Rez Ipsa

I wish they would just put the games on TV every Friday -- people would still go to the games, and it would be awesome for those of us who are out of town. I'd pay for that.

They've been broadcast in the past. I know they did it in 2010 once for a Saturday game, in 2013 once for a Thursday game against Summer Creek, and twice last year on Texan Live.

Has there been any discussion of streaming the non-Friday 22-5a games live this season? It's my understanding that we are only forbidden (for some reason) from streaming Friday night games live. So, will the Wednesday night games be streamed?

I get the sense that no one plays defense anymore. West Orange is obviously the exception. I think a lot of that has to do with how offenses have changed over the years. The spread and its variants have enabled teams to put up points really efficiently, but I don't know that there is a widespread answer to the spread on the defensive side of the ball. I also think this carries into the college level -- Texas schools don't play defense very well, the Big 12 is full of Texas players, the Big 12 stinks at defense. Of course, as I write this I am remembering that Oklahoma played lock-down D last night against Ohio State. It's not a perfect theory. As far as which district looks better this year, I think Crosby is at least weaker than they have been the past few years. I think Nederland is stronger than we've all been suspecting. I think their games against Vidor and PAM will show us a lot. Barbers Hill is going to be solid. We'll have to see how much the storm affects the teams mentally.

1. Crosby/Barbers Hill 2. East Chambers/Hamshire-Fannett 3. San Augustine/Groveton 4. Dayton/Splendora 5. Kingwood Park/New Caney 6. Beaumont Legacy Christian/Sugar Land Logos Prep 7. Beaumont West Brook/Sheldon C.E. King 8. Galena Park North Shore/Spring Westfield 9. Diboll/Newton 10. Cleveland/Brazosport 11. Huffman Hargrave/Willis 12. Liberty/Coldspring-Oakhurst 13. Silsbee/Jasper 14. Warren/Tarkington 15. Woodville/Little Cypress-Mauriceville 16. Anahuac/Buna 17. Hardin/New Waverly 18. Hemphill/West Sabine 19. Kountze/Hull-Daisetta 20. Cushing/Burkeville 21. Deweyville/Evadale 22. High Island/Orange Community Christian 23. The Woodlands/Katy 24. Goose Creek Memorial/Santa Fe 25. Humble Summer Creek/Pearland Dawson

So, is PNG's defense as bad as it sounds, or is Baytown Sterling's offense just really good?

I would love to see Port Arthur Memorial against Crosby. Also, Silsbee -- Nederland West Orange -- Port Arthur

thx

Just saw that Gage Carreon got second in state powerlifting -- Is he coming back for PNG football next year, or is he a senior? Or is he the freshman that they had start in the playoffs last season?

I say homeschooled kids should be allowed to participate, but this should bring the kid under the school's grade jurisdiction. This would probably be pretty complicated. The idea would be "If you want to homeschool, that's fine, but you are now a [insert school district] student and you have to meet our standards". I really like the idea of homeschooled kids being allowed to participate. Sports help bridge a lot of the gap between what homeschooling parents can and cannot offer their kids.

I'm a little younger - It's not that I don't care if we beat Nederland. I get sick to my stomach every time we lose to Nederland (It's been a pretty miserable six years). And even though we have only beaten Nederland a few times over my lifetime, it feels good every single time. I just don't see a reason to put it all on the coach absent some really, really bad performance on his part. We have been in every game against Nederland since he arrived (except in 2012, but we were barely in any games in 2012). Neumann has PNG figured out, most of the time. Burnett didn't exactly dominate Nederland. And, I often forget that he isn't a local. He didn't grow up with Mid-County Madness in his blood the way most of us did. But he jumps in and gives it all he has, for the community and the kids. What else could we ask for? I agree 100% that this is definitely the most successful so far of the Faircloth years. I also think he demonstrated a lot of class over the past 12 months. I loved how he made it all about the kids after we beat Nederland a couple weeks ago. Didn't thumb his nose at anyone, didn't tell anyone to go to hell, didn't talk about feeling vindicated -- He just does his job and he devotes all of his life to making great football players. I wish he would do some things better. This is the first year I feel like he has put out a tough team. We are always a finesse team, and I've hated our inability to consistently stop the run. This year, there is a little more blood and glory in how the kids play. Side note: I'd love to see us have a 1999-caliber defense paired with a 2010/2014/2015/2016 Faircloth offense. We would be good, to say the least. Probably would still lose to West Orange, because losing to West Orange seems to be a law of nature, no matter how good we are when we play them.

Oh, they're not bad. The look good, especially in that storm trooper white. I miss that royal PNG purple though. I really miss the purple helmets. I think the helmets do look awesome this year, but I wish they would rotate in the purple helmets every once in a while.

That's crazy. Chase Bertrand had a monster year in 2010. He was so close to the record.

I agree. This reminds me of LSU getting rid of Les Miles -- Before Les Miles, LSU wasn't exactly ruling the world. He slows down just a little bit and they get rid of him. I say, be careful what you wish for.

Haha. Good philosophy.

Why are the peewee uniforms so much better than the varsity uniforms?

I'm sorry. I honestly didn't see my post as being confrontational. Did you see where I agreed with you, and rooted for PAM at the end? In my defense, you came on a PNG game thread to gripe about news reporting, which seems to be your favorite subject, aside from ripping on the PAM coach. I'm not sure how sharing my opinion respectfully counts as "starting" anything. I am not defending Gabe -- I don't know him, except in that I enjoy reading the sports pages online, and he can defend himself. My only motivation in saying anything is 1) I, enjoy talking about local sports and 2) I think you are wrong on the subject at hand -- And that's ok. We don't have to agree. I think we can all agree that we are lucky to have local sports writers who care about their subject. Have you read any of the Houston-area high school football coverage? It's abysmal. Finally, I am surprised the moderators didn't come down on you after your last comment -- You seem to have insinuated very offensive and sexual imagery in regards to not one, but two, other forum members, which is as rude as it is insulting. If I'm misunderstanding that, I apologize. If I'm not misunderstanding, and I don't think I am, you are super out of line, as far as forum rules go. But, seriously, good luck to the Titans this week.

I was around and I was coached by Long. He and Burnett were/are solid, good men and coaches, and that drive in 1999 to win in the semifinals was the product of excellent coaching and a whole lot of talent. Both Burnett and Long had a good influence in my life, in their small way. I think you are right that the offense was hampered after 1999, which kept us from replicating what we did with Dustin Long. Despite the what-ifs and whys, BF has been able to replicate offensive success from season to season, which I think certainly goes in his favor. The offensive records for PNG, across the board, are beginning to be entirely dominated by BF-era players. Dustin Long is still the leading passer, but he is not the most efficient (Adam Morse definitely has that.) And, without double-checking, I'm pretty sure the top ten receivers in PNG history are all post-2009. Running backs still haven't caught up to the old days yet. Of course, a lot of the increase in offensive productivity has to do with the style of play. I bet PNG runs more plays per game than we used to.

You have a point. I'll adjust my claim -- BF is the best offensive mind in recent PNG history, at least since Ethridge.

What do you mean "bias"? Do you mean that media is supposed to be biased, or that media is supposed to be unbiased? I do agree that if reporting responded too heavily to online forum discussions, the quality of the journalism would go down. But the moving signs in BF's yard did not happen online. Granted, that event happened a year ago, but I think it was serious enough to merit continual reminders of how stupid and boneheaded it was. I also think that Coach Harrison has not faced as much criticism (except from you, ironically) as BF, outside of this forum. People call Harrison "Xbox", etc, but people have been talking about BF being in the hot seat for YEARS, based only on his record against Nederland. If there is any emphasis in reporting about PNG/Nederland, I think it has more to do with the fact that Mid-County Madness is considered to be an interesting rivalry, with a compelling story and large community significance. For better or for worse, PAM doesn't have such a rivalry -- That is a shame. It is a young school with an old history. Maybe PNG/PAM, Nederland/PAM will develop into a rivalry over the years. In any case, I don't think anyone but you is mistaken as to the communities that the PANews serves. Newspapers look at coverage area, not the name on the top of the page. PANews covers Sabine Pass, Port Arthur, Port Neches, Nederland, maybe more. Port Arthur is not the "home" team. Port Arthur is "a" team in a pretty large coverage area. I would also be curious to know which communities have the most subscriptions to the PANews. If enough readers are in Groves, Nederland, and Port Neches, it shouldn't be a surprise that the stories posted are proportional to readership demographics. I personally enjoy reading every story about all the teams, including PA. I live away now, and it is one of the only ways I can keep up, aside from this site. I'm cheering for Port Arthur next week, as is everyone else, as far as I can tell.

Reporting on football, even in opinion pieces, is exactly his job. I can't think of some other job that he is supposed to be doing.

[Hidden Content] I thought this was a particularly insightful PA News column about Coach Faircloth. I've been grateful to have him at the Reservation since he arrived. And, this may make me a heretic, but as happy as I am when PNG beats Nederland, I think the criticism over his 2-6 record against Nederland is idiotic. Stupid. Immature. Short-sighted. Foolish. It's one game. Sometime you win, sometimes you lose. His overall influence on the program has been very positive, and his absence will be felt when/if he leaves. PNG has never had such a good offensive coach, we have never had such a good mind for teaching fundamentals, and we have never even come close to having such a good QB coach as he is. I hope he stays forever, and if he never beats Nederland again, it won't diminish him even a little bit in my mind. PNG fans are amazing, but we whine too much.

Good luck tomorrow to the Titans!

Heart goes out to Crosby. Sorry about the loss. Congratulations on a good season.

I agree. And honestly, it's been that "little" DB who has been an absolute hero in so many situations, including tonight. He is tough, smart, and fast. What else can we ask for? I almost feel like the complaining hasn't gone down one bit from year to year, no matter what our record is.