Currently Reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest By Ken Kesey see related

Some Basketball Thoughts

Okay, don't adjust your computer screens: I am actually--gasp--updating. I finally found something else I would like some opinons on regarding sports: what does it mean when your school's girls basketball team barely beats the golf team in a scrimmage? Does that mean the golf team is good at basketball or the girls basketball team isn't very good? Granted, our golf team has some respectable basketball players, but come on... I was in the best five.

Firstly, you've got to be able to pass out of a double team in the low post, as that should creating scoring opportunities for teammates (somebody else has to be open if the offense has good spacing). In the five or six times I actually managed to provide help defense in the low block, there were only one or two times the ball was successfully cleared out--the other times were turnovers. Secondly, all of the screens they ran were very poorly executed. I only once had serious trouble getting around a screen in a thirty to forty minute scrimmage. They were also careless passing the ball which resulted in many turnovers--even throwing the ball away is preferable to throwing a lazy pass that gives the other team a 1-on-none break. Lastly, what's up with only getting 6 or 7 baskets out of 10 or so tries on 3 on 1 and 4 on 1 fastbreaks?

As for the NBA playoffs, the Mavs are up 2-1 on the Spurs after 3 games! Avery Johnson has really done a great job getting the Mavs to play tough defense. The main question for game 4 is the health of Dirk Nowitski after his ankle was hurt at the end of game 3. The Spurs desperately need game 4 to even the series; otherwise, a 3-1 disadvantage is very difficult to come back from, though it is possible (the Suns-Lakers series earlier in the playoffs is an example).  

Anyway, for anybody who's actually reading this, I suppose I'll provide a trivia question or two just for fun.

Question 1: What Major League Baseball player currently leads the league in home runs (for the season)?

Question 2: What is the name of the main character on the TV show 24? 

Anyway, later everybody.

Wow! What an ending to the 5A Football State Championship! Bixby led East Central 7-3 with just over 3 minutes to go in the game. East Central had First and Goal at the Bixby 2-yard line. East Central ran up the middle on 1st down, but they were stopped short. Same thing on 2nd and 3rd down. With a 4th and Goal inside the 2, the Cards had a bad snap out of the shotgun and gave the ball up on downs. Bixby took over at their own 6 with about 2:40 to play, and East Central had no timeouts left. Bixby made a first down with 2:05 left to get into position to run out the clock. Game over, right?

As Lee Corso would say, "Not so fast my friend!" On the following 1st down play, Bixby's tailback was hit in the backfield and fumbled the football. East Central recovered. On the first play of that drive, Randy Palmer hit wide receiver Corey Taylor in the endzone for a touchdown. The extra point try failed, but Bixby could not recover, and Boles was picked off by Corey Taylor on a desperation pass down field with about 20 seconds to go. East Central ran out the clock and to take the game 9-7 and win their first 5A football state championship! Congrautlations to the Cardinals and Coach Travis Hill on a great season!

The University of Tulsa won the Conference USA Championship a couple of weeks ago, earning them a Liberty Bowl berth. Tulsa has a good enough team to hang with Fresno State, which has looked bad in losses to Louisiana Tech and Nevada since playing USC close, and I think that if the Golden Hurricane can establish the running game then they will beat the Bulldogs. Unless OU wins a tough game against Oregon in the Holiday bowl and TU loses to Fresno, then TU will have the best record of the 3 Division 1-A teams in the state--that hasn't happened in quite a while. Garrett Mills was named a 3rd team All American at Tight End, although he should have been 1st Team.

That's all for now. Everyone have a great Christmas, a happy New Year, and a nice break from school. 

Booker T. played Shawnee tonight at Shawnee. After a scoreless first quarter, the Hornets took the lead on a Jackson Seigbert 23-yard field goal. The lead increased to 10-0 when Justin Fuselier picked up a Tucker Brown fumble and ran it back 75 yards for a score.

Shawnee came to play in the second half though. The Wolves took their opening possession of the third period all the way down the field for a score to cut the Hornet lead to 10-7. The Wolves failed to capitalize on an intereception on their next possession, but Booker T. penalties on their following offensive series backed them way up. Early in the 4th quarter, a bad snap resulted in a Jackson Seigbert punt being blocked and recovered by the Wolves at the Booker T. 3-yard line. Tucker Brown punched it in on 2nd and goal to give the Wolves a 14-10 lead. However, Michael Harris gave the Hornets good field position by returning the kick almost to midfield. The Hornets drove to inside the Wolves 25, but a crucial sack on 3rd and 2 gave Booker T. a 4th and 13 that they failed to convert. Shawnee managed to hold onto the ball for the final 5 minutes to win the game 14-10.

A fight with 19 seconds to go, however, led to ejections for players from both sides, one of them being Shawnee QB Tucker Brown. Ejections carry an automatic suspension for the following two games, so Shawnee's chances against East Central look rather bleak.

Booker T. finishes the year 8-4, with all four losses coming by a margin of less than 10 points.

Hi everybody! Booker T. won last Friday night 44-27 over Claremore to advance to the second round of the class 5A playoffs. Michael Harris rushed for 344 yards (!) on only 20 carries, an average of 17.2 yards per carry! This Saturday we play at Shawnee. A win would advance us to the state semifinals! 

Thanksgiving is coming up in just over a week! Five day weekends are awesome! Holidays with good food and football make it even better!

Dallas came back from down 13 points with less than 4 minutes to play last night to beat Philadelphia 21-20 on a Roy Williams interception return for a touchdown. Dallas is tied for the NFC East lead with the Giants. Next up is Detroit. If Dallas can win this game, they are in really good shape going into Thanksgiving weekend. Meanwhile, in college football, TU is bowl eligible after their win over East Carolina. If they can beat Tulane Saturday and finish the regular season 7-4, it will be a very good 2005 campaign, especially if it can be capped with a bowl win. TU has not won a bowl game since 1991...

School has been tiring lately. College applications have been annoying too. I sometimes feel like the only time I get much time to work with I can't do anything (except possibly schoolwork) with it.

Anyway, everyone have a good week! 

Today we had tryouts for the school golf team. I hit the ball well the whole time, but my putting was awful so I shot 7-over par (39) for 9 holes. Patrick, who was our best player last year, shot 35. A few other people shot 37, 38, or 39. It looks like we will have a deep team this year. The problem is that we are playing in 6A this year, which means we have to deal with Jenks.

So, can the Astros rebound from being down 2-0 in the World Series? Comment me to tell me what you think. Talk to you all later.