JimThorpe

Next Tuesday will be very interesting. It's clear that this team will have to dig deep. They won't be running past everybody like last year. That playoff run was phenomenal, beating decent teams by 40 points. The point differentials were staggering right up to the Yates game. That's not going to happen this year.

A close win will do nicely. I'll be deciding whether or not to go in the next 15 minutes. The latest poll is very interesting. I think they got it just about right. There's probably not more than a 10 point difference between No.1 and No. 10 when everybody is playing their best. It's a real horse race this year. Interesting to see Brazosport climb up to 5. They lost so much to graduation and yet here they are again. Looks like a program is blooming. I wonder about Hardin Jefferson. I can't help thinking maybe they are a little better than the No. 20 spot. We'll find out a lot next Tuesday. That game will be played with playoff intensity.

We'll see. It will be interesting. Coach may come up with some unique small ball strategies. Maybe play everybody at and above the free thrown line in hopes of making the opposition bigs play defense out there.

I'm just saying that from appearances it looks like 12 guards warming up before a game, 12 good guards mind.

It means that the Hawks are underrated of course! They should be ranked much higher. And it means that the Silsbee / HJ game will be competitive and not because Silsbee is weak but because HJ is also strong. How's that for diplomacy?

I've asked Santa for a post, or at least a strong forward. I'm not holding my breath though because I've been a little naughty this year. Maybe somebody else should try. It's not too late to Fedex a letter to the North Pole. Watching people on the other side watch the Tigers warm up is fun. They keep looking at the dressing room door in expectation of seeing the posts and forwards to come running out. "That's not the whole team is it? You say they are ranked No. 1 in 4A? Seriously? Where are the rest of them?" Let's face it. We suit up 12 guards. Okay, 11 guards and a small forward, but he looks like a guard. We do have a couple of very nice sized guards. And everybody on the team seems to have learned to play taller than they are to compensate. It's really a blast to watch. In the La Marque game Braylon Bush, all 5'6" of him, went over a much taller guy's back and blocked his layup! Braylon got him with the body but he did block the shot. That kind of thing is priceless. Come to think of it, I'm glad the Tigers don't have much size. I really am. Cause if they did the whole season would just be formality. It's much more interesting this way, there's some real drama. If they had a true post it would be like, there's a basketball season with a bunch of games - then there's a playoff thingy - then the Tigers drive home with their championship trophy. Ho hum.

Yes, winning a second Championship is vastly more important. But it has been fun to carry that No. 1 moniker.

Well, that'll probably be it for the No. 1 ranking. And that's a little disappointing. If we had won this one and showed well at the Dallas tournament we would have kept it till our last game. I sure hope we get to play Center gain. That would be a fabulous rematch. And on a neutral court with everything on the line.

Didn't know that, knew they were good. That is interesting. Based on proportional comparison that makes Midlothian at least a 20 point favorite over Silsbee. Guyer is ranked No. 6 nationally according to Maxpreps. In contrast to what the TABC thinks, Maxpreps has Center at No. 27 and Midlothian at No. 28 state wide. Silsbee is a No. 68 just below Argyle. They have Wylie at No. 46 I'll admit that Silsbee doesn't look that good right now on paper. Easy to see how a computer would put at least 4 4A teams above us. So, according to the computer code at Maxpreps the No. 5 Tigers will be facing the No. 1 Rough Riders tonight. This is the same Maxpreps that has TABC No. 2 Yates at 101 and No. 3 Seminole at their No. 188. Well, homo sapiens are flawed creatures after all and subject to fits of emotion.

I'd love to go but I don't think I can make it. I've got elf work to do all week. I think it will be a close game and fun to watch, worth the drive. It's the intangibles. Long uncomfortable bus ride in gloomy weather. School tomorrow with finals coming up. Unfamiliar surroundings. Christmas stuff on their minds. That's a lot of junk for a teen to deal with. It's a scenario for a possible upset, unlikely but possible.

Yes, young Mr. Devon has had a very interesting high school basketball experience. To say it's been eventful is a huge understatement. We all remember the terrifying injury in the championship game in 16. And as for last year. Well. I'm reminded of Patton's quote after he'd been sacked for slapping a soldier, "I wish I'd kissed the son of a b_____". I think it's fair to say that there is one Tiger who holds, shall we say, special feelings about the possibility of a repeat?

Center's schedule is showing Freshmen and JV games starting at 4:30.

Yates. So much can happen between now and then. It would be a great rematch. So would Argyle - that was a cliff hanger. Do I want to think about all that right now? Anyway we have more immediate issues at hand. The Tigers travel to Center to face the 5th ranked Roughriders on the 19th. A long way to drive on a Tuesday evening for a December game but it should be interesting. How many will venture forth?

I was at the Wax game last year in Dallas. That was a fun game. Both teams were really playing. If Silsbee had a post they could play with anybody. He wouldn't need to score, just defend and get rebounds. The 4A division would already be decided. But they don't. So it will be very interesting.

BISD needs to combine Ozen and Central and put the main main campus on Concord and call it ....... wait for it......... FRENCH HIGH SCHOOL!!!!!!! And the mascot? Why the BUFFALO OF COURSE!!!!!!! The French Buffs are back! "It's the best school I ever knew!" Wouldn't that be a hoot? After all these years. And which Beaumont school was the last one to win a football championship? (even though it was a tie) Why the French Buffs of course! It'll never happen but it would be fun wouldn't it?

I don't know how good they are. I only saw the Silsbee game and that was some sort of outlier that can't really be used for analysis. The Silsbee defense was in some kind of fog from the very start. Carthage scored only 7 points in the first half against Henderson.

A little disjointed- the newbies got significant playing time which is good

I'm a Tiger fan who was in Lufkin last night. What are you guys complaining about? Ha! In one sequence Carthage got possession and scored on the first play. And on their very next possession the Bulldogs scored on their first play. On both occasions they took possession in their own territory. How's that for a defensive breakdown?

I think that there are still 5 top 10 teams. Carthage, La Vega, Kennedale, Stephenville and Liberty Hill. To me La Vega's 33-14 win over Canyon Lake is almost as impressive in it's own way as the holocaust in Lufkin last night.

I wonder what the rules are for how soon they can play? Maybe they should take a few days before jumping back in the fray. What happened last night had to have taken something out of them. It had to cost something. But kids are resilient and playing basketball will be the best therapy.

Not really. The other 8 remaining top 10 teams were playing each other so that means 5 top ten teams are still in it. And La Vega won handily, 33 -14 over Canyon Lake.

I don't know what the takeaway is except that was the worst defensive performance I've ever seen in person... in any sport. Or maybe Carthage is the the magic dragon of offense, I don't know. I'd like to ask a Carthaginian if they were able to score on ever 2nd or 3rd play against the worst defense they played this year, I mean the second worst defense, not Silsbee. I doubt it. Of course the coach called it off but absent that decision the only thing that could have governed their scoring was simple caloric intake. You're going to use up your fuel eventually. No, on second thought that wouldn't have stopped their scoring. Because the Silsbee defense was running around and expending calories as well, doing whatever it was they were doing, while Carthage was playing football. So yea, the Bulldogs might well have scored 128 points. I'm betting that would have been a school record. Is 64 points a school record for a half? In a playoff game? In the third round? But kids are nothing if not resilient. The Tigers can simply forget it ever happened. And that's what they should do because it was a freakish phenomenon that will never be repeated. That first half was the worst defensive performance in the history of the school and something that bad will simply never happen again. And since it was so ridiculously bizarre and since it will never happen again the best thing is to just forget about it. There's nothing to learn from it and nothing to take away from it. If you get hit by a meteor would you alter your lifestyle so that you don't get hit by another meteor? Of course not.

I was hoping for a blizzard or something. But it will be perfect weather. Well, so be it. Once more into the breach dear friends, once more! For the benefit of our Carthaginian friends who may be interested, that last line is from a play called "Henry V" by an English playwright named Shakespeare. Since Carthage was besieged and utterly destroyed during the Third Punic War 146 BC, it's unlikely they would know anything about an English play, or even England for that matter. How the Romans made it to Texas I have know idea. Carthago delenda est.

Tonight may not be the biggest game ever for Silsbee, but it would be the biggest win ever.

Differences such as money and time and transportation for exclusive sports camps, children's and youth sports leagues and so on.