For the Fourth of July, every newspaper in our chain set out to compose a number of feature stories on some of the most interesting and controversial topics on our beats. Andrew Santillo and I worked together to write three pieces on the cost of summer sports and what the increasing importance of the offseason has to do with the high school sports scene.

For the main story on the costs associated with chasing down the scholarship dream, click here.

College coaches from across the country attended the GymRat Challenge, an AAU Tournament recently held at Siena College and UAlbany. (Photo by Mike McMahon - The Record).

For a story on the state of the three-sport athlete, click here.

Andrew Santillo investigated how the rest of the world approaches youth sports, finding that the United States is one of the few countries where "pay to play" is a rule, not an exception. For the full story, click here.

Our Ed Weaver also wrote a piece on Major League Baseball memories of some Collar City-area baseball fans. To read that, click here.

For links to all of The Record's Ben Franklin Project stories, click here.

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Now that I'm back from vacation, what do you want to read about this summer? What are we missing out there?

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