season, all-state picks, weird stuff often happens. I'm talking about a little mutual back-scratching at positions that have players on the "bubble." I'm talking about strange selections I've seen in 18 years of coverage.

That's why I always take all-league selections with a grain of salt, a dash of pepper, and at least a couple of shakes of Sriracha chili sauce. It's really convoluted, as is any dealing done behind closed doors.

The All-State ballots I receive are always confidential. That's No. 1. With the mass I'm looking for, things balance out by the 10th, 20th, 40th ballot.

But generally, that's what happens with the end of a state tournament. The process begins. In recent years, I've pushed hard to collect individual stats for sports that really should have volumes of them. Softball. Baseball. It's been a pain in the ass, but a worthwhile endeavor to all of us who vote. Sometimes the information is limited to state tournaments only because that's all I can get my hands on. But it's better to have something than nothing.

Volleyball? Most teams don't keep individual stats. Amazing. It's 2008 and kills, digs, assists go unrecorded at almost all programs. I shouldn't be shocked. It's not about modern technology or anything else but one factor: manpower. Football is always ahead in this sense, but things have been slipping in recent years. Volunteer work is not for everyone.

So it's Monday and that's what's on my mind -- getting stats to the voters. Some of you may have other ideas of things to do on your day off. My life? It's a lot more simplistic and needy. One day, though, I'll be blogging from a roadside soup spot in Laos or a tiny pizzaria in Sicily. It'll be just my luck, too, that by then every kill and every dig in the state will be posted online.

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