Certain things are automatic in Murrieta. The summers are hot. The Santa Rosa Plateau is gorgeous. Murrieta Hot Springs Road is a mess. And Dick Sherman and Joe Sehorn are at Murrieta Valley High School games.

These guys are as faithful as Hillary Clinton. Sherman, a member of the boys basketball boosters, spends eight hours at the school on game days, setting up the snack stand, then cheering on the junior varsity girls, junior varsity boys, varsity girls and varsity boys teams, before finally breaking down the snack stand.

Sehorn hasn't missed a varsity football game in the school's history, meaning he's seen about a hundred straight games.

He's also a basketball fanatic. He sits in the same spot at every home game, stomping his black boots and loudly leading cheers. The paint on the bleachers below his feet has been worn away.

"DEFENSE!!!," he shouts, slamming his boots down on the poor bleachers during a recent game. "DEFENSE!!! (Stomp! Stomp!), DEFENSE!!!" (Stomp! Stomp!).

Within moments the school cheerleaders and many other fans pick up the chant.

They know who their leader is.

Sehorn and Sherman are also regulars at the school's baseball games. The funny thing is that neither has a kid on the teams they so rabidly follow.

They simply love getting to know the players, they enjoy cheering them on, it helps them to feel a part of the community, and they appreciate the purity of high school sports. How quaint is that.

Each proudly wears a school letter jacket to games and they usually sit together. The silver-haired, mild-mannered Sherman, a 73-year-old retired plumbing contractor, has the number "45" stitched on his jacket, signifying the year he graduated from high school.

Sehorn, a 51-year-old security officer, has his nickname, "Superfan," etched on his jacket. Sherman's as quiet as Sehorn is loud at the games, the yin and the yang of Murrieta sports.

Each connects with the kids off the courts and fields as well. Sherman is teaming up with coach Steve Tarabilda and school board member Austin Linsley to carpool varsity players this year. But Sherman just does it because he wants to spend time with the players and help out.

"I get more out of them than they get out of me," Sherman says of the team.

Sehorn, whose wife, Shirley, is a Murrieta elementary school teacher, stresses what's really important by never failing to ask players if they're keeping their grades up. He says his devotion to the Murrieta teams sends a message to the kids as well. " Eighty-five percent of supporting the child is just showing up for them," he said. "Consistency and stability are important to them, seeing the same faces all the time."

Varsity basketball players C. J. Richardson and Dan Larsen appreciate the backing. Larsen says Sherman could be likened to the team's faithful grandfather, a guy who's always there when you need him. "I like him a lot. You feel like you can talk with him about anything."

Richardson says no matter how packed the stands might be for games, Sehorn's booming voice always stands out. "He's always the first one to cheer and the last one to finish."

Coach Tarabilda can't say enough about the wonderful contributions Sherman and Sehorn make to his team. "Anytime you have supporters that don't have kids in the program you know you have something special ... These men are here to serve others. That is a quality that is being lost in our society today. More people should follow their example. This is a trait that I hope our players pick up on and apply to their own lives."

Sherman and Sehorn go to great lengths to be there for the kids. The basketball team took a 536-mile round trip to Arroyo Grande last year and the pair sat side by side on the team bus. "I travel with them no matter how far it is," Sherman says. "It was a privilege to be asked to go. It was one of the best experiences I've ever had."

Sehorn says he feels rewarded for his efforts when kids he sees around town tell him how much they appreciate him. One kid had it right when he shouted at Sehorn, "You the man, Superfan, you the man!"

"That's why I keep coming back," Sehorn says. "It's important to them and that's why I need it."

Too bad Sherman and Sehorn can't cheer all of us on.