bobcatfan

I'd like to know peoples definition of "tradition". Because if Buna does have tradition, it must date back a long time ago. I checked WOS's work on history forum to see Buna's tradition. Their last 20 years of being 3A, they made the playoffs twice as a 3rd place team and lost in the first round. Then they make the playoffs their first 2 years as a big 2A team, and get beat in the first round 97-11 in 2 playoff games to Newton. I dont know how far back their school record dates back, but it says they are around a .400 all time winning percentage. These are all facts not opinions. So i suppose Buna was usually good at sometime before 20 years ago. Does that mean they still can still say they have tradition today? What do yall think? [Hidden Content]

[Hidden Content] Wow, this was a great game to watch i imagine. These are 2 of the best 1A teams in Texas, it sucks they had to play in the first round. Honestly if they in a different side of the bracket and wouldve played each other in the regional finals it wouldnt be a huge surprise, they are that good. Traylon Shead had over 250 yards in this game for Cayuga. I saw him play basketball over the summer and this kid is a beast, and hes only a junior. Check out his highlight video as a SOPHOMORE.

[Hidden Content] Lots of teams around SE Texas on these scores, including Tarkington, Big Sandy, Coldspring, Zavalla, Liberty, Diboll, Leggett, etc.

I agree with you, but not for the 20 mil/year hes making. I've actually heard that the Yankees are in the tough spot now because of Jeter's defense, they will feel the need to move him to first or outfield because hes just too old to play the position. Go look at Jeters numbers and compare them to Hanley Ramirez. Jeter has never had 2 seasons as good as Hanley Ramirez, whos only played 3 full seasons in his career. Jeter is clearly on the downside of his career and Hanley is considered an elite player, so to take Jeter on your team over Hanley is just insane. Thats why i give OLGabe a hard time about this, nothing against him. lol. When i see articles like this i will take the opportunity to post them. lol. Oh by the way, Robert Horry has like 6-7 rings, does that mean you'd take him on your team over Elton Brand, Chris Bosh, or Amare Stoudemire? Ill stop there.

[Hidden Content] I posted this specifically for OLGabe, and his blind allegiance to Jeter. He sounds like some of the guys they interviewed in the article..lol This was the only link i could find that talked about this. Read the reaction to all the delusional New Yorkers. "How can Capt Jeter be last, thats ridiculous?? lol "Look at all his intangibles"..lol

I've gotten some pretty good information from a few sources so i know a little about this district. As tough as 21-3A is, 18-3A should be just as tough because of the depth of good teams in this 8 team district. I dont think Jasper can be considered the favorite in this district. Hudson and Center will likely battle it out for first place and make the playoffs. Then you have a group of teams likely battling for a playoff spot between Jasper, Carthage, Diboll, and Huntington. All the games between those teams will be a tough battle so every game will be crucial. Good luck to Jasper this season.

I play in the beaumont softball league, and i've enjoyed playing in it the past couple years. There are many things i like about it, but it has its flaws. I've heard many players complain some stuff, and some of it is legit. What happened last night in the playoffs may be the worst i've seen though. In the beaumont upper playoffs last night, there was a big controversy over the bracket, for good reason. The bracket had 4 teams in it, seeds 1 through 4. There are 3 really good teams that could've won it all last night so the 4 seed wasnt really a factor. Instead of doing #1 vs #4 and #2 vs #3, they did #1 vs #2 and #3 vs #4 as the first round matchups. So basically the #3 team had an easy game and got in the championship game while the #1 and #2 teams had to fight it out to get to the championship game. I have a hard time believing this was done on accident and its a shame. These teams show up and play all season to have a good record to get a good seed in the playoffs and they have to mess it up and penalize the top 2 teams. If people want to make a statement to beaumont softball, they should not sign up there next season and maybe beaumont will start doing everything right.

I think obviously it will come down to HJ and Silsbee. No offense to HJ, but i dont see how they are ranked ahead of Silsbee in the polls. Silsbee went all the way to state last season, and HJ lost a lot of players, so i think the smart pick here is Silsbee. I still think HJ will be very good with Burrell and Benard though. Orangefield will be very good again this year and i expect to them to be very competitive with HJ-Silsbee. WOS is kind of a wild card. I saw them play in a fall basketball game, and they had some athletic kids that can play. They could possibly take a step forward this year. Heres how i would rank the district preseason: 1. Silsbee 2. HJ 3. Orangefield 4. WOS 5. BC 6. HF Lets hear yalls preseason rankings...

I agree, Poppa, if you win there will be the prophets, but they wont be from Orangefield. Last season, the support for Orangefield was great from the other schools on this forum when they made the playoffs. If you go the OF message board, there is only a couple threads with a couple posts about the boys making the playoffs last season. On the other hand, you can read a 6 page thread about the girls in the playoffs. Yeah, Orangefield hasnt been a powerhouse in basketball in the past, but i think their program is in the best position to succeed in the next 5-10 years. I just wish the fans would get behind them more and its disappointing to know i am one of the few fans on this forum. HJ is community that cares a lot about their basketball program and its evident on this site, and i just hope that Orangefield could be like that one day. There are pieces in place, people just have to get on board with it.

As annoying as it is as a fan of another team to read countless threads about HJ, i have to admire the enthusiasm of the numerous fans HJ has out there. I wish it was the same at Orangefield. Our boys basketball team was the only team in the 3 major sports (football, basketball, baseball) to make the playoffs, and i imagine are the only team to be projected to make the playoffs this season. Despite all that, there is very little or no talk on the Orangefield message board about the basketball team. You can go on there now and read a lot of football talk, but no basketball. I posted a couple threads in the past couple weeks about basketball, and no one has responded on them. I know I am one of the few fans from Orangefield that posts on this forum, i'm probably outnumbered 50 to 1 by HJ fans, lol, and that disappoints me. Maybe things will change when basketball season gets here, but i doubt it. We have a great team this year, and i think we will give HJ and Silsbee a run for their money. We have a good JV group and our 6th and 8th grade groups are really talented also, so i expect us to be in the mix for several years. I'm sure there are people in Orangefield that are excited about that, but they either arent on the internet or they are and dont post...lol. I guess what i'm saying is i wish we had the enthusiasm and fan base of the HJ and Silsbee. Maybe after a couple years that changes (if we can start some tradition). But do yall sympathize with me? I'd like to hear your comments...

I would disagree with this ranking. I think Woodville would compete for a playoff spot in 23-2A, considering they just played Newton more competitively than East Chambers did (if you consider EC in the top 3). They also beat Warren pretty bad and beat a very good HJ team. I think we'll find out more about Shelbyville and San Augustine and how good they are in the next couple weeks. But San Augustine beat Alto, whos always good. Those 2 teams i think would be competitive and i dont think they'd come in last in 23-2A. The only team i know thats really bad in 22-2A is Hemphill. When you break it all down, its not even close, 22-2A is way better....

With the Dodgers on the clock to sign Manny now that their season is over, it'll be interesting to see how much he will sign for. He is getting up there in age, and he isnt the greatest outfielder. But he is still probably the best right handed hitter in baseball. So how much would you sign him for?

Gabe, i think you are the only person in the media in the US that thought that. Every mlb expert had the astros at the very best 3rd in the division and many had them getting 4th or 5th. Vegas, who knows a lot more than you and me, had the astros projected at 75 wins this season. The astros won 86 games (in 161 games) with a rotation with Roy Oswalt (who had a below average 1st half), oft injured Wandy Rodriguez, overachieving Brian Moehler, absolutely horrible Backe, and most of the season without Wolf. They played their last 2 months without their best offensive player this year, Carlos Lee. And they came back despite a poor Berkman 2nd half. Looking at all those facts, and the expectation they would be under .500 with a full team, winning 86 games is pretty dang good. So i think the players that contributed to those surprising 86 wins should receive some decent grades. Look at the Brewers and the Cubs, they had better teams and better rotations going into the season than the Astros, so its no surprise they had better records. Do you really think we shouldve won the central or the wild card? I think you're delusional if you really think that based on all the factors... You also said a couple years ago that we should trade Berkman, how about that now....

I definitely think HJ is in the mix for the playoffs this year. In my opinion, it will go WOS 1st, Silsbee 2nd, and i think all 4 teams, HJ, HF, OF, and BC are close and will fight it out for 3rd place. I think this week will say a lot about how this district is gonna end up. The WOS-Silsbee game will likely determine the district champion, and will tell whether Silsbee is closer to WOS or the rest of the pack. The HJ-BC and HF-OF games will be crucial for who will make the playoffs, and i think 2 winners will have a big leg up in the race. I think if one of these 4 teams wins big, i think you could kind of consider them an early favorite for the 3rd in district play.

Before i talk about the rankings, i want to thank bobcatfan4life for all the hard work he does, i know he puts a lot of time into this. With that said, i would like an explanation on the rankings because i dont agree with them..lol Buna ahead of Newton?? If Buna plays Newton next week, i promise everyone on this board outside of Buna would pick Newton to win big. Newton has lost by 6 a borderline top 10 2A school, Corrigan Camden, and lost by 4 to a very good playoff caliber Diboll team (who beat 4A Nacogdoches). Oh yeah, and Newton destroyed #4 East Chambers, i was at the game. Bunas biggest wins are over unranked Orangefield and #5 Kountze. Also, how is Woodville left out? They beat a pretty good HJ team, and lost a close game to #5 Kountze. Woodville beat Warren pretty handily last week. And Warren defeated #9 West Hardin. Woodville deserves to be at least 7th or 8th on that list. I think strength of schedule is not being accounted for because some of these teams play way harder schedules and are being penalized for losses, and teams with cupcake schedules get ranked higher for their records. Just my 2 cents... I know its just rankings and they dont mean anything and its just for fun and for guys like me to get on here and talk about them...lol

I agree with Nederland Bulldogs, and its not even close... Take a look at 13-4A... 13-4A: Hallsville, Longview, Longview Pine Tree, Marshall, Mount Pleasant, Sulphur Springs, Texas High I dont know if any team in 20-4A could make the playoffs if you added them to that district...

Yeah i thought of that and i imagine that had a hand in it. But how many ships were in the Atlantic? Have you seen the tracks of some of those storms? Some of those hurricanes started way out in the ocean and had some crazy tracks. I dont know how its possible for the ships to keep up with the track of these storms all the way through, and know what the wind speeds are also. I cant imagine even if the ships were able to manage to track all these storms, they would do it with any kind of accuracy.

I dont know if you knew this Coop but i'm a huge weather fan. I watch the weather channel a lot during hurricane season. I'm fascinated by the history of hurricanes. I was looking at wikipedia earlier on some past hurricanes and found hurricane seasons dating back to pre-1900. You can go back and look at hurricane seasons before 1900, and they will show you the track and wind speeds of each hurricane. My question is, how is it possible they know that? How do they know the exact track and top wind speeds of hurricanes back then? I know they had no technology back then, and no satellites either. Its not like they were flying reconnaissance airplanes out there to check out the storms and track them. lol. So how can they give an exact track of a storm and wind speed and say with certainty? I havent read anywhere that it was a guess, but are they just making an educated guess? Heres a link to those storms... [Hidden Content]_(Pre-1900) I also wanted to give you a bonus "did you know". Did you know the late John Hope who was a meteorologist for the weather channel and worked at the National Hurricane Center, added his daughters name to the list of hurricane names back in 1969 which turned out to be one the strongest and deadliest landfalling hurricane in US history, Camille.

I just got the new Texpreps magazine, so i thought i'd share it with yall. I'll post their district picks on here, and we can let the discussion begin on whethere you agree or disagree with their picks... 21-5A PA Memorial Galena Park North Shore West Brook Channelview Baytown Sterling Baytown Lee 20-4A Ozen Central Vidor Nederland Livingston LCM PNG Lumberton 18-3A Hudson Center Jasper Carthage Diboll Huntington Central Rusk 21-3A Hardin Jefferson Silsbee Orangefield Bridge City West Orange Stark Hamshire Fannett 22-3A Cleveland Coldspring Splendora Huffman Liberty Tarkington Shepherd 22-2A Newton Shelbyville San Augustine Woodville Kirbyville Hemphill 23-2A Kountze Anahuac East Chambers Hardin Deweyville Warren Buna 23-1A Big Sandy Alto Grapeland Lovelady Latexo 25-1A Spurger Hull Daisetta Sabine Pass Evadale West Hardin High Island 25-1A-II Goodrich Brookeland Leggett Chester Apple Springs Chireno Groveton Centerville If you are interested in the rest of east Texas, you can go here to see all of the east Texas picks. [Hidden Content]

AL MVP: Carlos Quentin - He was a shoe in for the award till he got hurt, and the Sox werent as good when he left. His end of year numbers still look great. NL MVP: Ryan Howard- I dont like the average, but he did come up big for them. I have no problem if you say Pujols, i could go with that too. AL Cy Young- Cliff Lee - He was so good this year, its hard to give it to anyone else. K rod wont make it because some voters dont like closers for the Cy. NL Cy Young- Tim Lincecum - You cant fault or penalize him for being on a bad team, and the fact that he won 18 games on this team is impressive. AL ROY- Evan Longoria - I'd make Alexei Ramirez a close 2nd, he came up big for them. NL ROY- Geovany Soto- Story of the Year- Its the Rays and its not even close, best story in baseball history... If you think its the Yankees or Mets, its because you've been brainwashed by ESPN.

You can forget about the Padres trading Peavy for Lee. The point of trading Peavy for them is that he would be a salary dump, so trading for Lee's even bigger salary wouldnt make sense. The only way we get Peavy is if we offer them prospects, if we have any to give...

Lance Berkman: B - Had one of the hottest stretches during the month of may that i've ever seen. He struggled in july and september, and most of the 2nd half when the astros made their run and needed him most. His bottom line numbers were only ok compared to some of his previous seasons. Carlos Lee: A- - If not for his broken finger, i think he wouldve been the astros MVP this season. Despite having over 100 less ABs, his numbers are very similar to berkman. Miguel Tejada: C+ - Started out with a great April and was only decent the rest of the way. He was an upgrade at SS offensively, but astros fans were expecting more like 20hr,80-100 rbis, not 13hr, 66 rbi, especially hitting in front of berkman. He was a little better than i expected defensively, but hes no adam everett.. Ty Wigginton: B+ - Was having an ok season, then Lee went down with an injury, and Wiggy caught fire and carried the team in august and was a big part of their late season run. His willingness to play out of position and play Lee's position was admirable and he did a decent job there. Kaz Matsui: B - In his first season with the astros he was better than i expected. He played very good defense and worked the count better than anyone on the team. I thought he made a good leadoff man too. His biggest problem was injuries and staying on the field. Hunter Pence: B - He put up 25 hr, 83 rbi, 279 ba in his first full season. Maybe a little below expectations, but still not bad. He did play a great right field though and i saw improvement in his plate discipline at the end of the year so there is reason for encouragement going into next season. Geoff Blum: B+ - Put up career highs in homers and rbis so you could say he exceeded expectations. He filled in nicely when Wiggy moved to left and Blum came up big in a few spots late in the season. His average prevented him from a higher grade. Michael Bourn: C - Played a good center field and was a very good base stealer. He wasnt a good leadoff hitter though and had a bad average. He did show some improvement in the last month of the season, so lets hope that carries over to next year. Darin Erstad: A- - Did a real good job pinch hitting and filled nicely in spot starts. I thought he was a good addition to the team this year. Brad Ausmus: C - He does about what you expect and that is put up below average offensive numbers, i'm not too disappointed hes retiring. Roy Oswalt: B+ - Despite putting up a career high in home runs allowed and ERA, this was a very good season for Oswalt. He didnt have a good first half, but he played through injuries. He gave up less hits than IP, his K/BB ratio and whip was good, and his batting average allowed was his best since 03'. Lets not forget the club record scoreless innings streak... Wandy Rodriguez: B - Put up pretty good numbers and injuries shortened what couldve been a pretty good season. He had a nice 3.54 era but only pitched 137 innings Brian Moehler: B+ - Was inserted in the rotation after the first month of the season and did a pretty solid job, putting up double digit wins and a 4.50 era that was below 4 at the end of august. Randy Wolf: A- - Was a surprise pickup at the end of the season and went on to go 6-2 with and era around 3.50 and the astros were 10-2 in his starts. He was one of the reasons for the astros late season surge. Brandon Backe: F - When you throw only 166 innings in 31 starts and manage an ERA over 6 what grade should you expect? He was wildly inconsistent and got worse at the end of the season. His future as an astros is definitely up in the air. Geoff Geary: B+ - Came in in the Lidge deal and put up a 2.53 era, which was much better than i expected. He turned out to be a pretty good arm in the bullpen. Wesley Wright: B- - Was a surprise player to make the roster and did pretty good most of the year, he did taper off at the end to have a subpar era. Latroy Hawkins: A+ - He was almost perfect after coming to the Astros, giving up only 1 ER in 21 IP, and was an important part of the bullpen late in the season. Chris Sampson: B+ - Struggled as a starter for the first few months, then accepted his role as a reliever and went on to post a sub 3 era as a reliever. Doug Brocail: B - Was the setup guy most of the year and did a pretty good job for a guy you didnt know what to expect from. Jose Valverde: A- - After struggling in the first month and blowing 3 saves, he went on to blow only 4 more saves the rest of the season and led the NL in saves with 44. Cecil Cooper: B+ - He made some moves throughout the season that i questioned and i thought before the season this team could be under .500 and they exceeded that. He should be praised for bringing the team back to contention... Ed Wade: B - Bourn and Villareal didnt work out too well, but Valverde, Erstad, Geary, Brocail, Matsui, Wolf and Hawkins all worked out. I'd say his deals had mixed results.

This how i would rank the teams in my opinion based on what i know... WOS- They have the state titles and they are always good plus the winning %, say what you want, but they should be #1 on everyones list. Newton- They have some state titles and you can always count on them making the playoffs, they are always good. PNG/Nederland- Have a lot of tradition and are usually good but i would put a notch below the top 2. Jasper/Silsbee- Jasper made it all the way to the title game in 04', these teams are consistently in the playoffs usually. West Brook- I wouldnt count schools that arent around anymore because how can they have "tradition" when they dont exist anymore?

Check out the rankings, a lot of southeast Texas and east Texas teams in there. (i put setx in bold and east texas in italics). Should make for an interesting year. Did anyone get left out? 3A 1. Burkburnett 2. Hardin-Jefferson 3. Argyle 4. Lubbock Estacado 5. Silsbee 6. Crockett 7. San Antonio Sam Houston 8. Dallas Roosevelt 9. West Oso 10. Cleveland 2A 1. Ponder 2. New Waverly 3. Kountze 4. Edgewood 5. Tuscola Jim Ned 6. Shallowater 7. Whitewater 8. Newton 9. Hearne 10. Arp 1A-I 1. Cayuga 2. Thorndale 3. Big Sandy 4. Itasca 5. Roscoe 6. Graford 7. Petrolia 8. Bartlett 9. Sudan 10. Plains 1A-II 1. Laneville 2. Goodrich 3. Nazareth 4. Slocum 5. Lorenzo 6. Paducah 7. Lipan 8. Brookeland 9. Rule 10. Happy

[Hidden Content] Oswalt goes out on 3 days rest to beat the Reds for the 23rd time in his career with only 1 loss, which is one of the best in MLB history vs one opponent. Oswalt is 28-8 in sept and oct, one of the best in history. After starting with a 7-8 record, Oswalt ended 2nd half of the season on a 10-2 run. Oswalt has one of the best post all star winning percentages ever among active pitchers, only percentage pts behind Johan Santana. Although Oswalt had a career high in era and home runs allowed in a season, he maintained his excellent strikeout to walk ratio, he allowed 9 less hits than inninngs pitched, and his batting average allowed was the best hes had in over 4 seasons. He also broke the club record in scoreless innings streak in his late season run. If not for his bad first 3 starts of the season playing through an injury, he would have an era closer to 3 than 3 and a half. 6 of his 10 losses were also when he gave up 3 earned runs or less. People will look at the 10 losses and the 3.54 era and say this was Oswalts worst season in his career, but if you look at the other stats and consider his injury, his first 3 bad starts, and his great late season run, you could argue it was possibly one of his better seasons....