scoopno1

I haven't missed a game except when I was out of state for years but I had knee surgery today and will probably watch this one on Texan Live.

Congratulations to Coach McDonald. I can't say that I really know him but the coaches at Lumberton have been pleasant to work with in recent years. The same can be said for Kountze and Silsbee. Most of them seem to realize that I now work only part time. They try to help as much as they can. Readers and others who are not involved in the programs probably do not realize how hard school administrations have made it to gather information from coaches at the various schools. Half the time you can't get in contact with the coaches and you can't interview them because you can't get past the front door. You have to do a lot of work by email or over the phone when you can catch them. One of my friends who used to work in the local golden triangle media told me a couple of weeks ago that at the media he worked at they now have one reporter trying to cover 32 high schools.

I've been wanting to respond to this.. I get to see most of these players up close more than most people. Boulwen is pretty closed to 6'4". Walker is probably in the 6'1" tp 6'2" range. Johnson may actually be bigger than 6'2" He has grown an incredible amount since football season. I would not be at all surprised if he was 6'4" or more by next year. On top of that he just finished third in the district 200 and ran legs on the 4x100 and 4x200 that placed third. I feel he probably will be able to take Miller's place on the court and may well be the best athlete on the floor. I would love to think that Troy might grow another inch or two before next year.

I am the Mayor of Silsbee..... I am retired now after running the newspaper in Silsbee for over 30 years and another 18 years or so in other locations in Colorado and Nebraska. Anderson Land, the Mayor of Jasper, and is also a very familiar voice on KJAS, called this week with a friendly wager that if Silsbee loses I will have to wear a Jasper Bulldog T-Shirt to the next Silsbee council meeting and he will wear a Silsbee Tiger shirt if Jasper loses. I am pretty confident that this is Silsbee's year so I jumped on the proposition. I've never worn that wanna be maroon color that Jasper holds so dear. The thought of it is well "revolting". At any rate it is always fun to have our friends from Jasper County in for a visit and to be able to trade a few barbs with them. I'm looking for a great game Friday night.

It was my understanding that he would play but after I spoke with You (Aggie'sarewe) I ran into him and he stated that he would not play until next week. It could very easily be either way but I hope after he has sat out a whole year he does not play until they are sure he is elgible.

I had the Silsbee quarterback for ten completions in 14 attempts for 220 yards and three touchdowns. Miller caught five for 79 yards and one tD. Cartwright had five for 138 yards and two touchdowns. I could be wrong though. The first game is always the toughest to keep track of. I have to learn to count and I am usually am out of practice taking pictures. As they say.... practice makes perfect By the end of the year I'll be taking pictures like the tackled quarterback in the Cuero game and my stats will be better. I always confirm the stats before I print them in the paper.

What is the situation with Lumberton? I like them right where they are but is there any chance the might move up?

I just hope the Tigers make the play-offs then they will be a better team. For years the Tigers have seemed to get better as the season rolls along. Beating everyone by one point would be great but I will be happy if they win enough to get into the playoffs.

You're right he gave me a poster of him playing for Lamar in the NCAA Tournament that I still have and often wonder what has happened to him. He played at Lamar and later Tennessee and always seemed to have double digit points, often double digit assists and sometimes double digit rebounds. It could be argued he was the best guard at Silsbee in the last 30 years. But there is a lot of competition for that acclaim.

One guy for Silsbee that would have to be at the top of my list would be Donnell Allen. There have been a lot of players that few people talk about. Just since I have been here there was Elester Whitmore, Lewis Arline, Willie Jones, and Eddie Fobbs. I think it is impossible to pick out who is the best. There are three Tigers on the team now who have been reported to have D-1 offers. Still even though he was before my time I would have to guess McCarthur or Brown. I love Tiger basketball.

I have been a voter since the original presentation. I think that have voted every year except one. When it first started we met each Sunday afternoon and talked about the weeks games. That was kind of fun but it got real old. I was ready to quit and then they quit meeting. I think all the voters have their own way of making their decisions. For years I felt it should be a senior award and I would not voter for any juniors. I have voted for juniors in recent years but I don't think I ever voted for the player if he won as a junior and was on the ballot as a senior. You can't see all the players so you have to depend on what coaches tell you and in my case I used to have a lot of friends in the news business and I would ask some of them about players that I had not seen. Many of my friends in the news business are no longer in the business so even that has changed. This will probably be my last year but I think the Lions are having a tough time finding enough judges so if I am still working any I may do it again.

They can accept any student out of the 16 districts. Supposedly in multi school districts the players come out of the attendance zone except for the magnat schools which can come from throughout the district. I will say this about the situation which I think is very unfair. I ran into one of the UIL leaders about a year ago and stated that I have lived in states like Arkansas, Colorado and Nebraska where the private school play right in with the public schools and they do not have these recruitment problems like they do in Texas. He replied that in Arkansas they have a unique way of taking care of the problem that works pretty good. I came home and researched it a little. I found out that in Arkansas the schools are assigned by enrollment but in the case of private schools if one becomes too dominant they are assigned to a higher classification by the Arkansas Athletic Activities Association. In Nebraska there are a lot of Catholic schools in their association. In some instances some of those schools were very strong but they never dominated year after year like Faith and Family does. A year ago at the State tournament I sat next to a coach from a good AAA school in North Texas. He told me that Faith and Family never runs out of talent. You can think they have graduated most of their team and the next year they show up with a bunch of new faces who are as talented or more talented than the last group.

I think Sigler probably has between 825 and 835. I remember when he got his 800th. Joubert has just under 600. Sigler, Joubert, Sutherland, Green and Boutte are all real fine coaches and from knowing and writing about their teams they are equally fine individuals that anyone would be proud to call their friend.

He had 32 points. He was eleven for 12 from two point range and two for three from three point range. I think he was four for five from the free throw line. Jimbo was in the house standing by the door on the east. But for all you Aggie fans there was an Alabama recruiter in the house. He was apparently an assistant coach or something and was a little less evident to the crowd.

I think Lumberton will place second. When they go with their small line-up they are pretty effective. I did like the two big guys from LCM but they are a little thin otherwise. Jasper has a lot of athletic ability. I would think they are the team most likely to challenge Lumberton for second.

He is no 6'5" tall I doubt that he is over 6'2" tall but he is very athletic and would really help the team if he would show up and act like he wanted to be there. Hopefully he will grow up and be back next year. He is very talented.

I will be more than happy with a one point victory. At this point in the year a one point win just moves you forward to the next game. This district is really tough this year and I would not be surprised if our third and fourth place teams both win in the playoffs. It might be likely that we have some rematches of district opponents during the playoffs. Then the old saying "It's hard to beat a good team twice" comes into play. The other side of that thought is that if you won the first game the opponent has to have some doubt in their mind that they can beat you. At any rate... play one game at a time and be satisfied if you pick up a one point win.

I think the lite group of Tigers this year might be stronger than the group that finished the year last year. From what I am hearing they should fare pretty well in the preseason games. The lite group probably will open with at least five pretty good players and I would not be surprised if three of them develop into starters. At any rate the Tigers figure to have at least ten pretty good players by district time and I would not be surprised if the rotation system returns. However it is hard to take players like Harris and Miller off of the floor.

I hesitate to even comment on this but I want to say one thing coach cornel was a good coach and a good man. Hiawatha is a good man and has been a good coach. He will be a good head coach. Toby applied for the Silsbee job when Hiawatha did and though he had more experience he did not get the job because the administrators in Silsbee thought Coach Smith was the man for the job. I like Hiawatha but hope Coach Smith is here for a long time.

I have seen about half the schools in this district play. Silsbee is head and shoulders better than the rest. They could get better if they could get one of their big people healthy but that might not be this year. I really think Orangefield has a lot of skills. They are short on depth and speed which kills them against someone like Silsbee. Lumberton needs their big guy who hurt his shoulder. They are athletic but may not have the shooting skills of Orangefield. I have seen WOS but not seen them play. They appear to be missing some players from last year. Maybe they are just slow getting out from football. I haven't seen Vidor or LCM at all. i did watch BC a little earlier. It should be an interesting battle for second third and fourth for playoff positions.

If i remember right it was 79-50.

The talent may not be as good as many think. A lot of the starters come from Silsbee, Buna, Lumberton and Vidor. One person told me that eight of the nine starters on this years baseball team came from outside the district. This does not always make the natives happy. As I was told more than once they are happy to have someone come in and rebound and play defense but when it is time to shoot the best thing is to throw the ball to little Johnny.

He can retire at a public school (UIL) and work for a year at a private school and then go into the retire/rehire program at another public school. Besides one of his good buddies coaches at Kelly. He has coached for 34 years and I have known him for over 30. He is a good man, a good person with kids and a good coach. I wish him the very best.

I agree with Mike Sanchez on this one. Friday Night Lights and the Friday night experience has always been a big deal in Texas. Sitting home and watching on Friday nights is not nearly as big a deal. I was born and have lived most of my life in Texas, went to college in Oklahoma, attended high school in Arkansas, lived ten years in Colorado and eight years in Nebraska. Friday night football is a big deal in all of those states. My high school in Arkansas had a 10,000 seat stadium and it was packed every Friday. It was a lesser deal in Oklahoma, Colorado and Nebraska but it was still a big deal. At all of those places the booster clubs and student groups worked hard to meet the fans needs in the concession stands. Basketball is probably a bigger deal in Nebraska and some of the other states than it is in Texas. If we want to keep those activities going we either have to put up the money or let them earn it. The lack of people in the stands would even hurt the revenue of the athletic departments themselves. The experience of going to the games is so important itself. I went to and wrote about Silsbee games over a quarter of a century. I used to love going to the game and prior to and at half time standing by the old coaches bench and speaking to the fans as they came in and out of the stadium. It was an opportunity to see a lot of the people who I came to know and love in Silsbee. I would not have got that on my couch at my house. Places like Silsbee and PNG are special. Even in Texas I have gone to a lot of places where there are more empty seats on the other side of the field than there are on our side. That is true whether we are home or away.

I watched the Tigers practicing on Monday. It appeared that with the exception of Miller nearly everyone was present. Someone even said that Miller was there but I did not see him. I would guess that they will be better than they were last year at four of the five positions. You would assume that the returning starters will improve with age. They definitely will have a stronger supporting cast. I could see them having eight to ten solid players. They should be taller than they were last year. They have a number of players (five or six) in the 6' to 6'2" range and they also have Jones at about 6'5".