The Study of Sports Podcast, Oct. 10, 2025: The costs of attending high school sports, grass football fields, our favorite coaches growing up, and of course Mariners talk

In this episode of The Study of Sports, host Paul Valencia of Clark County Today joins sports administrators Tony Liberatore and Cale Piland to talk high school ticket prices, the debate over natural grass football fields, favorite coaches from childhood, and the latest Mariners fan frustrations.
In this episode of The Study of Sports, host Paul Valencia of Clark County Today joins sports administrators Tony Liberatore and Cale Piland to talk high school ticket prices, the debate over natural grass football fields, favorite coaches from childhood, and the latest Mariners fan frustrations.

Reporter Paul Valencia and sports administrators Tony Liberatore and Cale Piland discuss high school sports first, and we also talk pro sports — Mariners fans are stressed

Paul Valencia
ClarkCountyToday.com

A little bit of this and a little bit of that on this recording of The Study of Sports.

This latest episode was recorded on Thursday, Oct, 9, and the weather forecast for Oct. 10 was rain throughout the day. That would make for a couple of fun football games because there are still two football fields with natural grass in the 2A GSHL and Trico League.

So we ask our sports administrators what they love about natural grass in sports, but also give us some insight on why most schools around here will never go back to natural grass.
We also talk about the costs of attending high school sports and this trend to no longer accept cash at high school sporting events. Why? Well, the administrators have some good reasons. 

Plus we talk about our favorite coaching when we were young. 

And we gauge the stress level of our Mariner fans.

It’s the Study of Sports, with your hosts Paul Valencia, a reporter for Clark County Today, and sports administrators Tony Liberatore and Cale Piland.   

Our podcast format is simple: A longtime sports reporter (Paul Valencia) discusses high school sports, and more, with longtime sports administrators and former coaches. Cale Piland is the former head football coach at Evergreen and Union and is now the athletic director for Evergreen Public Schools. Tony Liberatore is a former assistant coach and athletic director at Columbia River and is now an associate principal at Fort Vancouver. 

We’re always interested in subject ideas for a future podcast. Email us a subject idea.

Send us your thoughts at: paul.v@clarkcountytoday.com.


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