There was a period of time a couple years back where it seemed every time teams from Carson and Douglas High School met up, there was at least one incident I'd end up writing about the following week - usually in this column.
Not this year, though.
The rivalry is every bit as heated and intense as it has been in years past and both of Friday's games came right down to the wire, which made for great theater.
What was unique this time around was that you weren't really left wishing anyone would leave that theater altogether.
Gone were the derisive chants - ranging from poor taste to outright expletives - that have marred matchups in recent years. There were no altercations in the stands or on the floor (or at the In-N-Out Burger afterward, as far as we are aware).
It seems on the surface that the rivalry has tempered down quite a bit, which is a credit to each school's administration but even more to each school's current student body.
The atmosphere Friday night was among the best overall that I've seen for any basketball game in quiet a while. You had a packed house and you had close, emotional games. But no one let the situation get the best of them. Both sides simply cheered their teams on and gave the other side some good-natured ribbing.
It was a pleasure to watch, and something I hope we continue to see from this rivalry in the future (Say, in a couple of weeks when the teams meet up in Carson?).
I've been saying all year that if you give this Douglas girls' basketball team a little time to figure things out, they are going to string some wins together by the end of the season.
Friday night may have been the start of that. They were aided greatly by Carson going dead cold from the field in the second half, but Douglas still did a fantastic job of taking advantage of the opportunity and putting some points on the board. This is a team, remember, that at the beginning of the year would go 6, 7 or 8 minute stretches without scoring a point.
Defensively, they have been there all year. Now the offense is starting to catch up. It'll be interesting to see what they can do over these final few weeks.
I'm planning to be at these games this week, so check online for updates (Cover It Live is the tool we use to post automatic updates during games and also allows for comments and questions from fans during the game, so be sure to check out our Web site if you can't make it to the games I will be posting from.):
Tuesday: Basketball vs. Galena, 5:15 p.m. (girls), 7 p.m. (boys)
Friday: Basketball vs. Damonte Ranch, 5:15 p.m. (girls), 7 p.m. (boys)
- The Carson girls were just 8-for-20 from the free throw line against Douglas Friday night. They were 7-of-17 in the second half.
- Douglas girls' coach Werner Christen wore a suit and tie for Friday's game, departing from his normal gym clothes.
- Please, no more figure skating. That's all I have to say.
Time for this week's installment of Edd Roush's All-Stars (Formerly "This Wacky World of Sports") - Celebrating Edd Roush, the only player ever ejected from a Major League Baseball game for sleeping in the outfield.
The Indianapolis Star is reporting that in the traditional annual Super Bowl wager between mayors of the competing cities that New Orleans will send CDs of Louisiana-based jazz musicians, Mardi Gras cakes and other local cajun-styled foods to Indianapolis mayor Greg Ballard if the Colts win.
If the Saints win, Ballard will send ... shrimp cocktail.
- There was a Web site a couple years back that went around pulling massive pranks on people. One of their most famous such pranks was convincing an entire arena-full of people to cheer wildly after a blindfolded guy missed one of those $1 million dollar halfcourt shots, making him thing he'd made it.
A high school somewhere, beats me where, attempted to replicate the prank on one of its teachers at a pep rally.
Jokes on them. He made the shot.
Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ByCfa8ee7s
