JimThorpe

It’s a dinky gym with limited close paved parking.  The seating is uncomfortable foldup bleachers.  No windows for viewing from the concession area. Strictly low rent.  Lots of better places.  I should know because watched hundreds of volleyball and basketball games there for the last 17 years.  The money went into the auditorium which is very nice.

Interesting.  Silsbee uses Skyward software for grades.  It has a an activities feature.  Skyward will track eligibility based on grades, attendance and discipline issues.  It is roster based and secure.  So....  this should never happen?  I bet Cove's system can monitor eligibility too.  Or at least there are add-ins that could do it.  And I bet that neither district has implemented these features.   Too complicated, too time consuming, too something.  Or maybe the wheel hasn't squeaked before.  It sure squeaked this time.  

My first wild overemotional, irrational thoughts were pretty much along these lines....  Yates is going to eviscerate us....  if we even get to Region..... it's not going to be pretty....  we don't have a prayer......  who are we kidding....... 
But I need to just STOP IT!  Calm down, take a deep breath.  What have I told myself about managing expectations?   Come on dude, have a little faith.
Plus it's not fair to the kids from Orange who deserve a lot of credit too.  What are they, chopped liver or something?  They played a whale of a game against the No. 2 ranked team.  
Okay, I'm better now.....
(but the bad me remembers that we blew WOS out last year at their gym 102 - 57 and still thinks WE'RE DOOMED!!!  )

Sounds like the Tigers are hanging on for dear life.  The girls didn't have this much trouble, 71-17.
 

Really brings home just how impressive the programs are at Argyle.  Those kids came within one jump shot of sending us packing.  And the week before their girls had won the championship.  

I'd love to go but I don't think I can make it.  I've got elf work to do all week.  I think it will be a close game and fun to watch, worth the drive.  It's the intangibles.  Long uncomfortable bus ride in gloomy weather.  School tomorrow with finals coming up.  Unfamiliar surroundings.  Christmas stuff on their minds.  That's a lot of junk for a teen to deal with.  It's a scenario for a possible upset, unlikely but possible.
 

BISD needs to combine Ozen and Central and put the main main campus on Concord and call it .......  wait for it......... FRENCH HIGH SCHOOL!!!!!!!
And the mascot?  Why the BUFFALO OF COURSE!!!!!!!  The French Buffs are back!   "It's the best school I ever knew!"
Wouldn't that be a hoot?  After all these years.  And which Beaumont school was the last one to win a football championship?  (even though it was a tie) Why the French Buffs of course!  It'll never happen but it would be fun wouldn't it?   
 

Yes, young Mr. Devon has had a very interesting high school basketball experience.  To say it's been eventful is a huge understatement.  We all remember the terrifying injury in the championship game in 16.  And as for last year.  Well.  I'm reminded of Patton's quote after he'd been sacked for slapping a soldier, "I wish I'd kissed the son of a b_____".
I think it's fair to say that there is one Tiger who holds, shall we say, special feelings about the possibility of a repeat?
 

Yates.  So much can happen between now and then.  It would be a great rematch.  So would Argyle - that was a cliff hanger.  Do I want to think about all that right now?  
Anyway we have more immediate issues at hand.  The Tigers travel to Center to face the 5th ranked Roughriders on the 19th.  A long way to drive on a Tuesday evening for a December game but it should be interesting.  How many will venture forth?
 

I was at the Wax game last year in Dallas.  That was a fun game.  Both teams were really playing. 
If Silsbee had a post they could play with anybody.  He wouldn't need to score, just defend and get rebounds.  The 4A division would already be decided.  But they don't.  So it will be very interesting.

I was at the Wax game last year in Dallas.  That was a fun game.  Both teams were really playing. 
If Silsbee had a post they could play with anybody.  He wouldn't need to score, just defend and get rebounds.  The 4A division would already be decided.  But they don't.  So it will be very interesting.

I'm a Tiger fan who was in Lufkin last night.  What are you guys complaining about?  Ha!
In one sequence Carthage got possession and scored on the first play.  And on their very next possession the Bulldogs scored on their first play. On both occasions they took possession in their own territory.  How's that for a defensive breakdown?

I don't know what the takeaway is except that was the worst defensive performance I've ever seen in person...  in any sport.  Or maybe Carthage is the the magic dragon of offense, I don't know.  I'd like to ask a Carthaginian if they were able to score on ever 2nd or 3rd play against the worst defense they played this year, I mean the second worst defense, not Silsbee.  I doubt it. 
Of course the coach called it off but absent that decision the only thing that could have governed their scoring was simple caloric intake.  You're going to use up your fuel eventually.  No, on second thought that wouldn't have stopped their scoring.  Because the Silsbee defense was running around and expending calories as well, doing whatever it was they were doing, while Carthage was playing football.  So yea, the Bulldogs might well have scored 128 points.  I'm betting that would have been a school record.  Is 64 points a school record for a half?  In a playoff game?  In the third round?
But kids are nothing if not resilient.  The Tigers can simply forget it ever happened.  And that's what they should do because it was a freakish phenomenon that will never be repeated.  That first half was the worst defensive performance in the history of the school and something that bad will simply never happen again.  And since it was so ridiculously bizarre and since it will never happen again the best thing is to just forget about it.  There's nothing to learn from it and nothing to take away from it.  If you get hit by a meteor would you alter your lifestyle so that you don't get hit by another meteor?  Of course not.

I don't know what the takeaway is except that was the worst defensive performance I've ever seen in person...  in any sport.  Or maybe Carthage is the the magic dragon of offense, I don't know.  I'd like to ask a Carthaginian if they were able to score on ever 2nd or 3rd play against the worst defense they played this year, I mean the second worst defense, not Silsbee.  I doubt it. 
Of course the coach called it off but absent that decision the only thing that could have governed their scoring was simple caloric intake.  You're going to use up your fuel eventually.  No, on second thought that wouldn't have stopped their scoring.  Because the Silsbee defense was running around and expending calories as well, doing whatever it was they were doing, while Carthage was playing football.  So yea, the Bulldogs might well have scored 128 points.  I'm betting that would have been a school record.  Is 64 points a school record for a half?  In a playoff game?  In the third round?
But kids are nothing if not resilient.  The Tigers can simply forget it ever happened.  And that's what they should do because it was a freakish phenomenon that will never be repeated.  That first half was the worst defensive performance in the history of the school and something that bad will simply never happen again.  And since it was so ridiculously bizarre and since it will never happen again the best thing is to just forget about it.  There's nothing to learn from it and nothing to take away from it.  If you get hit by a meteor would you alter your lifestyle so that you don't get hit by another meteor?  Of course not.

I was hoping for a blizzard or something.  But it will be perfect weather.  Well, so be it.  Once more into the breach dear friends, once more!
For the benefit of our Carthaginian friends who may be interested, that last line is from a play called "Henry V" by an English playwright named Shakespeare.  Since Carthage was besieged and utterly destroyed during the Third Punic War 146 BC, it's unlikely they would know anything about an English play, or even England for that matter.  How the Romans made it to Texas I have know idea.
Carthago delenda est.

Tonight may not be the biggest game ever for Silsbee, but it would be the biggest win ever.  
 

If the Tigers survive it doesn't get much easier.   Counting Carthage, 9 of the top ten in Div 1 made it thru the Area round.  Only Estacado has been knocked out.  La Vega, the Stepford Children at Argyle, Midlothian, Kennedale, all the usual suspects.  On any given night any of those top schools is capable of beating the others.
It's a spectacular Regionals weekend in for 4A Div 1. 
No. 3 Argyle vs. No. 8 Stephenville
No. 4 Kennedale vs. No. 5 Midlothian
No. 2 La Vega vs. No. 6 Canyon Lake
No. 7 Liberty Hill vs. No. 10 China Spring
Carthage is the only surviving top 10 team not facing another top 10 team.  Isn't that interesting?  Is it an easy week for the Bulldogs compared to their fellow Top 10'ers.  Objectively you'd have to say yes.  But.... who knows?
Carthago delenda est.

If the Tigers survive it doesn't get much easier.   Counting Carthage, 9 of the top ten in Div 1 made it thru the Area round.  Only Estacado has been knocked out.  La Vega, the Stepford Children at Argyle, Midlothian, Kennedale, all the usual suspects.  On any given night any of those top schools is capable of beating the others.
It's a spectacular Regionals weekend in for 4A Div 1. 
No. 3 Argyle vs. No. 8 Stephenville
No. 4 Kennedale vs. No. 5 Midlothian
No. 2 La Vega vs. No. 6 Canyon Lake
No. 7 Liberty Hill vs. No. 10 China Spring
Carthage is the only surviving top 10 team not facing another top 10 team.  Isn't that interesting?  Is it an easy week for the Bulldogs compared to their fellow Top 10'ers.  Objectively you'd have to say yes.  But.... who knows?
Carthago delenda est.

Ain't it the truth!  We were shell shocked!  We kept thinking that it couldn't go on forever but it almost did.  Silsbee kind of helps it along by over committing trying to generate turnovers.  And to make matters worse the Tigers were as cold as ice from outside.  Even missing the rim on occasion.
The difference was, as usual, transition ball.  Even Silsbee Lite with the short bench is just relentless at pushing it.  But you really don't have much choice when you're starting 5 guards do you?  Don't care what you call them, they are all guards.  I almost wish they would drop the pretense when announcing the lineup and just admit it,  "At guard This One, and at guard That One.  Starting at guard Another One, at guard Yet Another One.  And finally, starting at guard A Fifth Guard.  But it's always great fun and the results have been pretty good.

Ain't it the truth!  We were shell shocked!  We kept thinking that it couldn't go on forever but it almost did.  Silsbee kind of helps it along by over committing trying to generate turnovers.  And to make matters worse the Tigers were as cold as ice from outside.  Even missing the rim on occasion.
The difference was, as usual, transition ball.  Even Silsbee Lite with the short bench is just relentless at pushing it.  But you really don't have much choice when you're starting 5 guards do you?  Don't care what you call them, they are all guards.  I almost wish they would drop the pretense when announcing the lineup and just admit it,  "At guard This One, and at guard That One.  Starting at guard Another One, at guard Yet Another One.  And finally, starting at guard A Fifth Guard.  But it's always great fun and the results have been pretty good.

Ain't it the truth!  We were shell shocked!  We kept thinking that it couldn't go on forever but it almost did.  Silsbee kind of helps it along by over committing trying to generate turnovers.  And to make matters worse the Tigers were as cold as ice from outside.  Even missing the rim on occasion.
The difference was, as usual, transition ball.  Even Silsbee Lite with the short bench is just relentless at pushing it.  But you really don't have much choice when you're starting 5 guards do you?  Don't care what you call them, they are all guards.  I almost wish they would drop the pretense when announcing the lineup and just admit it,  "At guard This One, and at guard That One.  Starting at guard Another One, at guard Yet Another One.  And finally, starting at guard A Fifth Guard.  But it's always great fun and the results have been pretty good.

Ain't it the truth!  We were shell shocked!  We kept thinking that it couldn't go on forever but it almost did.  Silsbee kind of helps it along by over committing trying to generate turnovers.  And to make matters worse the Tigers were as cold as ice from outside.  Even missing the rim on occasion.
The difference was, as usual, transition ball.  Even Silsbee Lite with the short bench is just relentless at pushing it.  But you really don't have much choice when you're starting 5 guards do you?  Don't care what you call them, they are all guards.  I almost wish they would drop the pretense when announcing the lineup and just admit it,  "At guard This One, and at guard That One.  Starting at guard Another One, at guard Yet Another One.  And finally, starting at guard A Fifth Guard.  But it's always great fun and the results have been pretty good.

My motto for this week comes from Cato the Elder.  He ended all his speeches in the Roman Senate with the following.....
"Ceterum censeo Carthaginem delendam esse."
Translation:  "Furthermore, I consider that Carthage must be destroyed."
P.S.  The last time we beat them I think Cato was still alive.

My motto for this week comes from Cato the Elder.  He ended all his speeches in the Roman Senate with the following.....
"Ceterum censeo Carthaginem delendam esse."
Translation:  "Furthermore, I consider that Carthage must be destroyed."
P.S.  The last time we beat them I think Cato was still alive.

In retrospect it was a great win but it was not a great game.  If you measure against the standard set in the North Forest game it was disappointing.  I think the kids would agree.  The match up was challenging for Silsbee to be sure. But when you miss everything by at least 4 feet when shooting an open 3 you know it's going to be more difficult than you would like.
At one point in the third the Tiger's FG% was 19.  It ended up at 33 and 50% from the line and that was enough.  It won't, of course, be enough against the Exporters who are better than Argyle.
On the positive side it was down right heroic if you ask me.  I'm so proud of them that I could bust.  It's like the line from the movie Galaxy Quest, "Never give up, never surrender!"