It's Basketball Season...

Being a devout baseball/softball mom, I was having a hard time getting into basketball season...but both boys have decided to play (the girl would too, but there's no real league here (see previous posts for more on that tirade) so I have made a serious and conscious effort to better learn the game and hopefully become a great basketball fan/mom.
So far the season is going much better than I thought - both kids are on JV/B team, but that's okay. It's a known fact that white boys can't jump and when you mix in my non-athletic gene that is clearly dominant (it must be...Kevin was a great athlete and fast - so the townfolk say...), I think the Hallmark boys are doing good to even come off the bench!
I haven't pulled out the camera yet, but will do it soon...they could get hurt at any time, or yanked from starting positions...and I'll have missed my opportunity to take pictures in the gym where everyone looks like they are suffering from a serious case of jaundice. I detest gym pictures....*sigh*...

Still can't wait for baseball season though!

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of the Florence Athletic Booster Club on Facebook. Search it and become a FAN!!!

Logan & Abbie's schedules...

Below, Game schedules for Abbie & Logan, should you wish to see some baseball or softball this spring/summer!

We whipped Lago last night!

The Buffaloes were in rare form! My swell boy was on the mound and...not to sound like an obnoxious, boastful madre, but...he was truly on FIRE! I think he did the best pitching of his high school career last night. It was beautiful...at least the first 4 - 5 innings. It was a shut out till then. But, we still won in the end and it was a great game. We were ahead 11-0 until they got 2 runs in. Then they got a couple more...but we held on and were victorious and most importantly, Seth kept his cool and didn't do the self-implosion that often occurs...he realizes that he now needs to build his stamina and work towards getting to the point he can throw a complete game that ends as strong as it starts. When he can do that, there will be no stopping him!

See the snippet. I am always afraid to set up the video cam...I try not to be superstitious. I believe God has a plan for each of us and whatever happens will happen and is meant to be, however each time I pull out a device to capture a moment, the jinx/hex begins...but last night I wanted to capture some of the good. I'm not sure if I jinxed us or not, because the shutout ended, but then the battery died and we still won, so...? I shall be happy I managed to capture 51 minutes of the game and am able to upload 1 inning. It takes forever to upload a couple of minutes of vide! To upload a whole game would be akin to having wood stakes buried under my pinky nails...sheer torture, I tell ya!

But...as a lucky viewer...you are the recipient of sheer enjoyment!! ;) Oh..and also of note is the colorful commentary/cheering section: his JV teammates...they are just a hoot.

Oh yes, it's official...

I do stink at this!

First Game Recap - FHS v. CenTex Home School

Great first game! Kevin kept score, so we have some factual data to go by: Final score was 11-0; however I think technically in the books it would show 10-0 because of the run rule. Garrett pitched well with Cody R. coming in at the top of the 5th to relieve. Josh, Doak. Garrett, Seth (2) and Hunter all got singles. Seth and Blake also got doubles and Cody R. got a triple. Garrett wowed the homestand with a HRin the 2nd inning - it was lovely! On a more somber note, Josh & Doak took one for the team with the 'ol HBP. Oh, and just 'cause it's my blog & I'll brag if I want to, I'll call Seth's final hit the clincher since it brought in the winning run...

We also got to enjoy pre-game activities with Mrs. Shelton, honorable School Board Member, throwing out the first pitch at our first real game - Thanks, Mrs. Shelton! Oh...and there was a huge contingency of FHS students cheering on the guys - with a makeshift dry-erase scoreboard/Jumbo-tron (mini-tron...I guess). It was so nice to see them out showing support - thank you, fellow Buffaloes!

Below, Garrett's Homer (turn down your speakers to avoid the wind noise...):

Oops.

I just realized in my last posting I promised to spare you the details. I didn't. So sorry.

The blog could just as easily be titled "Crazed Rantings from a Bleacher-Weary Mother".

The Florence Pistons

Miss Abbie has been playing basketball in the local recreational league this winter. It has been somewhat of a harsh season for their team, the Pistons, but they have managed to keep their chins up and will finish up the season this weekend. I'll spare you all the details, because if you've spent much time around me or a Piston parent, you probably know how we feel about it, but...suffice it to say the teams were divvied up in a rather lop-sided fashion (draft, or not) which shouldn't happen when you have kids playing together that range from 3rd grade all the way to 6th grade + co-ed. I'll say this: I commend the girls who wanted to play for sticking with it and not letting the lack of female participation deter them from playing. They haven't been the most aggressive players on the team, but they did make some shots along the way, and when plied with pre-game chocolate, I noticed they became more assertive as those tasty choco-endorphins kicked in, so... there was that lesson learned this season; therefore it was not a complete loss. Not to mention Abbie has had fun. I don't think she liked getting her tail handed to her each week, having people elbow her non-stop; but she wouldn't take her dad's advice and make it her goal to foul out each game. She clearly is too sweet to understand that sometimes fouls are good. But...she had fun. She said she did. And we believe her. She especially had fun chatting up her pal Alena Jo as they ran down court...girls just never stop talking.

In all, there has to be a lesson learned in watching something so painful - feeling your blood pressure rise to dangerous levels each Saturday afternoon as you watch your nice little wholesome team get spanked mercilessly. My epiphany is this: The unfortunate, uncomfortable tension that is created when we play against each other...our friends should be avoided. We need to start playing other towns if we are to continue to play intramural league Basketball! It is really easy to send your players out on the ballfield or court, pat them on the hiney and imply it's a good thing to want to de-whisker the Jarrell Cougars or pluck the Salado Eagle's feathers - that's pretty much expected. You know they are plotting to skin our Buffalo hides! That's just part of long standing school rivalry...but, it is very hard to send your kid out there when they are playing their classmates & friends in a competitive environment and ask them to draw blood (or a mere foul). And it's a little unfair. The kids want, and should, play to the very best of their ability. But what happens when the 6th grader that can steal, drive down the court and sink layup after layup does it over and over against 3rd graders that just can't compete with that? As a coach, you should never ask your team or players to not play to their fullest potential - if so, you probably shouldn't be coaching - because if you are coaching, you should be coaching to win. At some point though...there probably should be some consideration put into how much you are willing to stick it to the other team that has to look each other in the eye when it's all said & done.

I pointed out to last weeks opposing coach (who was actually just filling in for the usual one) that when Florence plays against Florence, it's a lot like the Civil War - not much good can come of it in terms of body count and casualties because they all belong to us. It's different when we pair off against other schools - that's like the U.S. against Afghanistan & Iraq. Regardless of victory or defeat, they drag their wounded back home and we don't have to face them back at school next week - Conversely: it's so awkward to gut-check a friend on Saturday and then have them grading your paper on Monday morning. Oh well...I guess all's fair in love & war, right?

Seriously...would you gut-check her? She's so darn cute!

What a Wild & Windy Weekend!

Whew...Saturday morning blew in with gusto! You would have thought the scrimmage was more of a matchup between the Cubs & the Sox at Wrigley Field in the windy city than in Central Texas the way the wind was whipping us! The Buffs scrimmaged for the first time as a full team with all the basketball players now on board, so a few new/old faces that we were happy to see back. Again, Abbie & I attempted to keep score, but also dealt with various girly-issues and cookie sales, so not sure what the score really was - and since it was a scrimmage, not too worried about it right now. I believe when I left to take Ab to her basketball game it was 6 - 5 with the Johnson City team ahead - it was reported to me that the score ended up a wee bit more in their favor towards the end of the game, however I wasn't there to see it, so I don't believe it. That's how I roll.
Seth hit his first home run in High School play, so that was exciting! ...and Doak's mom pointed out something I would never have thought of: He hit the first home run out of the new Florence High School field, so that is even more thrilling! We shall mark the ball and place it along side all other baseballs of great importance at home. I suggested to Seth I would be happy to paint a big sign in his honor and hang somewhere (I'm not talented in bronze busts or statues), but he very impolitely declined!!! I hope we get to see lots of home runs from all the guys this year - I really think this is going to be a great year for them!
Oh...I took some pictures but the wind was blowing so hard I was sure they wouldn't come out. They definitely didn't come out - I didn't have a memory card in my camera, so...they weren't just blurry like I had envisioned due to wind gusts, but in fact...they were...invisible!!

PiP'ed with Pirates Tonight

We had the pleasure of wowing the very nearby crowd at Southwestern University tonight - they are absolutely the nicest fans! They just cheer so loudly, which I hope you can hear in the movie clip. We had a spicy new routine tonight with some nifty new things I haven't seen in the past couple of performances, which means we are getting ready for the big PiP Festival at Abilene in March where PiP'ers from all across the U.S.A. converge to show their mad skills! A good time!! Abbie and I will be having a girls weekend and sharing a room with Miss Emily Jo and her mama - as long as there is a Starbucks nearby, Brandy and I know we can survive anything together - even a large quantity (there were at least 15 of them, maybe more...seemed like 50) 8 year old Brownies camping out at Moody Gardens in the Rain Forest pyramid, which by the way might sound inviting but is actually very smelly, hairy and overall just plain creepy at night. Talk about post traumatic stress disorder...I still can't bring myself to sign up for another overnight Girl Scout adventure - I might consider it again when they book a trip to a Lake Austin Spa Resort or something of comparable nature; however I don't think that is in the catalogue of GS Trips you can take with your "Cookie Dough" credits that the little dears earn for pedding the zero transfat nuggets of baked delight. I guess that's a whole other story though...


Behold: PiP Video #2 - Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas - Gooooo Pirates!!!


Oh..ahem...please note: this one pretty much follows Ab around, not that you can keep up with her because the cool little web cam thingy doesn't zoom much, but I'm still thinking it's a neato-mosquito piece o' technology! And again...you will probably have to wait a long time for it to load...

Ugh...Running behind! I'll probably stink at this!

Okay! I didn't post up a recap for the last scrimmage, but it went pretty well! We took on the Austin LBJ team and I think soundly whooped them. Little Sister kept the books while also peddling girl scout cookies, so I don't have an accurate record of score. Anyway, the Buffaloes are lookin' good! We got to see some new pitching (Way to go guys! Was super impressed with D.J. who I've not seen since his FYRA days many, many years ago!) and I was happy to see Luis back in action too. Brings back memories of a long time ago...sniff...
So, tomorrow we get to scrap with Johnson City on home turf - lovin' the schedule, Coaches! I committ to doing a better job of score keeping when district begins! Maybe I can trade some girl scout cookies to Mr. Dan H. if he'll let me scan in his score sheets each week and post them here for us all to analyze - that would be awesome!

Okay, not just for Buffaloes, but all things Florence related...

Because this blog-alo is really just to update friends & family, and any folks who might have an interest, it may or may not, be about Buffaloes. In this particular post, we're talking about PiPs.. Little Players-in-Progress...who in the Florence context, are an extension of Buffaloes...to my knowledge they all go to school here, so I guess this is still about Buffaloes. I digress.

I am not entirely sure how long PiPs has had a program in Florence, but I think it is around 20 years! We have had the same Coach (Go, Coach Cooper!) the whole time!!! It is a ball handling team that learns routines set to music and performs at half-time during games at our high school as well as colleges and other nearby Texas venues. Some kids even travel to the Final Four games to perform!

Recently some of our kids traveled to Waco to perform during the half-time break of the Baylor vs. OU men's basketball game on Feb. 11th. We had a great time! When you watch the video, you might think "Oh, that's cool...", but keep in mind that we brought half the kids from Florence and the other half came from another town...we all met at 5:45 in the Baylor parking lot @ the baseball fields. The kids & coaches practiced there, then moved to a practice gym and practiced until around 8:00-ish, then entered the arena where they were introduced to a huge crowd and performed a brand new routine that was choreographed and practiced/perfected in less than three hours. That is muy impressive!!! They all look alike in their uniforms, but if you are a PoPiP (Parent of PiP), you can probably find yours...I found Abbie a couple minutes into filming the routine, so she is not in the first part! :)

The Buffalo Baseball Season has begun - Whoo Hoo!

It was a blustery Valentine's Day morning in Thorndale as the faithful Buffaloes traveled to their first scrimmage against the District 26 1A Bulldogs. The Buffs looked pretty good as they knocked off the rust - Garrett Daniels even sent one out of the park! Next match up is a scrimmage on Monday, Feb. 16th @ 4:00 at the all-new Buffalo Baseball/Softball Complex as we host Austin LBJ.