This is a new article on the basketball site. It will be about my opinions and my ramblings on basketball. Some of it may be interesting and some of it may not be but hopefully someone out there will relate to what I say in these articles.

The first game of the season is now officially under my belt. It gets me fired up, watching the games. I can’t help it. I know what I want to do and spent the last year mulling it over. I want to finish my degree so I can coach basketball. I decided with certainty early this year that I wanted to go back and finish but then fuel prices started going up and then the hurricane hit and fuel went out of sight and my decision went with it. It is too far for me to drive everyday (165 miles round trip) to college and back with these prices. One way or another, I will find a way to go, I have to because it is in my blood. I watch them play basketball and I am constantly going over possible plays in my mind. Position changes. Defense strategies. I want to be down there encouraging them, teaching them, guiding them, but it will have to wait.

Have you ever gave a decision a lot of thought and finally decided to do something that you always wanted to do and then realized that it may not happen? It isn’t the best feeling in the world. My heart goes out to everyone who lost so much in the recent hurricane tragedy. It destroyed lives, homes and dreams, near and far, it even managed to reach out and lay its destructiveness on my dreams. I never thought it would hit this close to home.

Okay, back to the game. You are going to hear a lot about the “little” teams around my area through time, so bear with me. Last night the Eldorado Panther grade school girls played their first game of the season and defeated Granite Panther Girls with a final score of 35 –5. Eldorado held Granite to 2 points until the last three minutes of the game when they gave up a 2 pointer and a free throw. It was very hot in the gym so I walked outside to get some air between games and just like last year, this is what I heard: “If this group of girls sticks together through high school, they could very well be state material.” I agree. You don’t put the ball on the floor on front of these girls. They WILL take it away or tie the ball up. You don’t give them an open shot, you don’t dribble with your head down and you don’t make a bad pass. You don’t make mistakes because they will make it THEIR ball, THEIR game and THEIR win. If you try to stall against this team, you better know what you are doing because chances are that Eldorado will end up with the ball before long.

The next game (this is a tournament) was played by the Eldorado Boys against Granite also, however, due to some of the players being unavailable for play on the boys team, the coaches and everyone agreed ahead of time to let five of the Eldorado girls play on the boys team. The boys only had five players and the girls thought this was great stuff! Unfortunately, some of the boys parents and fans (from Eldorado) complained at half time about the girls playing even though they didn’t play very long and that was just briefly in the second quarter. So the coach wouldn’t let them play anymore unless someone had fouled out or gotten hurt which they didn’t, thank goodness (I don't like foul trouble and injuries). The Eldorado boys were defeated by Granite and I am not sure of the actual score but I know it was somewhere around 36 to 8. The girls made 4 of those 6 points for Eldorado. The Eldorado boys only had two starters present for the game and three second string players so these five boys started and played most of the game, except for a brief period when the girls played. The boys tried hard but when the opposition has a bench full of relief players and you have none it is very hard to catch your breath and keep up.

I can't wait for the junior high and high school games to start! It should be an interesting year.

See you on the court!