A “Town” For Tailgating
by Cheval John
Though the Bearkat football team lost to North Dakota State Bison 17-6, the team has brought a new sense of pride to the university and the Huntsville community.
Students, faculty, staff and alumni got to experience the festivities at “Tailgating Town” in the parking lot area of FC Dallas Stadium.
The “town” was put together by the NCAA in conjunction with the staff of FC Dallas Stadium.
Different activities that transpired in the area was sponsored by corporate entities including Capital One Bank and AT&T that included the football skills challenge featuring former Football Championship Series (FCS) players who currently play in the NFL and winners and finalist of prestigious awards in the FCS level, who teach kids techniques that will make them successful in the game.
“It was awesome,” Bo Levi Mitchell, former Eastern Washington quarterback and winner of the Walter Payton Award said. “It was so much fun because we got to spend time with the kids and to see their passion for the game.”
They also had a mechanical bull and rope challenges that gave the participants an opportunity to test their endurance and see how long they can withstand the mechanical bull. They had a station where fans can get their face painted right before the championship game.
The Office of Students Activities, along with the Alumni Association set up a tent in the area where fans got towels to wave, pom-poms and much more to cheer on the football team.
Fans also got the opportunity to listen to live music and to get into the spirit as the SHSU cheerleaders and the Orange Pride performed in front of thousands of fans.
“Everyone was very excited to be here,” Angie Taylor, Director of Leadership Intiatives for Student Activities said. “They were honking their horns on the way to Frisco, it was great.”
Happy New Year!
2011 will be a year to remember. They were many positive things that happen in the year. For example, the Texas A&M women’s basketball team winning the NCAA national championship and of course, the entire sports teams of A&M accepting the invitation to join the Southeastern Conference (SEC) effective July 1, 2012. Of course, let’s not forget the Sam Houston State University Football Team going undefeated in the regular season and swept through the NCAA Division 1 playoffs to reach the national championship game that will be held in Frisco, Texas on January 7, 2012 for the first time in school history under head football coach Willie Fritz. The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) causing another controversy when they selected Alabama, who didn’t even play in the SEC title game, to face Louisiana State University (LSU) for the national championship on January 9, 2012. It shows how the BCS stinks and they need to have a playoff. I will talk more about that on my next post. And in the National Football League (NFL), it was Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow proving the doubters wrong by putting the team in a position to make the playoffs with come from behind wins since taking over as the starter in the sixth week of the NFL. Many important people in the sports world passed away in 2011 and it is for this reason that we should cherish every moment that we have on this earth, because we don’t know when it will be our last. Hopefully, 2012 will be as memorable as 2011. I want to thank all of the readers who follow this blog. I want to wish everyone out there a very happy new year.
The link above the post is taken from ESPN’s SportsCenter. I do not own any of it.
RG3 Should Go To The NFL
by Cheval John
Normally, I would be for college athletes, especially football and basketball players, stay their entire four years of their eligibility in order to get their college degrees because it will allow them to fall back on something if their dreams of playing in the National Football League (NFL) or the National Basketball Association (NBA) doesn’t work out. With junior quarterback Robert Griffith III, also known as RG3, I take an exception.
Griffith had a phenomenal year, passing for 3,998 yards, 36 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. He became the first player from Baylor University to win the Heisman Trophy and is one of the top prospects that could be drafted in the NFL next year. He also has a chance to return for his senior year in order to help the Baylor Bears improve to an even better record and possibly play for the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) National Championship and forgo the draft.
I honestly think that he should go to the NFL Draft. Now you might be saying, “I thought that you want to see college athletes go for four years in order to get their degrees?” I do, but here is the reason why I take an exception with RG3: He has already attained his Bachelor’s Degree and is about to graduate with his Masters Degree next year, so why should he come back and play his “senior year, when he has the opportunity to make millions of dollars in the NFL? It just doesn’t make any sense and if he does decide to come back and play, then all the power to him and I hope that the team succeeds next year because even though they get another quarterback, they probably will not be like RG3 and that is o.k.
Bearkats defeats Bulldogs 74-58
The Sam Houston State Bearkat men’s basketball team defeated Samford Bulldogs by the score of 74-58. They are now 5-8 for the season and are undefeated at the Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.
“It’s a huge win for us,” head basketball coach Jason Hooten said. “Adversity is what makes us play strong and playing one of the toughest schedules in the United States is going to make us better.”
Sophomore transfer guard DeMarcus Gatlin led the Kats with 20 points, 4 rebounds, 1 block and a steal. Junior transfer guard Darius Gatson contributed with 17 points, 5 assists, 3 steals and 2 rebounds.
The Bearkats came out of the gate and went on a 14-6 run and ended the first half by the score of 39-22.
In the second half, the Bulldogs came out strong as they went on a 14-3 run in the first 8 minutes of the half to cut the Bearkat lead to 47-43. The Bearkats answered with an 8-0 run to increase the lead to 55-43 and would go on to win the game by the score of 74-58.
Freshman guard Brandon Hayman led the Bulldogs with 10 points, 1 rebound and an assist while freshman guard Devin McNeil contributed with 9 points and a rebound.
The Bearkats shot 40.8% from the field while they shot 75.7% from the free throw line. They converted 30 points off the Bulldogs turnovers that was the difference in the game.
The Bearkats last non-conference game will be against Jarvis Christian on January 2, 2012 at 7 p.m. at Johnson Coliseum right before they open up Southland Conference play against the University of Texas at San Antonio Roadrunners on January 8 at 1 p.m. For more information on the team, visit gobearkats.com.
Tim Tebow Will Continue To Prove People Wrong
I will go out on a limb and say this: Tim Tebow will be a Hall of Famer when his National Football League (NFL) career is over. All of his life, people have doubted that he would succeed playing organize football. And what did he do? Well, he led Nease High School Panthers to a state title as a senior, was a backup quarterback at the University of Florida Gators and was a key contributor to the 2006 Bowl Championship Series (BCS) National Championship team and then as a starter from 2007-09 was the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy in 2007, and led the Gators to another national championship in 2008, their third in school history. After he was drafted by the Denver Broncos in 2010, many critics said that he would not succeed in the NFL because he is not a “traditional” quarterback. Before he took over as a starter this season, the Broncos was 1-4. Since he became the starter, the Broncos are 8-7 and are one game away from making the playoffs that will begin this Saturday Jan 7. Even if they don’t make the playoffs, Tebow has a bright future and he has shown that he’s determined to win. As the former head coach and current ESPN football analyst Herm Edwards once said, “You play to win the game.”
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