We could talk about the ups and downs of Tiger Woods' golf career.

Or we could ponder the future of Tim Tebow now that he's wearing a New York Jets uniform.

Or we could even discuss the hot start of the Baltimore Orioles versus the slow start of the Philadelphia Phillies at the beginning of this major league baseball season.

But the most interesting sports conversation I've had in the last week or two has to do with high school athletics. Specifically, how high school sports have changed since I played in the mid-1960s.

And they've changed a lot.

By the way, this was a conversation I had with a fellow who is less than half my age, which means I'd been out of high school for more than 20 years before he was even born. So he has no memory whatsoever of what high school athletics might have been offered to students in York County way back when.

I only hoped I had enough memory left in the old brain to answer his questions.

He wanted to know, for example, if high school sports in York County had changed all that much since I'd played, back in the day when basketball players wore shorts that didn't fall below the knees and baseball was played with wool uniforms and wooden bats.

And keep in mind they were the days when gasoline cost 18-cents a gallon, TVs were black and white and all the telephones were on a party line.

I had to think about it for a few seconds. Change? Well, it depends.

Yes, it's changed a bit for the boys. But maybe not the way you might think. Yes, boys played golf in the mid-1960s, and cross-country, tennis, football, wrestling, basketball, baseball, track and field and swimming/diving (though not at my high school). We also played volleyball, but it was an intramural sport back then.

And that's it. I think. It seemed like a pretty full plate for the guys.

Since then, they've added soccer and lacrosse for boys. Now the plate is overflowing.

Well, the young fellow said, it doesn't sound like it changed all that much.

Like I said, maybe not for the boys.

But for the girls? Well, that's a different story. And all for the better.

Please forgive me if my memory is less than perfect on this, but I'm thinking the girls at my high school -- that would be West York -- were lucky if they had three or four official sports to participate in.

Let's make a list: Field hockey and volleyball for certain. That's two. And, if you're of a mind to consider cheerleading a sport, then cheerleading.

But basketball for girls back in the day was something called three-on-three or four-on-four -- every basket scored was followed by a jump ball -- and even then it was intramural. Girls did play tennis. But I don't recall there being a girls' golf program. Cross-country, either, now that I think about it.

Girls did swim, but only if their high school had a swimming program. Fifty years ago, I don't believe a high school in York County -- not even York Suburban -- had one for girls.

Track and field for girls? Forget it.

So that was about it. Three interscholastic sports for girls. Plus cheerleading.

If I'm wrong about that, please feel free to correct me.

Over the years, programs for softball, lacrosse, soccer, track and field, basketball and golf were added to the girls' side of the ledger.

The number of girls' sports tripled in 50 years, while the boys just added two.

On any given night at this time of the year in York County, you can find high school girls playing soccer, softball, lacrosse or track and field -- none of which were available to girls back in the day.

When it comes to high school sports, we live in a time of plenty -- boys and girls, both.

But the way things are going these days with education funding, school budgets and such, I wouldn't be surprised if 50 years from today, some old codger might be having the reverse conversation with some young fellow, comparing now to then and lamenting the fact that there are hardly any high school sports -- boys or girls -- being played anymore.

Full circle in 100 years or less.

It's something to think about.

Sports columns by Larry A. Hicks, Dispatch columnist, run Thurs days. E-mail: lhick s@yorkdispatch.com.