My significant other and I play Wordle every night, right after Wheel of Fortune - queue up the snickering.

Since I started this gig in mid-August, I’ve been pushing for words like Mauch, trail and 2-tree.

“Two-tree? How do you spell it?”

“T-U-T-R-E.”

“That’s not a word. It sounds like you’re heading to Mollie’s for a couple cold ones.”

Wordle’s concept is simple - you have six tries to guess a five-letter word. It’s implementation is stressful (I know, stress and a word game usually don’t co-exist, but I get paid to deal with words so it’s hair-pulling to me).

After weeks of turning down my suggestions - including bacon, youse and lager - she finally agreed to chunk.

We entered C-H-U-N-K on our phones (we play on our own phone because we are visual learners and I’m a terrible sharer, especially food) and hit enter - not one of the letters was right.

I knew what was coming.

I got The Look.

We’ve all either gotten The Look or given The Look - that quick snap of the head, one eye slightly cocked, jaw set firm. The look that says, “Really?”

This week, Palmerton gets The Look.

Really, Blue Bombers?

No. 9 - Tie: Panther Valley and Pine Grove

I see Sports Editor Emmett McCall has thrown the red challenge flag on this one. What? Pine Grove is not in our coverage area? But they are trying really hard to be No. 1 in the Empathy Rankings. Consider: No. Lehigh 61, Pine Grove 0. Jim Thorpe 66, Pine Grove 14. ... and tonight Pine Grove plays a ticked-off Palmerton squad.

No. 8 - Marian

The Colts are like the time change - spring ahead, fall back ... fall back, spring ahead.

No. 7 - Lehighton

No. 6 - Tamaqua

No. 5 - Jim Thorpe

Last week told us nothing about these three teams. Jim Thorpe and Tamaqua crushed Pine Grove and Salisbury, respectively, and Lehighton hung with Northwestern for a bit, but the Indians loss to Tamaqua on Sept. 2 is still semi-fresh in my 63-year-old mind.

No. 4 - Palmerton

The Blue Bombers have Pine Grove tonight. Please, pretty please with Claude’s Creamery sprinkles on top, don’t make me give you The Double Look next week.

No. 3 - Pleasant Valley

Parkland is not unbeatable, but this is the Bears’ toughest opponent to date. A win gets Pleasant Valley to 6-0 but, more importantly in my eyes, would justify a big jump in the rankings.

No. 2 - Northwestern

Saucon Valley tonight. Three close losses to good teams for the Panthers. A good test for the Tigers.

No. 1 - Northern Lehigh

A lot to shovel here. First, the Bulldogs do not lose the top spot because North Schuylkill is really, really good. Two, the team right behind them, Northwestern, lost to the Bulldogs. Now onto tonight’s game - Salisbury. The talon-less Falcons have lost three games this season to Times News area teams - none with a winning record - by a combined score of 120-25. Factor in last week’s 31-0 loss to North Schuylkill, and the only question is when will the Bulldogs get to the mercy-rule mandatory 35 point lead?