KFDM COOP

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PN-G runner draws invite to big game By Tom Halliburton The Port Arthur News PORT NECHES -- Port Neches-Groves running back Josh Wright has received an invitation to play in the fifth annual International All-America Bowl Game Classic next January. An effective complement to senior Jake Hemmings in last year's Indians running game, Wright carried 132 times for 866 yards and six touchdowns as a junior. At 5-9, 196, Wright combines good strength with sprinter speed. Recruiting expert Max Emfinger listed Wright's current 40-yard dash speed at 4.46. Wright has attended summer football camps at both the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University and Texas Christian University. He is listed among Emfinger's top 250 national recruits for the Class of 2009. Wright will be one of two running backs on the West squad for the All-America Bowl, sponsored by Under Armour on Jan. 3, 2009. The game's organizer, Emfinger, is still finalizing the venue for the 2009 game. The 2008 All-America Bowl Game was played in Jackson, Mississippi. "I'm excited and I'm ready to play," Wright said Saturday. "I feel like I'm in the best shape of my life." Emfinger's words about Wright's abilities surprised the PN-G senior-to-be. On his maxemfinger website, Emfinger wrote on Wright's biography notes that Josh "may be the strongest player in the country at his size or at his position." Emfinger cited that Wright bench-pressed 400 pounds and he also has done 35 reps of 185 pounds on the bench press and 20 reps of 225 pounds. "I didn't think he (Emfinger) would say something that good about me," Wright said. "But I have gotten a lot stronger and faster in the off-season."

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Correct.

I agree and i think the buildup will continue!

Astros agree to deal with first-round pick Castro The Astros have signed first-round pick Jason Castro, a Stanford junior catcher who was taken 10th overall in last month's draft. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but it's clear Castro, 20, received at least $2 million, which is what last year's 10th pick received. "He was treated very fairly," Astros scouting director Bobby Heck said, declining to divulge the amount of the deal. The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder will begin his professional career Monday at short-season A Tri-City. "I'm extremely happy to get him out and playing, which is the focal point of the time and effort that were put in the negotiations the last few weeks," Heck said. "But it really intensified over the last few days. "A lot was driven by our will to get him out playing and really the kid. He wanted to get out playing sooner than later. He made no bones about it. He helped push the process along. The kid was pushing for this, pushing for closure. He's been itching to get out playing." After a breakout summer at the Cape Cod League, Castro led Stanford to the College World Series while hitting .376 with 14 home runs and 73 RBIs over 67 games this past season. "One, I've talked all along of trying to target players who are in the middle of the field, athletic and offensive," Heck said. "And (Castro) hits all three of the criteria. Not withstanding that this guy is a complete player. He can hit, he can hit for power, he can throw and he has defensive ability and he can run. He's a very good baseball player who has good speed, and it's not typical catcher-type speed." Astros general manager Ed Wade has credited Heck with driving the negotiations. Heck in turn credited area scout Joe Graham, who scouted, recommended and signed Castro after following the Castro Valley, Calif., native for more than a year.

:'( Yes time to head home.

West Brook falls short in Round 3 Langham Creek 33 Beaumont West Brook 20

Good run in the Tournment by Lee, but they fall just short! Stephenville 21 Baytown Lee 06

Championship Bracket Round 1 Baytown Lee 25 Tyler John Tyler 21

Round 2 Final..After going 0-3 Friday West Brook is 2-0 so far Saturday! Abilene Cooper 33 Beaumont Westbrook 36

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Consolation Bracket Saturday Round 1 Beaumont West Brook 28 Cy Falls 8

Tiger on verge of being sports first billionaire Tom Halliburton column for Saturday, July 12 The Port Arthur News Forbes.com reported a most unique hurdle that Tiger Woods is about to clear. Barring any further injuries or personal catastrophes, Tiger is on course to become the world's first billionaire athlete by 2010 or 2011. The website indicated his prize money only accounted for about one-tenth of Tiger's earnings. The great chunk comes from lucrative endorsement deals.... Nike Golf is the most prominent example of Woods’ selling power. When Nike signed Woods to an endorsement deal in 1996, it didn’t have a separate golf unit. It launched one in 1998, with Woods at the center of its marketing push. Last year, Nike Golf posted over $600 million in sales. It is now the biggest golf apparel company in the world. That selling power is why Woods also has big deals with Accenture, Buick and Gillette. Gatorade recently launched a new line of drinks called Gatorade Tiger. Woods will rake in about $90 million in endorsement contracts this year alone. Over the course of his career, he’s earned more than $750 million from such deals.... From this vantage point, the Rockets' signing of Brent Barry on Thursday to a two-year contract is not the kind of free agent signing that the club needs in order to get over the top of the pack in the congested Western Conference. The selling points on Brent were that father Rick and brother Jon also ended their careers in Houston and that Brent is a 46 percent shooter from three-point range and an 80 percent foul shooter. My problem is Brent's not a dominant weapon to a team such as Yao and T-Mac plus he's 36. If the Rockets are going to make a significant summer dip into the free-agent market, they need to secure a dominant weapon. The Celtics added both Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen last summer. Those are dominant, major weapons. I certainly don't feel that Brent Barry belongs in Garnett or Allen's league.... It may sound crazy that the Cowboys and Tampa Bay pull off a trade before long but here's a rumor for you to digest. A national website tossed out the idea of the Cowboys dealing Terry Glenn to the Bucs for former Longhorns beach boy Chris Simms. Pro Football Weekly indicates Simms wants out of Tampa and reports he figures to be with another team by the start of training camp. The Cowboys, Lions and Bears reportedly have shown interest in acquiring him. If Simms seems in a precarious situation with Tampa, so does Glenn at Dallas. Plus the Bucs are in the market to add a wide receiver. Not that long ago there was a Keyshawn Johnson and Joey Galloway swap between these clubs..... Staying in the NFL but switching to Roger Clemens for a second, it appears The Rocket may have been ahead of his time when he unretired his career with the Yankees and Astros. The disciple in Roger's unretirement mode may be a certain No. 4 at quarterback who formerly played for the Green Bay Packers. Pat Kirwin of NFL.com wrote on Friday that he's talked with a number of people close to Brett Favre. Kirwin thinks it's a conservative estimate that it's 80 percent certain Favre will return to the NFL this season. Even the Houston Texans are one of six or seven clubs that are considered a possibility to land his services.... Here's the latest from the GOOD GRIEF department: Although I'm sure your sentiment rests with the Astros in this conflict, don't be surprised if former pitcher Shawn Chacon wins his grievance case to be paid the remainder of his contract. Precedent suggests that a team does not get out of a contract after one bad action such as Chacon's clubhouse knockdown of general manager Ed Wade. Good grief.... Sounds as if former Astros center fielder Willy Taveras could be leaving the Rocky Mountain thin air of Colorado sometime this month. Both the Oakland and Florida franchises have expressed a strong interest in acquiring Willy.... Another outstanding Pirates left fielder appears likely to be on his way out of Pittsburgh. (Remember Barry Bonds?). The Diamondbacks and the Cardinals are said to be pursuing the services of former NL all-star slugger Jason Bay.... If that Wimbledon men's title match between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer did not deserve to be regarded as the greatest match in tennis history, it certainly belonged in the top three over the past 50 years. Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe in 1980 was one of a kind back then and the Nadal-Federer duel had five evenly contested sets to it. I disagree, though, with some of the so-called tennis experts who call this a changing of the guard right now. I think Nadal and Federer have been tossing this 1-2 thing around for awhile. It should make for interesting stuff at the US Open in New York. Federer has not exactly suffered such a devastating loss that he has no ability to bounce back. Borg, McEnroe, and Jimmy Connors were always "bouncing back" against each other in the early 80s.... When all family dynamics are considered, sports arguably has never duplicated the uniqueness of the Williams sisters. Tennis is too complete of a total test for a person's body and mind for two in the same family to have scaled the highest heights of this sport in the manner and fashion that Venus and Serena have. You can't come up with a brother tandem or sister tandem quite like this.....

BC 13-14 all-stars crumble to Beaumont By Cody Pastorella The Port Arthur News BRIDGE CITY — The Beaumont West End All Stars scored six unearned runs in the top of the seventh to take an 8-5 lead over Bridge City in the first round of the four-team 13-14 year-old junior all star sectionals tournament. In the bottom half of the seventh, Beaumont's Chase Taylor closed out BC in order, getting two ground outs and a pop fly. Beaumont took a 1-0 lead in the third inning after Ty Harrell drew a walk with one out and made it around after a stolen base and a single by Adam Morrow. BC responded in the fourth inning by scoring four runs. BC added another run in the sixth to stretch its lead to 5-2. In the top of the seventh, Beaumont loaded the bases with one out. Grady Talbot, who singled to start the inning, scored the first run of the inning. Talbot and Brandt Wilson, who was hit by a pitch, both scored on errors. BC committed two in the inning. Talbot score came with one out while Brandt crossed home with two outs. Then the wheels completely came off for BC, as Taylor smoked a double to the right field gap that brought in Jahkenane Antoine, Michael Hayes and Coridon Burkhardt. Taylor made it to third on the play and his three RBIs gave Beaumont a 7-5 lead. Beaumont's next batter, Morrow, drove in Taylor with a single. Hayes' run proved to be the decisive one. In total, all eight of Beaumont's eight runs were unearned. BC issued 10 free passes and committed three errors over the course of the game. In the seventh, BC plunked one and made two errors. BC outhit Beaumont 9-4. Jacob Lemoine was issued the loss while Taylor picked up the win for Beaumont. He took over for Cameron Brown in the fourth inning, pitched 2.2 innings, allowing just one run on two hits. Four of BC's five runs were earned. BC hit Brown up for four runs in the fourth inning. Dillon Trahan started the inning off with a double. He scored on Bryson Banks' single. Running for Banks, Zach Cole and Dalton Dishon, who singled, both scored on Tannor Cervinka's single. All three of those runs came without any outs. Cervinka scored the fourth run after stealing second and then advancing home from a single by Mitch Hubbard. Hubbard was the starting pitcher for BC. He went five innings, allowed two runs, walked nine and struck out six. Jacob Brown and Lemoine could not hold Hubbard's 5-2 lead, however. Cole scored BC's fifth run. That came in the sixth inning after he drew a walk with one out, stole second, moved to third on a fielder's choice and then came in on a triple by Hubbard. Hubbard was 3-for-3 with a double, single and the triple for the game. He also stole a base and drove in two runs. With the loss, BC will meet either Magnolia or Barbers Hill today at 5 p.m. Beaumont, meanwhile, advances to the winner's bracket and will square off with either Magnolia or Barbers Hill at 8 p.m. today. The tournament is a two-loss elimination. 11-12 year old Little League Nederland 2, Lumberton 0 WOODLANDS — Nederland scored two runs in the second inning off two past balls and held on for a 2-0 win over Lumberton in the first round of the 11-12 year old Little League All Stars sectional tournament. Nathan Cluck and Brian Feltman each drew walks and eventually came around to score. Cluck was also the winning pitcher for the Nederland All Stars. He tossed three innings in total. It was his work in the second that made the largest impact on the game, however, as he struck out three batters with the bases loaded. Nederland then used three other pitchers to close out Lumberton. Jared Ramoin, who pitched an inning, drew a walk and doubled in the game. His hit was one of just three for Nederland on the night. Colton Weisbord produced the other two. With the win, Nederland will meet Orwall today at 3 p.m. Lumberton will face North Shore at the same time in the loser's bracket. This sectional tournament is a four-team, two-loss elimination bracket.

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[Hidden Content] Winners Bracket 0900 Start Time Arlington Bowie vs. Georgetown Arlington Lamar vs. Plano West Temple vs. Fort Bend Elkins Katy Seven Lakes vs. Tyler Lee Hebron vs. Mercedes Lake Travis vs. Naaman Forest Mesquite vs. Houston Stratford Lufkin vs. Arlington Martin Ed-Couch Elsa vs. Stephenville Baytown Lee vs.Tyler John Tyler South Garland vs. Coppell Richland vs. Rockwall Heath Cy-Fair vs. El Paso Montwood Gregory-Portland vs. Colleyville Heritage Plano vs. Wichita Falls Austin vs. Sulphur Springs Consolation Bracket 0800 Start Time Laredo Alexander vs. The Woodlands Spring vs. Stony Point Duncanville vs. A & M Consolidated R. R. Westwood vs. Brady Klein vs. Schertz Clemens Abilene vs. El Paso Del Valle Beeville Jones vs. Pleasanton Denton Guyer vs. Garland Wylie vs. Langham Creek Weslaco vs. Katy Cinco Ranch Abilene Cooper vs. Klein Oak Cy-Falls vs. Beaumont Westbrook Arlington vs. Belton Katy vs. Klein Forest Tomball vs. Pearland Houston Chavez vs. Houston Memorial

Round 3 Final 2 Katy Seven Lakes - 30 3 Beaumont Westbrook - 12 WB goes 0-3 on the day and will be in the Consolation Bracket Saturday!

Round 2 Final 2 Weslaco - 13 4 Baytown Lee - 20

You and Taxes. Na, just kidding, not sure.

Round 2 Final Rockwall Heath 26 West Brook 19 West Brook will be in the Consolation Bracket Saturday.

Jasper came up just short to Navasota Friday Morning.