Archive for November, 2009

I’m on board with the unofficial campaign for Merle Anthony Avenue.
One reader proposed it in the “Letters to the Editor” section of our paper on Sunday, and I think his idea is a good one.
Being the old fart that I am, I have been fortunate enough to actually be friends with some of the people who have things named after them — like D.L. Ligon and Flip Hoskins and Lloyd Ruby.
I know how proud they were to be honored forever.
And naming the section of Avenue H beween Monroe and Giddings — the street that runs right in front of Wichita Falls High School — would be perfect.
Mrs. Anthony truly was one of the great, great teachers in this town.
I know we have had other great teachers, but you have to start somewhere and Ms. Anthony would be the perfect starting point.
Then we could go on to Joe Golding Field and Eddie Hill Boulevard.

Just got to Bearcats Stadium in Aledo, and we’re about 10 minutes until gametime.
And we just got word Wimberley knocked Brownwood out of the playoffs, 24-17. So if Graham wins tonight, they’ll be playing Wimberley.
I think Steers fans were really looking forward to avenging their only loss of the season. Too bad it won’t happen.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. After this weekend, we’ll be at the midway point of the playoffs, and it’ll be interesting to see which teams we have left.
Want to know one trait that every team has right now. Great QB play.
Our area’s best three quarterbacks this year have been Graham’s Case McCoy, Henrietta’s Seth Crumpton and Munday’s Kenyin Thompson. Burkburnett’s Canon Cornelius has also done a very good job this year in his first as a starter.
On a side note, unless something crazy happens this weekend, both Crumpton and Thompson will go over 2,000 yards rushing for the season. Crumpton is 6 shy, and I know Thompson has left than 50 to go.
Well, I’ve already been spot on with one prediction this week. I predicted I’d eat too much turkey and pecan pie yesterday, and that’s exactly what happened.
We’ll know if these predictions will be right soon enough.

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I guess our web guy who puts up the weekly matchups is out of town this week. Maybe he’ll be back by Friday and the Week 14 games will go up then, but I have no idea.
So — and I know this is a pain — but just email me your picks to duncanz@timesrecordnews.com. Once the schedule gets up, I’ll put everyone’s picks up there.
Here are the games:
* Burkburnett vs. Abilene Wylie
* Graham vs. Bridgeport (this will be the pts tiebreaker too)
* Henrietta vs. Bushland
* Munday vs. Lindsay
* THrockmorton vs. Garden CIty
My picks are the ones that appeared in Thursday’s paper. And my tiebreaker will be 70. Thanks.

I have plenty to be thankful for every year.
But this year, I am even more thankful.
For the first time in a long time, I get to spend Thanksgiving Day like a regular person.
Most every year, I have worked on this day, covering those Cowboys.
This year I don’t have to. Andy Newberry volunteered to take my place.
I am thankful for Andy.
So I get to stay home and smell the turkey cooking while the Macy’s parade is on the TV.
Then I get to watch those Lions and say thank you God that they are not the Cowboys.
And then I get to eat my wife’s turkey dinner (she’s a pro in the kitchen) before tuning in the Cowboys. And for a change I don’t have to write one word after the game or drive home..
Instead I get to flip back and forth between Texas-Texas A&M and Giants-Broncos.
A feast and a TV football feast all in one day.
That’s a lot for this old guy to be thankful for.
But there is so much more.
I am thankful that I have a God who answers prayers.
I am thankful that He didn’t give up until he found this one lost sheep.
I am thankful for a loving mom and dad and grandparents who nurtured me.
I am thankful for my family. A good wife, good kids, a great grandson.
I am thankful that I live in the greatest country in the world and the freedom that has been given to me.
I am thankful that I live in Texas. Yee-hah!
I am thankful for my job. Doing what I do and getting paid for it is so cool.
I am thankful for my boss. Smooch, smooch smooch. No, really I do mean it.
I am thankful for my health.
I am thankful for my friends.
I am thankful for golf and poker and cold beer.
But most of all — at this time of year — I am thankful I’m not a turkey.

There I was looking up for stuff about Bushland and discovered this article on the Amarillo Globe-News website.
Sounds like Sawyer Cornelius is going to miss the game this Saturday. He hurt a tendon on his non-throwing hand on Monday and had surgury Tuesday.
Huge blow for the Falcons, who still are a very,very good team. The coach talks about how good the backup, Brett Wilhelm, has been, but I think this still is a very big deal.
You just don’t replace that kind of experience. This makes the game a lot, lot more interesting. Guess we’ll have to wait a few more days and see.
Here’s the link:

http://www.amarillo.com/stories/112409/web_bushlandqb.shtml

As a teenager, my favorite movie was Chris Farley’s “Tommy Boy.”
So it’s only fitting I use a quote from that move to describe my Saturday.
“I swear I’ve seen a lot of stuff in my life, but that… was… AWESOME.”
Where to begin? The madness that occurred late in the Henrietta game? Or how about the most ludicrous ending to a high school game I’ve ever seen?
Or how about the drive in between?

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I got a goofy email last week showing a photo of President Obama at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. There was a military person on each side of him saluting while Obama stood with his hands at his side.
The person who sent it my way wrote: “Picture taken at the Veterans Day ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Un freaking believable!!!! The man has no respect and no excuse.”
But I have become quite accustomed to all this Obama bashing.
Way back during the 2008 election, I received an email with a column by a prominent editorial page writer for the New York Times.
Obama was accused of being a friend of Muslim extremists. The editorial just stopped short of naming him the mastermind of the 9-11 attack.
When I went to the New York Times Web site to check out the background of the columnist, I discovered that she had not written the one that had been sent to me. Somebody had just doctored it up to look like it.
When I told the person who sent me the e-mail about the lie, she replied: “Who cares? As long as it keeps him from being elected.”
After that experience, I went online to see if there were any other photos of Obama at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Sure enough, there are and he is saluting.
Obviously, the photo being e-mailed around the country is a fraud.
But what’s new?
Call it what it really is — racism.
Sunday was the 46th anniversary of the assassination of JFK — the tragic, senseless death of a president who saw wrong and tried to make it right.
i just pray history never repeats its self although some nuts out there are doing everything they can to see that it does.

I’m checking in from a Fairfield Inn in Abilene, where I and fellow TRN sportswriter Andy Newberry covered football games in the area last night.
But we’ll soon be leaving for Mineral Wells to watch 11-0 Henrietta play Comanche. After that, I’ll be busting it back to Abilene with KFDX photographer Ben Coker to see Munday play.
A long day, and a long weekend, for sure. But it’s good stuff during playoff time.
Here are some of my thoughts (more to come probably Sunday) on the last couple days:

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It’s the second week of the playoffs, although several teams will be making their postseason debuts.
And I can see a lot of these games going either way. Which is how the playoffs should be, right?
Here’s my thought’s on this week’s schedule:

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My birthday is this Saturday.
Nov. 21 is also Troy Aikman’s birthday. He will be 43.
It is also Goldie Hawn’s birthday. She will blow out 64 candles.
Stan Musial will also celebrate the day. Stan the Man turns 89.
I am exactly one year younger than Goldie.
Both of us at really hot for our age — huh?
In my family, it is a tradition for all of us to go out to eat together on birthdays.
All of us translates into me, my wife, my son, my daughter, my son-in-law and my grandson.
The birthday boy or girl gets to pick where we eat.
I’m picking the Dairy Queen in Holliday.
It may sound like a strange choice, but it’s my birthday. My choice.
And I love steak finger country baskets.
The ones in Holliday are especially good.
I know when the people over at Pasquals hear this, they will say “I told you so. The redneck has no taste.”
They’re still steaming over that Lunch Lady parody I did a few months back when I ripped their overpriced snooty food.
If liking DQ country baskets makes me a redneck dumb ass, so be it.
My wife loves dip cones, so she will be happy.
My kids all liked DQ before they all went away.
My grandson will be much more comfortable in a place like this that he would at some restaurant or bar.
So it’s DQ Holliday at 5 p.m. Saturday to celebrate the big 63.
There won’t be a party, just a lot of good eating. So come join us if you want to.
And you don’t have to spend a lot of time shopping for just the right gift.
I have a new hobby.
I collect hundred dollar bills.

God wrote a letter to the editor this week.
He called it the “fourth notice” of his second coming.
I wish I could tell you when he’s coming again, but he is only giving interviews to the first five newspapers who reply to his letter.
Just missed out.
The Punkin Center Weekly Bugle called before I did.
What I can tell you about him is:
1. He does not own a computer. His six-page letter came snail mail.
2. He will never win the spelling bee. God spelled his name “Jehova.”
3. His mother’s name is Mary and his birthday is Oct. 20. That’s going to really screw up Christmas. No longer will it be “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,” but instead “Merry Christmas and Happy Halloween.”
4. He sent a picture of himself and God really looks like my friend Ruppert Rodriguez. Wish he had sent me some of his homemade tamales.
5. His New World Order is called “The Magical Kingdom.” That could wind up in a Disney vs. God lawsuit.
He writes: “This serves as a proper introduction to me, Jesus Christ, Father of Man. I am Big Brother to Jesus Christ, Son of Man.”
Jesus’ big brother?
Does that men the holy trinity is now a holy quartet?
Jehova provided an earthly name and address, but I will not print it here.
I will tell you God is an Okie.
And GPC cigarettes are a sign that what he has to say is true.
“They are my initials,” he said.
Sounds to me like Jehova may be smoking something stronger than GPCs.

I had only been here at work about three minutes this morning when I heard a woman in the classified department declare:
“The Cowboys suck!:
And then the woman whom she was talking to replied: “I turned it off.”
Hello, Monday morning.
Knees are jerking all over the place.
No, the Cowboys don’t suck.
Only four teams in the NFL have a better record than they do.
They are still the leader in the NFC East.
What you should say is “The Cowboys sucked yesterday.”
Then I would agree.
But when you watch as much pro football as I do, you understand that’s just life in the NFL. “On any given Sunday” certainly applies in the NFL.
OK, I know it seems that the Cowboys have more “any given Sundays” than the rest of the teams in the league, but that is only because many of you watch them every week.
You see all their warts.
But believe me, there are people in Pittsburgh — home of the world champions — moaning and groaning today.
And what do you think the folks in Denver are saying?
Their 6-3 Broncos lost to the stink-’em-up Redskins — by 10 points, just like the Cowboys did in Green Bay.
I can certainly understand why someone would turn their TV off during Dallas-Green Bay.
After awhile, Tony Romo getting knocked on his butt just becomes a bad re-run.
But you have to be careful hitting the “off” button during NFL games.
Just think about the sleepy heads in Indianapolis last night.
Their Colts were trailing by 17 in the fourth quarter. Bill Belichick’s Patriots had never lost a game in which they led by as many as 13 in the final quarter.
Good night.
But this morning “Good night” became “Good, God!”
Peyton Manning led a big-time comeback and the Colts won 35-34.
Wonder how many people in Boston are saying “The Patriots suck” this morning.

I should have purchased a lotto ticket over the weekend.
Go back and read my bi-district playoff predictions blog. I’m pretty good about being wrong much of the time (especially in arguments with the wife, or so I’m told), but not last weekend. In every game, I was right on the money.
If anything, I short-changed Henrietta QB Seth Crumpton’s rushing total. I said at least 200 — and mentioned 240 was less conservative — and he ended up with 346 yards.
At one point, I thought about saying 300, but that’s just rediculous to predict. Then again, Crumpton himself is pretty rediculous.
Enough of my gloating, here’s my thoughts on the weekend:

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Four people had perfect 5-0 records this first weekend of the playoffs. And based on the tiebreaker, I would have won the T-shirt.
But Jacksooner was the next closest on the point-total tiebreaker, so we’ll declare him the winner. So Jacksooner, e-mail me at duncanz@timesrecordnews.com so we can get you a “Football Freak” T-shirt.
Here are the season totals:
1) Me — 115
2) Rcc — 113
3) Jacksooner — 112
4) Football12 — 108
5) RedRaider 83 — 105

Four people had perfect 5-0 records this first weekend of the playoffs. And based on the tiebreaker, I would have won the T-shirt.
But Jacksooner was the next closest on the point-total tiebreaker, so we’ll declare him the winner. So Jacksooner, e-mail me at duncanz@timesrecordnews.com so we can get you a “Football Freak” T-shirt.
Here are the season totals:
1) Me — 115
2) Rcc — 113
3) Jacksooner — 112
4) Football12 — 108
5) RedRaider 83 — 105

Last postseason wasn’t a good one for 5-2A.
They were swept by 6-2A. Two of the outcomes weren’t surprising — Clyde and Cisco were ranked and they beat Bowie and Henrietta, although the Jackrabbits and Bearcats didn’t go down without a fight.
The real stunner was district champ Holliday falling to third-place Merkel.
Before I predict our area’s five bi-district games this weekend, let me tell you this. I don’t think we’ll have a sweep this time around. But if I had to pick which of the two districts would pull off the sweep, I’d go with 5-2A.
Here are my predictions:

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Our friendship started in a pool hall some 46 years ago.
Ed Barnet and I came from completely different neighborhoods, so for first nine years, our paths crossed only in bars and smoky old pool rooms.
Our common ground was a green felt table.
I often joke with people that Ed was the reason I got into the newspaper business.
I was hanging around the pool hall downtown, and every day Ed and Marvin Penrod would come in around lunch time and stay all afternoon.
My daddy never had a job where he could shoot pool all day.
So I asked the guy who ran the pool hall where Ed and Marvin worked.
He said “the newspaper.”
Right then and there, I decided I wanted to work at the newspaper. Hell of a job.
I didn’t know at the time that Ed’s granddad owned the paper.
We worked together here at the paper for nine years.
He was the grandson of the publisher.
I was a minimum wage sports writer.
The pool shooting days were gone.
Our common ground became a love for sports.
I remember the night we went to Fort Worth together for the State Golden Gloves.
Ed hadn’t told anybody he was going, so when we got there, he called back to the newspaper office to tell them he was “with Nicky” in Fort Worth.
(People who knew me before 1972 call me Nicky)
Back then we also had a female switchboard operator named Nickie.
The gossip around the office was that Ed had gone to Fort Worth with Nickie.
Ed retired from the paper in 1981.
He fought a lot of demons for many years before finally finding the Lord.
Me, too.
So, strangely, our common ground was Christianity.
Ed’s witness led a lot of the “good old boys” to Christ.
We both still loved to gamble.
That brought us together in the poker room across the river.
The pool hall competitiveness was still there.
Ed once told some people that he would rather knock me out of a poker tournament than win it.
We were also competitive in politics.
He was right.
I was left.
That came up often at the poker table.
But it never threatened our friendship.
My friend left this earth on Wednesday.
I honor him today with these words from a Michael W. Smith song.
“Packing up the dreams God planted
In the fertile soil of you
I can’t believe the hopes He’s granted
Means a chapter of your life is through
But we’ll keep you close as always
It won’t even seem you’ve gone
‘Cause our hearts in big and small ways
Will keep the love that keeps us strong
And friends are friends forever
If the Lord’s the Lord of them
And a friend will not say never
‘Cause the welcome will not end
Though it’s hard to let you go
In the Father’s hands we know
That a lifetime’s not too long
To live as friends
And with the faith and love God’s given
Springing from the hope we know
We will pray the joy you live in
Is the strength that now you show
We’ll keep you close as always
It won’t even seem you’ve gone
‘Cause our hearts in big and small ways
Will keep the love that keeps us strong
And friends are friends forever
If the Lord’s the Lord of them
And a friend will not say never
‘Cause the welcome will not end
Though it’s hard to let you go
In the Father’s hands we know
That a lifetime’s not too long
To live as friends.”
Goodbye, my friend.
I’ll see you in Heaven.

Pigskinprep.com always releases a bracket once the playoffs starts, and forecasts every round based on each team’s current rating.
Obviously, I’m posting this as something that I found interesting. It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if some of our teams go further than expected.
So here’s how our area teams are expected to fare, based on this website:

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As a kid, I loved baseball.
I played baseball.
I watched baseball on TV
I listened to baseball on radio.
I collected baseball cards.
I knew the number and name of every player on the Wichita Falls Spudders’ minor league roster.
So who would have ever thought that some day I would rather be watching the World Series of Poker than the World Series of baseball?
But this year I looked at the Phillies and Yankees — not because I was really interested in the World Series but instead probably because it is the World Series and something inside of me tells me I have to be interested.
Poker is now more exciting to me than baseball.
I watched the World Series of Poker on ESPN every Tuesday night.
I could not wait until the November Nine and the final table.
Last year I went to Vegas for the final table and was sitting tableside on the stage of the Rio’s Penn and Teller Theater when Peter Eastgate won the title.
This year I was at MSU’s preseason basketball dinner, just wishing my friends Denny Bishop and Charlie Carr would shut up so I could get home and watch poker’s most exciting moment.
Could Phil Ivey — the greatest player on the face of the earth — overcome a chip leader with a stack more than six times the size of his?
Would Garvin Moon — the chip leader lumberjack from Maryland — be as lucky in the end as he was in the beginning?
As Denny and Charlie were talking — and talking — and talking, my DVR was doing its job and saving every hand for me.
So I got to watch every minute of the final table that ESPN chose to show.
A kid not old enough to shave won again.
One year after the 22-year-old Eastgate became the youngest WSOP main event winner, 21-year-old Joe Cada broke his record.
Cada won more than $8.5 million for surviving a field of more than 6,400 poker players.
He won all that with a pair of 9′s.
After playing great poker the whole way, Ham bet his tournament life on a queen-jack of diamonds.
The two over cards never hit — and Cada is king of Las Vegas.
I can’t wait until the next one.