My 1st Christmas Gift Of 2010

Christmas came early for me on Tuesday morning. I went by AHS head coach Steve Warren's office that morning to catch up and just talk about things, and he told me he didn't get the Angelo State job.

I knew he wanted the job in San Angelo, so I kept calm, but I was absolutely giddy. Coach Warren is a real treat to work with, and I didn't want him to leave. For the media, he is easy to work with on a daily basis during the season. For fans, he is putting a winner on the field each and every season, and for the players, he is helping them become better players and people.

Professionally, the Rams may have blown it by not hiring Coach Warren. I know at least 2 people whose opinions I value, that he would have been a great choice for the school. Steve is a great salesman, and that is part of the job in college football. You have to sell your program to the kids you are recruiting, and it's hard to sell the Concho Valley. Coach Warren could have done it. He is not a man that is stuck in his ways. The Eagles offense changed from the Wing-T to a Spread to pass offense to a Spread to run offense.

Personally, the Rams may have blown it because they had a guy wanting the job who loves Angelo State, and a guy that would do anything to help turn his alma matter into a winner, again.

I am glad Steve is staying with us in Abilene. Merry Christmas to me, and Merry Christmas to all of the Abilene High fans.

The Football Trip II(a.k.a. The Tuba Principle)

My dad and I continued our trip around the metroplex on Saturday. We were in search of high school football, and we found 2 more games.

Southlake Carroll and Denton Guyer played in the 1st game we went to see. Most you know that Guyer and Carroll are the teams that knocked Cooper and Abilene High out of the playoffs in the 3rd round. I wanted to see who would win between the 2. I thought Guyer was better, and I was right. The wind was blowing 30 to 40 miles per hour through out the game, and the team with the wind in the 4th was going to win. Guyer had the wind and won by 10. By the way, I still haven't met anyone that had anything good to say about Guyer head coach and former Merkel Badger John Walsh.

Dad and I shared a press box suite with the scouts for Longview and Mesquite Horn. I learned 3 things.
1)Scouts work hard during the course of a game, at least the Longview scouts do. They were constantly talking to each other about the formations and the personel in those formations.

2)The Tuba Principle: The team with the most tubas will win the game. That stat is a part of every scouting report the Longview scouts do, and they say it's about 80 percent accurate. It didn't work in the Guyer/Carroll game, but it did work in the Tatum/Cameron Yoe game later that night. Cameron 2 tubas to 1 over Tatum. Yoe won, 28-14. On Friday night, it worked, again. Mart won the tuba battle 4 to nothing, and won the game 58-7. I promise I will be paying attention to that little detail until the day I die.

3)Our press box suite was next to the Southlake Carroll assistants, and it is a kick to watch the assistant coaches in the press box. I mean those guys put on a show like no other. Counters in the coaches' box have to be reenforced somehow. The Carroll assistants put that counter through a workout. The were pounding on that thing at least 2 times per series. They shout up there like someone on the playing field can hear them. I know that they are connected to other coaches, but these guys were shouting at the top of their lungs like what they were saying was somehow going to magically get to the ears of the player they were yelling at in the middle of the field.

The final game of the trip was played in Ennis. As I mentioned earlier, Cameron Yoe beat Tatum in a very good Class 2A Div. I quarterfinal game. The game was good, but the food in the press box was worthy of note. We had stew and chicken soup, sandwiches, and cookies. Everything was homemade, and everything was good. I don't think I have ever been in a press box that had homemade food. It was a real treat and the ladies that made the food were huge football fans and a delight to be around. Our visit to Ennis was a great way to end the trip this year. Good football and good people make the trip even better.

So here's a recap...

-Mart was a lot better than Muenster, and I think it helps defend my belief that there are too many teams in the Class 2A and A playoffs now that they are divided up into divisions.
-Assistant coaches in the press box are a HOOT to watch.
-Scouts really do work.
-THE TEAM WITH THE MOST TUBAS WINS THE GAME. The theory was 2-1 on the trip.

The Football Trip

For those of you just entering my life, the 1st weekend in December is the weekend for my annual football trip with my dad. We find football games in the metroplex and sit in the stands or the press box and watch. Watching football isn't something I get to do very often so it's a real treat for me.

We started with a Class A Div. I game between Mart and Muenster. It's the 1st time we've watched a Class A game on the trip, but since my dad grew up playing 6-man football for Klondike, we were looking forward to seeing the game. Turns out, Mart was a lot better than Muenster, and they beat them 58 to 7.

The real story of the night happened on the way to the hotel. That's when we started listening to the game between Euless Trinity and Coppell. It was a real back and forth game that came down to the final play of the game. Coppell led Trinity by 5 with 3 seconds to go in the game. Trinity was at the 3 yard line. It was a real nail-biter. The final play, Trinity lines up... and then the radio broadcast went silent. No kidding. Nothing. They lost the signal. The game was gone. Commercials started playing and dad and I sat there and waited. Nothing on the game. NOTHING! Unbelievable. We got out of the car with nothing.

Turns out Trinity scored to win the game 41-40. They move on, Coppell goes home.

That's the way it goes in the playoffs. 1 game down. 2 to go.