Rooting For Fort Bend Marshall

My high school alma mater was messed with by HISD to the point that it no longer has high school athletics on campus.  But I'm still a high school football fan, just not to the level I was when my beloved Jones Falcons were in the hunt for Texas high school football glory.   

Yesterday started the Texas high school football championship weekend here in the Lone Star State.  It's a smorgasbord of Texas high school football, with twelve title games from Class A (six man) to Class 6A being played at one location over the next four days. with all the games being broadcast on Fox Sports Southwest.

It also makes it easier for all the collegiate recruiters to check out players they either have signed during the NCAA early signing period or spot one they may not have noticed previously that is a late football bloomer.

The championship games location are rotated between Houston, Dallas and San Antonio because all three cities have domed stadiums, This year and in 2019, all the games will be played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington 

In Texas high school football and basketball, the top four teams in each district make the playoffs.  Two teams are placed in the Division I playoff bracket, and the other two in the Division II bracket based in enrollment.

I'm always rooting for Houston area teams that make it to the title game in their class, and this year is no different.

The highly anticipated Class 6A Division I game on Saturday night has undefeated Galena Park North Shore (15-0) who rolled over perennial powerhouse Katy in their usual clash at NRG Stadium and also beat them in the regular season.   The Mustangs try to complete their perfect season against unbeaten DFW area homeboys Duncanville (14-0), who beat top 5 nationally ranked Allen in their march to the finals. 

In the Class 6A Division II game Saturday afternoon Beaumont West Brook (13-2) will take on unbeaten perennial East Texas high school powerhouse Longview (15-0).

In the Class 6A Division I game it's a clash of the unbeaten old versus the new kids on the playoff block.   The Highland Park Scots, the team with the most wins in Texas high school football history, that has played in some legendary games still talked about among Texas high school football fans, and is the alma mater of Detroit Lions QB Matthew Stafford, takes on Alvin Shadow Creek. 

The Sharks are playing their first year of varsity football, and are trying to attempt the feat their district mates Manvel failed to accomplish by winning a state championship in their first year of play.

The game I'll definitely be watching is taking place on Friday night in Class 5A Division II.
Unbeaten Fort Bend Marshall (15-0), who made a deep playoff run last year but fell short, tries to capture its first state title against (15-0) Aledo.  The Bearcats were upset in the state title game last year against College Station, and are looking to avenge that loss at Marshall's expense.

Aledo has more than few UIL championship trophies in their school trophy case, having won six state football titles in the last nine years.

Marshall is not only trying to complete an unbeaten season, they are trying to do so while grieving the loss of  their senior teammate Drew Conley days before their semifinal playoff game.

Conley was murdered by his uncle, and five days later the Buffs pulled out an emotional game against Corpus Christi Calallen last week 19-17 to punch their ticket to the Jerrydome.

The other reasons I'm rooting for Marshall is the school is named for the eminent Supreme Court justice, and their school colors are the same black, gold and white my Falcons wore.

The Buffs were recently visited by Houston Texans DB Tyrann Mathieu for a motivational speech.

We'll see if it worked for the Buffs tomorrow night at 7 PM.   Go Buffs!  Do it for Drew.  Bring that Class 5A Division II title back to the Houston area!.

TransGriot Update:  They hung with them for a quarter, but Aledo unfortunately beat Marshall 55-19 

Mack Beggs Is A Back To Back Undefeated Texas Class 6A Wrestling Champ

Because the UIL played itself and refused to change a rule that forced Euless Trinity trans masculine wrestler Mack Beggs to wrestle against girls when he would prefer to be wrestling against boys, Beggs cruised to an undefeated 2017 season in his 110 pound weight class and capped it off with a Texas Class 6A state title

In case you wondered what happened in the wake of his initial 110 pound division title, a group of Republican legislators tried to pass during the 2017 legislative session a bill that would have barred him from competing because of the testosterone he was taking for transition purposes. 

Beggs took a low enough dose to start the masculinization process but not enough to build muscle.    That bill passed the Texas Senate (what else is new?) but died in committee with the legislative grownups in the Texas House.

All the University Interscholastic League, the governing body for Texas high school athletic and academic competitions  had to do was follow the NCAA standards.  But noooo, y'all still wanna do the right wing thing and stubbornly use for partisan political reasons the birth certificate as the basis for determining where you're placed for UIL competition purposes

Beggs is mulling a scholarship offer from an out of state college, and if he decides to wrestle in college, he'll get his wish to wrestle against men because the more realistic NCAA rules classify him as male.because of the testosterone treatments.

The 'Mack Attack' is back, and once again advanced to the UIL state wresting tournament being held in the northwest Houston suburb of Cypress, TX that started yesterday and concluded today.

Beggs successfully defended his Class 6A title, going undefeated once again to do so with a 36-0 record.    He won two matched by pinfall on Friday to advance to today's semifinal and finals.

But first, he had to get past Cypress Ranch senior Kayla Fitts, who is undefeated herself at 52-0 to get to the final.  He got past Fitts and earned a rematch with Chelsea Sanchez of Katy Morton Ranch, who he defeated last year to capture his first title. 

The championship rematch ended up with Beggs defeating Sanchez 15-3 by decision to cap the back to back title run.

So hate on transphobic haters.   Y'all wanna be mad and stay mad at someone, you need to direct your frustration at the UIL, not a kid simply trying to compete in the sport he loves.

Congrats to Mack Beggs for putting in the work to become a two time undefeated state wrestling champ.   Proud of you for handling your business despite the transphobic haters and being a class act. 

And note to the UIL.  Beggs is not going to be the last trans athlete who wished to compete in Texas.   There are trans kids matriculating rights now in Lone Star State elementary and middle schools, and it's past time y'all cleaned up the rules to let trans people play high school sports in their target gender as cisgender kids can do. .

Good luck to you Mack Attack when you move on to the collegiate ranks.

Now it's up to the UIL to do what they should have done and align their competition rules to mirror the NCAA ones so we don't have this happening again .   

Houston Tapped To Host 2024 College Football Championship Game

Texas conservafools, this is another undeniable example of the Lone Star State getting nice things when you peeps don't go to Austin and pass hateful legislation. 

Houston was a finalist for the initial rounds of College Football Championship games that in large part because of the HERO repeal referendum vote being in the news when these games were awarded on November 1, 2015, subsequently went to Atlanta (2018), Santa Clara, CA (2019) and New Orleans (2020). 

The sites for the next four College Football Championship games from 2021-2024 were announced yesterday.  Guess what Texas city made that final list? 

Assuming the Texas GOP conservafools don't do something stupid to cause it to be moved, the 2024 College Football Championship Game will be hosted at NRG Stadium in Houston.

The 2021 game will be played in Miami, in 2022 Indianapolis, and in the soon to be opened stadium in Los Angeles in 2023.

So don't screw it up, Texas conservafools.  Or to ensure they don't mess with our tourism money, I suggest we reality based Texans kick their butts out of power in the Lone Star State so we can continue to have nice things like major sporting events and conventions come to Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.

Astros Earn History And Finally Win A World Series Championship!

I was 24 days from arriving on Planet Earth when the Astros, then known as the Houston Colt .45's, played their first game at their temporary Colt Stadium home as the Astrodome was being built.
On that April 10 day they beat down the Chicago Cubs 11-2 and swept that series

As my hometown baseball team, I've seen a lot of games.  I even worked at the Astrodome from 1981-1986.   I witnessed my share of heartbreaking Astros playoff losses. I have the bad memories of the 1980 NLCS, 1981 NLDS, the 1986 NLCS, the 1997, 1998 and 1999 NLDS, the 2004 NLCS, the 2005 World Series and the 2015 ALDS 

So when the Astros won 101 games in capturing their first AL West title I was hopeful that this would finally be the year.   Then it was on to the ALDS where they dispatched the Boston Red Sox in 4 games to face the Evil Baseball Empire.

Home field advantage was crucial in that ALCS with the Yankees, with the Astros taking the first two games at Minute Maid to grab a 2-0 lead.  But once the scene shifted to New York the Astros bats went quiet and the Yankees won all three games in the Big Apple to head back to Texas with a 3-2 lead.   

The Astros came back home to take the ALCS Game 6 to tie the series and take down the Evil Baseball Empire in Game 7 to capture their first American League championship

They also became not only the first team in the modern era to win titles in the National and American League, they became the first AL team ever to beat the Red Sox and Yankees in the same postseason.

They would then face the National League champion Dodgers, who won a major league best 104 games to get home field advantage. 
The Astros got the split in LA, and took two out of three at Minute Maid to finish with a 8-1) to got back to LA with a 3-2 lead.

After getting beat in Game 6, they jumped on Yu Darvish again to build a 5-0 lead they never relinquished for their first World Series title in franchise history.

Wipes away a lot of frustration as an Astros fan. They also #EarnedHistory by beating baseball royalty on the way to their first title.    The Red Sox, Yankees and Dodgers have a combined 41 titles to our now one. 

But it's a so sweet one to cap an epic World Series for H-town.   And even better, we beat the Rangers to the accomplishment of bringing a World Series title to the Lone Star State.

And I couldn't be happier.   See y'all at the parade on Friday!

Are The Golden State Warriors Declining A White House Champions Visit?

One of the perks that comes with winning a league or collegiate championship here in the United States is getting to visit the White House and hang out with the POTUS,

But since 45 got elected, increasing number of non-white athletes are showing their disapproval of this misadministration by not going to the White House for their ceremonial victory visits

And this news is coming a day after Clemson showed up at the White House for their visit.

The Golden State Warriors are rumored to have just become the first team to decline as a group to go to the White House.  Hours after completing their near perfect 16-1 romp through the NBA playoffs to capture their fifth title as an organization and second in three years, it is being alleged they unanimously voted to not go to the White House if the invite comes.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, Stephen Curry and David West have also made it clear they don't like Dear Cheeto Leader

When the Warriors won the NBA title in 2015, they proudly showed up to visit the White House when President Obama was living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

The team did issue a statement after multiple stories came out stating that they had voted to decline a visit, saying that 'today is all about celebrating our championship' and no invitation had come from the White House yet.  

The statement also said that the organization would make those decisions when an if necessary.

If they don't go, it will continue a pattern that is developing since January of pro athletes not wanting to show up at this White House because of its extremely problematic current occupant.

Brienne Minor Wins Historic 2017 NCAA Women's Singles Tennis Title

Black history was made on May 29 at the recent NCAA Division I women's tennis championships that were conducted at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on the University of Georgia campus in Athens. GA.

University of Michigan sophomore Brienne Minor became the first African-American woman ever to win the NCAA Division I women's tennis title   In case you're wondering, the first African-American man to win an NCAA men's singles tennis title was the legendary Arthur Ashe in 1965.

She was the 2014 Illinois state girls singles champion, but in this NCAA women's singles tournament, she was ranked 24th in the nation, and also played with her Michigan teammates in the NCAA Division I team tennis championships that started in Athens back on May 18.   .

Michigan advanced to the Round of 16, beating Youngstown State and Kentucky before being eliminated by national finalist runner-up Stanford.

When the NCAA women's singles tourney started on May 24, the unseeded Minor faced the task of having to win six matches in six days to get to the finals of the 2017 NCAA women's tourney while battling tendinitis in her knees.

Minor was also in the section of the bracket that contained the number one seed Francesca Di Lorenzo of Ohio State.and was facing in the opening round the woman who ended her 2016 NCAA women's tournament run in Miami's Sinead Lohan.

It took her three sets, but she beat Lohan 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to jumpstart her title run. Di Lorenzo was surprisingly upset in the opening round by Pepperdine's Mayar Sharif Ahmad, and Minor knocked her off in straight sets in the Round of 16 on her way to the finals .

Minor would face Florida senior and tournament sixth seed Belinda Woolcock  The Aussie was playing her last match as a Gator and had only dropped one set on her way to the championship finals.  She also wanted to add the NCAA women's singles title to the 2017 NCAA team tennis championship she played a huge role in Florida winning over Stanford.

Woolcock played 14 singles and doubles matches over the eleven days of the NCAA Division I tourney with an 11-1 record to help Florida win the NCAA team championship, was named the Most Valuable Player in the NCAA team tournament, and made the all Tournament team in singles and doubles.

But it was Brienne Minor's day and she was on an eight match tournament winning streak at this point. With her family cheering her on, Minor made the admittedly tired Woolcock run all over the court as she raced out to a 4-0 first set lead before Woolcock broke her serve to finally get on the first set scoreboard.

Woolcock gave the service break back to stoke Minor to a 5-1 first set lead and won the next two games to close to 5-3, but dropped her service game to give Minor a one set lead in this NCAA title match.

Minor held serve to begin the second set and jumped out to a 3-1 and 4-2 lead before Woolcock made one last push and closed to 4-3 by blanking Minor with a love service game.   But Minor stormed back by winning the next two to take the set and the 2017 NCAA women's championship in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.

Minor knocked off three players ranked in the top 16 in the nation to earn this historic title, and not only gave Michigan their first ever NCAA women's singles tennis national champion, she made some Black history in the process.

With the win she also earned a wild card entry into the 2017 US Open that begins on August 28

Hail Cougars! 2015 AAC Champs!

Had the pleasure of watching my alma mater for the first time since 2006 win a conference title in football today.  And the best part of it was it was done in The Cage, AKA TDECU Stadium.

While the pregame talk was about our all everything junior quarterback Greg Ward, Jr (who should have gotten some Heisman love) in this inaugural American Athletic Conference title game, the UH defense are no slouches either.

But it was Ward doing much of the damage in this game with his legs, rushing for 148 yards and two touchdowns as the 17th ranked Cougars raced to a 17-0 lead thanks to a Ward 47 yard TD run in the second quarter and two Temple turnovers to go up 17-3 at the half.

The Cougars pushed the lead to 24-3 on Ward's second touchdown, and then the 20th ranked AAC East Division Champs turned up their defense to help the Owls get back into the game

They closed to 24-13 with 5:11 to play before the Cougar defense stiffened and Temple failed on a 4th and 3 with 1:58 left on the UH 19 yard line.   Two first down later and the Cougars would be happily accepting the American championship trophy at midfield.

The Cougars not only moved to 12-1 on the season, as the highest ranked champion in the Group of Five conferences, they punched their ticket to a New Year's Eve bowl game which is according to chatter will be either the Peach Bowl or Fiesta Bowl.

Congrats UH Cougars for an outstanding season, and I need to pick up my championship t-shirt.

UH Cougars Are AAC West Division Champs!

After being upset last week 20-17 by UConn with their all world quarterback Greg Ward, Jr on the sidelines for much of it, my fave college football team came into this matchup at TDECU Stadium with number 15 ranked Navy with a lot on the line.  

The chance for an undefeated season were gone, but the Coogs still had much to play for Friday afternoon. The Cougars were not only playing for the AAC West Division title and hosting the inaugural American Athletic Conference Championship Game, they were also playing to keep their hopes alive for a New Years Six bowl game.

The Coogs took the opening kickoff, marched efficiently down the field to score and take a 7-0 lead they would never relinquish against a talented Navy squad determined to make their own history with their Heisman Trophy candidate senior quarterback Keenan Reynolds.

Navy quickly answered, but UH took a page out of the Midshipmen playbook by executing long clock eating drives and capping them off with touchdowns, helped immensely by going 16 for 19 on third down and going 2 for 2 on fourth down to forge a 24-14 lead at halftime.

But it was the Cougar defense stepping up big once again by forcing a critical turnover on Navy's opening drive of the third quarter and converting it into a touchdown that gave them a 31-14 lead.

But Navy didn't quit.  They fought until the final whistle. but UH was just too good on offense and prevailed 52-31 to clinch the AAC West Division title, move to 11-1 on the season and ensure the AAC Championship game would be held in H-town.

They will face AAC East Division Champ Temple (10-2) on December 5, and I'm hoping I can get tickets for that game.  I'm also hoping they make more history by winning the AAC title and getting that spot in a New Year's Six bowl game.

Darn, Dynamo Fall Again In MLS Cup 2012

Well, for much of this match the Dynamo not only outplayed the LA Galaxy, they had a 1-0 lead at halftime.

Unfortunately the Galaxy woke up and put together a burst of second half activity starting around the 60th minute that sent the Dynamo reeling to a 3-1 defeat and ensuring that the MLS Anschutz Cup would stay in Los Angeles.

While the Men in Orange are frustrated and disappointed that their season ended with a second consecutive MLS Cup final loss, they do have CONCACAF champions league play to look forward to next year

They are also resolved to make the new MLS playoff format work in their favor next time in which the team with the highest seed hosts the championship game.  .   

The Dynamo are motivated to ensure in 2013 that should they make it all the way back to play in MLS Cup 2013, it will be played in the much friendlier confines of BBVA Compass Stadium.

Thanks for another wonderful playoff run guys.   Now lets make it happen.

Bring The MLS Cup 2012 Home Dynamo!

The MLS Cup 2012 championship (re)match between the Houston Dynamo and the LA Galaxy will be kicking off in mere moments in Carson, CA

While the rest of the world's soccer media is focused on the announcement that David Beckham made earlier that this is his last MLS match of his six year run in the LA area, my Men In Orange have been without media fanfare quietly focused on their mission of bringing the MLS Cup back to Houston for the first time since 2007.

The back-to back Eastern Conference champs lost 1-0 to the Galaxy in MLS Cup 2011, but that team was missing Brad Davis, who got hurt in their Eastern Conference final against Sporting KC last year   

The 2012 edition of the Dynamo not only has Brad Davis back, but added Honduran Oscar Boniek Garcia to the squad and has one of the best goalkeepers in MLS in Tally Hall.

While other peeps will want a happy ending for Beckham and the Galaxy, there are a group of guys in orange shirts and their fans back in Houston who rather see at the end of 90 plus minutes the Dynamo ruining the afternoon for them by hoisting the MLS cup in the Home Depot Center after a Dynamo victory and bringing it back to H-town. 

Baylor Lady Bears Visit The White House

Y'all know how much I love my Houston hoopster homegirl Brittney Griner and her Baylor Lady Bear teammates who completed an unbeaten 40-0 run to a NCAA women's basketball title and made me look like a hoops genius in terms of picking my NCAA women's March Madness bracket..

They got to visit the White House and President Obama yesterday and present the POTUS with a Baylor jersey and autographed basketball. 



“I could not be prouder of this team,” President Obama said during this event. ”As the father of two daughters who are tall and beautiful just like them, it is great to have role models who can show that women can be strong and athletic and competitive, but also play as a team.”

And this Lady Bear team had a dominating and record setting season on the way to beating the Skylar Diggins led Notre Dame Fighting Irish for the championship.   They also kept the NCAA women's championship trophy in the Lone Star State for the second consecutive season.

Can they repeat?   We'll see starting in November.

Minnesota Lynx 2011 WNBA Champions

I'm late with this post, but in the midst of the news about the NBA canceling 2011-2012 season games no thanks to the lockout, had to show the WNBA and the Minnesota Lynx some TransGriot love.

I was a proud season ticket holder during the Houston Comets dynasty (sniff sniff) from 1997-2000 when they won four consecutive WNBA titles.  The Minnesota Lynx joined the league in 1999 along with the Orlando Miracle as an expansion franchise.  

Back in the day we Comet fans would watch our Big Four of Cooper, Swoopes, Thompson and Janeth Arcain blow them out in WNBA basketball mismatches, make jokes about the Minnesota Missing Lynx or as a nod to the then popular game show at the time, call them 'the Weakest Lynx'.

Well, fast forward a decade to the WNBA's 15th season. My beloved Comets, one of the Original Eight WNBA franchises that started play in 1997 have been extinct for several years while the expansion team I gleefully made jokes about while ensconced in my Section 117 Compaq Center aisle seat is still in the league and is now the 2011 WNBA Champion.

And oh yeah, Compaq Center is now the sanctuary of Lakewood Church

Donna Orender, I and other Houston Comets fans are still pissed about how the WNBA handled the situation in 2008, and it's making it hard for me to regain the level of passion I once had for the WNBA.

Putting a new Houston Comets expansion team in the WNBA would be a nice start, but back to discussing 2011 WNBA ball and the new WNBA champs.  


The Lynx drafted UConn's Maya Moore with the number one overall pick and rolled to a league best 27-7 record in the always tough WNBA Western Conference   

They faced the fourth place San Antonio Silver Stars in the opening round best of three series and won it 2-1 to advance to the Western Conference finals against the Phoenix Mercury, who upset the defending WNBA champion Seattle Storm 2-1.  Minnesota swept Phoenix in the Western Conference Finals 2-0 to advance to their first WNBA final against the Atlanta Dream.

The Dream finished third at 20-14 and one game behind the Eastern Conference regular season winners the Indiana Fever and Connecticut Sun.  Both teams had identical 21-13 records but Indiana was seeded first due to winning the regular season series against the Sun.  

The Angel McCoughtry led Dream got hot in the playoffs. They swept the Connecticut Sun 2-0, won the Eastern Conference title and advanced to the WNBA finals for the second straight year by getting past WNBA MVP Tamika Catchings and her Fever teammates 2-1.

The dream of a WNBA title for the ATL-based WNBA ballers died once again as the Lynx swept the Dream in the best of five WNBA Finals 3-0 with the help of Moore and WNBA Finals MVP Seimone Augustus to claim their first WNBA championship.

Maya Moore was also named WNBA Rookie Of the Year to cap off a marvelous rookie season.
 

The 2011 IAAF Athletics World Championships Start Today

The 2018 Winter Olympics wasn't the only major international sporting event the Koreans grabbed.   Another one they successfully bid for and won was the 2011 IAAF World Championships that start in Daegu today and run through September 4.

Athletics is what the rest of the world calls track and field, and the Monaco based International Association of Athletics Federations is the governing body of the sport.  The championships are held biennially so they don't step on the prestige of the Olympics being the ultimate event in the sport of athletics. 

The next IAAF World Championships will take place in Moscow from August 10-18, 2013 and in Beijing's Bird's Nest Stadium in 2015.

In the IAAF worlds all the sports we know and love from the sprint and distance races to the field events will be contested by men and women international teams in Daegu.

Yes, they'll be passing gold, silver and bronze medals out too.  They'll also be televised by many networks around the globe, including Universal cable here in the States which concentrates on Olympic and international sports.     

Speaking of the Olympics, since we are less than a year away from the 2012 London Games, by watching the championships being contested here,  we fans of the sport will get some of our things that make you go hmm questions answered leading up to the Olympic athletics competition next summer from August 3-12.

Who are the up and coming athletes in the sport?  What athletes that we have seen over the last few years that we thought were done are making comebacks?   Will the athletes who are having stellar seasons this year continue their winning ways and parlay that season long excellence into world championship medals?  

Conversely, will the athletes who were having a subpar year suddenly take inspiration from being on the big international sporting stage and put it together?  What athlete who wasn't on the world's horizons will have the breakthrough performance that makes them an international household name and a potential medal favorite in London? 

Is Jamaica's Usain Bolt still the world's fastest man?  Can Caster Semenya overcome the drama she's undergone since her surprise 800m championship win in Berlin in 2009 and defend her title?

In Caster's case, I sure hope so.

The answers to those sporting questing question will be revealed as the 2011 edition of the IAAF world championships gets started