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.

We Are Going To Miss You Coach

The Jimmie Keeling era is over at Hardin-Simmons University, and what an era it was. Coach Keeling led the Cowboys to 10 conference championships and 20 playoff games. He won 172 games and lost just 53. The Cowboys program went from nonexistent in 1989, to a national power by the end of the 1994 season.

The school picked the right guy to lead the Cowboys program, if the were looking for a guy who could take a group of football players and make them a team, but that's not all they got.

Keeling was a great example for the players. You have no idea how many players I have come across after their playing days were over who said, "Coach Keeling was like a father to me." Former Cowboy quarterback Justin Feaster said, "For the last 5 years, Coach Keeling has been the most influential person in my life. I have the utmost respect for Coach Keeling and everything he stands for."

When we asked him to talk about 1 of his stars, he always started with, "First of all, he's a really good kid." He loved having good football players, but he expected his guys to be "good kids", first.

Jimmie Keeling was more than a football coach. He was a life coach. Coach Keeling shaped players for his entire career. He showed the men on his team how to live with his example, and then helped them become productive members of society.

He was also a trainer of coaches. Countless former players and graduate assistants are coaching right now in the high school or college ranks because Coach Keeling gave them a shot on his staff.

Jimmie Keeling won over 500 games as a head coach in high school and college, but that was not his greatest area of impact. He made the people around him better people, and that's why HSU is going to miss Coach Keeling.

That's why I am going to miss Coach Keeling.

The Rangers And The Little Southwest Conference

I know it's really football season, but I have to talk a little about the Rangers. Some of us never thought it would happen. The Texas Rangers have won 2 games in a series for the 1st time in franchise history. Big bats and great pitching have led the Rangers to the brink of a berth in the American League Championship Series. Cliff Lee and C.J. Wilson got the job done on the hill, and the offense scored 11 runs in 2 games. Game 3 is Saturday. Let's hope they can put the Rays away on Saturday and move on to the ALCS.

Now to high school football. It is time. The Little Southwest Conference opens play today. What a treat for everyone in West Texas. The last 2 years were a little more empty without the Abilene, Midland, and Odessa schools getting together every Friday night to decide the District Championship. Great traditions, great stadiums and passionate fans. Both Steve Warren and Mike Spradlin said this week that if you don't come to play on any Friday night in this district, you will probably go home with a loss in the books.

The top matchup of the week looks to be between undefeated Cooper and undefeated Midland Lee. I am looking forward to seeing how the Cougars will do in a game against tougher competition for the 1st time since the 2nd week of the season.

Abilene High opens district against Odessa High. The Broncos are a running football team, and if history tells us anything, it tells us that if you bring a one dimensional team up against the Eagles, you will lose.

It is great to have the old district back together, again.

That's not the only great district in the Big Country. District 5-3A looks like it's going to be a dogfight this year. Well, at least a dog and cat fight. The Brownwood Lions are most likely the favorite as the top ranked team in the state in Class 3A, but Snyder, Wylie, Sweetwater, and Big Spring will be right there on their heels. It's a good district and it will be fun to see which 3 teams come out and head to the playoffs.

Now let's sit back and enjoy the fun. The fight for the high school football playoffs is here.

I Tweeted!

So there I was watching the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Redskins on Sunday night, and I decided to do something I haven't ever done. I tweeted on BCH Sports Twitter for the entire game.

Yes, the guy that was scared to death when KTAB finally got computers in the newsroom back in 1999. My wife even came into the living room and asked me who I was texting with. I said, "I am tweeting about the game." She answered, "I bet you never thought you would say that phrase in your life, did you?" "You have no idea", I replied.

I am what you call "old school". I am usually about 2 years late on most trends, especially when it comes to technology. But that was me, on my couch with my cell phone "tweeting". I can finally see that Twitter is good for things like Sunday night's game between the Cowboys and the Redskins. If you aren't able to watch the game, you can get info from a person or organization like Big Country Homepage Sports on Twitter.

I end this by saying it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks, but it is not impossible. This old dog used Twitter for 3 hours, and I even enjoyed myself.

Things Have Changed In 20 Years

Personally, I am about to celebrate my 20th anniversary at KTAB. That is a great accomplishment because many folks were not sure I would last 1 month. None of the high school athletes we cover were born when I got my big break at KTAB on September 4th.

A lot has changed in 20 years. Let me take you back to the football scene in Abilene in 1990. Abilene High and Cooper each won just 1 game and lost 9. Wylie was the good team, but they were not WYLIE we know now. The Bulldogs advanced to the 3rd round for the 1st time in school history that year. College football, HSU restarted their football program and won 4 games. That's good for a 1st year program and it was the best of any Abilene university. Like AHS and CHS, ACU and McMurry each won 1 game and lost 9.

In 1990, Abilene high schools and universities were 16-47.

In 2009, Abilene high schools and universities were 57-18. AHS won state, Wylie went to the championship game, and ACU went to Division II playoffs.

It's been a great 20 years and I am looking forward to more down the road.

Football practice is rocking and rolling and preparations for the 2010 season are going all over the Big Country and that includes Big Country Homepage Sports. Manny and Tyler are traveling all over the area talking to the coaches and the players of our Big Country schools.

In just 2 weeks, we've been to: Abilene High, Cooper, Wylie, Brownwood, Bangs, Albany, Clyde, Cisco, Eastland, Snyder, Rotan, Roby, Anson, Hawley, Jim Ned, Breckenridge, Sweetwater, and Roscoe. In short we've been busy. All of that on top of the fact that we are planing a Tailgate party at Double Dave's on August 21st to get the season started in the right way. We will be playing games and giving away prizes from 4:30 to 7 that Saturday night to get the rest of you as excited about the new season. We will cap the night with a live television event from 6pm to 7pm at the Tailgate party when we will preview the upcoming 2010 season.

One more thing, the next time you see Manny Diaz out and about be sure to congratulate him on his marriage to his new wife Candace.