Road to the Final Four goes through Zags, Griz

Don't tell anyone, but there is no snow on the ground in Spokane. Not one flake.

I know this because I spent the weekend helping to coach some of the best nine and 10-year-old soccer players in the world.

OK, make that the Inland Northwest.

If you haven't spent a lot of time with children this age, you are missing something.

The first thing you have to notice is they are a lot more worldly and smart then we ever were at that age.

They know computers. I'm pretty sure at that age I was still trying to master tying my shoes. I definitely wouldn't have understood the intricacies of the third level of Halo. Pac Man was still some computer geek's fantasy in my youth. Pong showed up around high school. Missile Command was big when I was in high school but it cost 50 cents to play in the bowling alley.

I enjoy explaining the science behind some of the contraptions I grew up with to my 10-year-old son, Austin. Take the 8-track player … please!

"It's kind of like an iPod, son, only the 8-track would stop in the middle of a song make a clicking noise and start playing again," I explained in my best Mr. Science voice.

"That's pretty stupid, Dad," he said. He is right.

We also have a manual typewriter at home for decoration. Lord help me if I actually wanted to use it. Do they even make typewriter ribbons for manual typewriters anymore? I think the toner sales folks pushed all of the old typewriters into the sea.

I told Austin that the typewriter now sitting on my dresser was so old, it had a horse-drawn carriage. The humor of the moment was dampened when I had to explain what a carriage was.

The changing vocabulary in this computer savvy generation first hit me when my nominee for one of the coolest kids around, Paul Meyer, stayed over at our house between the two nights of the Spokane soccer tournament.

He is the son of Steve and Julie Meyer. If you ask him, he is going to be a "game tester" when he grows up.

He also rides his bike to school. Rain, snow, sun. It doesn't matter. He's on the bike.

"So, Austin, what kind of gaming system do you have?" Paul chirped as he got in our car. Just as fast, Austin replied he was the proud owner of a PS2.

Important parenting note: Austin earned the PS2 with his own money and as a reward for mastering the multiplication tables up to 12 times 12 a few years ago.

During the next 90 minutes, they compared gaming systems, compared their favorite games, did a little troubleshooting. One good sign, no talk about girls … yet.

Although, some of their mutual friends are already bragging about girlfriends and dates. At 10. Hello? Some have cellphones. Some play games online.

Paul's favorite game is the latest Star Wars adventure.

As near as I can tell, any prediction about the next generation of kids causing the world to skip a beat is unfounded.

It's fun to hang around our future leaders.

These kids know the value of a dollar. They know how to have fun. They have a work ethic and, they all know how to fix the blinking 12:00 on the VCR/DVD.

Congrats to Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and his appointment as the U.S. Interior Secretary.

It is hard to believe Bonner County added 840 jobs last year. That's the most in the county's history.

The Bonner County Economic Development Corp. has done an outstanding job attracting businesses here. What may be as important for the next few years is for the BCEDC to help find the answer to the affordable housing quandary that threatens any kind of economic development. BCEDC head David Slaughter says it is a priority.

The road to the Final Four goes through Gonzaga and Montana. Mark my words …

E-mail of the week.

This is really cool!

If you can read this, you have a strange mind too. Can you raed tihs? 1 in 8 plepoe can.

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David Keyes is publisher of the Bee. His column runs weekly.