KILGOROUND
MITCH LUCAS

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL is shutting down Barack Obama - well, sort of.

An Obama supporter, selling T-shirts online supporting the Senator's bid for the Presidency, decided to slightly alter MLB team logos and have them read "Obama" instead. The site sought to sell the shirts for $19.99 each at obamaofdreams.com, and had 12 varieties available, including one that looked like the logo of the Boston Red Sox, and another that looked like the San Diego Padres.

Not a good idea, it seems.

The supporter - University of Pennsylvania student Morris Levin - very quickly got a cease-anddesist letter from MLB attorneys. And he did so.

I guess the shirts are now collectors' items. We'll see if anyone is still wearing them at the Democratic National Convention in August.

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HAPPY SPRING BREAK week, not only to students, but to parents, too, who actually might get a little

f extra sleep this week. We've got such a busy week that we likely won't be going anywhere - my son is now playing KBBA baseball, and has practice, in addition to my schedule of games and Jenna's schedule at the hospital. If you're going somewhere, take care. +++ WELL, IF IT SEEMS to you like it's been forever since the Kilgore High School softball team - or the baseball team, for that matter - has played at home this season, then I agree. It has been a while. Kilgore's softball team has played at home at Stream- Flo Field (beside Driller Park) just one time all year, and it was the season opener Feb. 11. They had been scheduled to play another game there, but rain forced its relocation. The KHS baseball team hasn't played at home since the Oil Belt Classic tournament ended Saturday, March 1. Weather-permitting (and that could be a big key), both of those streaks should come to an end tonight when both Kilgore teams host Jacksonville, both district games, and both beginning at 6 p.m. And both Kilgore teams lost at Nacogdoches Friday night, so they'd like to get back on the winning track. +++ ON A PERSONAL NOTE, I've gotten several well-wishes and comments regarding my own health situation, and I just wanted to say thank you publicly to anyone who called, wrote me a card or a note, or said a prayer. I especially want to thank Bob Ellzey, and also Rev. Riley Pippen and his wife Deborah, of Highland Park Baptist Church, for an encouraging card I received. Bro. Riley has dealt with his own health problems in the past, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for him, not only as a person, but as a man after God's own heart. I have known he and Deborah only a short time, but both are as good as gold. +++ HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAY locally to these folks: Eleanor Reddic, Anita Hunter, Mrs. W.L. Earley, Adam Keith Knight, Douglas Mount, Donna Gill, Sheila Clayton, Chris Rossum, Stella McIlveene, Logan Horne Jr., John Dustin Ammons, Joe G. Sanders, Jackson Brady Traywick, Brandon Yates

Some celebrities having birthdays today: Actor Peter Graves (still most famous for "Mission: Impossible!;" he's 82), country singer Charley Pride (70), singer Vanessa Williams (45), actress Queen Latifah (38), comedian Dane Cooke (36), and actor Brad Dourif (58).