Fielder's Choice

I now have a North Alabama Lions face mask.

It came last week ­ a gift from youngest daughter Erin. It's my new favorite.

Since I guess mid-year 2020 or maybe a bit earlier, face masks have become common attire.

I started out wearing those disposable blue masks, the kind that come in a box. And I still grab one of those occasionally when I do not have access to another.

I've had two Atlanta Braves masks.

I stretched the elastic bands on the first one too much ­ pulling it down a lot and wearing under my chin when I was taking photos, working at my computer or trying to talk to someone a little more clearly. I wear the second one regularly.

At Christmas, we all wore Christmas masks for our family get-togethers. Mine was decorated with Santa Claus. My wife Pam purchased those for all of us.

I have some other masks, too ­ like a reversible black or gray one.

Everywhere we go I see masks for sale ­ from convenience stores to sporting goods stores. A year ago today, that was not the case.

I will admit. Initially I thought ­ "I'm not going to wear one of those things."

Then I gradually changed my mind.

The worst part for me is I also wear eyeglasses. With a mask, they constantly fog over.

Then typically when I start to take the mask off, it gets tangled up in the arms of the eyeglasses.

These days I keep two or three masks at my desk so I can put one on when I'm waiting on customers at the front desk and two or three in my truck for when I go into businesses or schools. And I have a few more laying around the house.

Wearing a mask has not totally become a habit with me, but it's close. My ears seem to finally be adjusting.

The variety of masks available is intriguing ­ from surgical-type masks to bandanas, from homemade cloth masks and neck gaiters to cone-style masks.

I have one of the neck gaiters at home. I tried it once and didn't like it. When Pam ordered it for me, I thought it would be my favorite.

Those seemed to be preferred by a lot of athletes ­ easy to just pull down around their necks when the game starts.

I see a lot of basketball coaches, particularly at the college level, on TV wearing mesh-type masks with what looks like tiny holes in them.

I read about the effectiveness of some of these different masks and most comments said, "It depends on their construction."

I see comments from "experts" that vary ­ one says a particular type works best and then another says the same one doesn't work well at all.

Bottom line, masks are still required.

The virus numbers have climbed and climbed to kick off 2021.

At the same time, we have to keep the faith, have hope and be fervent in our prayers.

We're all looking forward to a somewhat normal lifestyle again.

And we're looking forward to trashing all these masks and never seeing one again.