Published: December 03, 2008 04:13 pm      

Here are a few things to be unthankful for

I have well more than I deserve to be thankful for. But after surviving the shopping spree known as Black Friday, I’ve decided to list some things folks should NOT be thankful for this holiday season.

• Black Friday! Merchants probably are thankful, but guys like me are glad we won’t have another one for 360-something more days.

• There will be two Big 12 South football teams that won’t be thankful for the BCS should the final standings result in a three-way tie. Of course folks north of the Red River are hoping the two disappointed teams will be Texas and Texas Tech, meaning the Sooners advance to play Missouri in next week’s Big 12 championship game.

• The Dallas Cowboys are not thankful for pinkie injuries. Quarterback Tony Romo missed four weeks with a broken pinkie finger and now it appears running back Marion Barber will at least be slowed down by a damaged pinkie toe.

• Deer are probably not so much thankful for hunting season. But mmmmmmm. Deer jerky.

• Are Oklahoma NBA fans still thankful for the OKC Thunder? Really? Thunder players are not thankful for a 14-game losing streak, that’s for sure.

• I’m so not thankful to be trailing James Myers and AEN Prediction Race rookie Kevin Gray at this point in the 2008 season. And Okeene already has me off to an 0-1 start in Week 13. Officials at the Prediction Hall of Fame in Allen report that an old man in a Spider-Man mask was seen trying to stuff all of my trophies from the 90s in a storage closet. Allen resident Leo Kelley was named a “person of interest” but he denied any knowledge of the incident.

• And I’m not terribly thankful to return to the ivory tower known as the Ada Evening News sports desk. I’ve been vacationing for a week and was very thankful for that time away.

———o———

No Joshin’

That sneaky Josh Morris continues to excel at Weber State University. The Ada High graduate was named to the 2008 Big Sky All-Conference team. He was one of two first-team cornerbacks listed on the squad.

Morris and his Weber State teammates (9-3) traveled to San Luis Obispo, Calif. Saturday night to face host Cal Poly (8-2) in the first round of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs, which includes a field of 16 teams.

———o———

Coach Search

I’ve had a ton of calls from people trying to predict who the next East Central University head football coach will be.

While ECU officials (yes, that means you Brian DeAngelis) are being tight-lipped about a possible list of three finalists, the three names I have been given by several semi-reliable sources are all solid candidates.

Since I can’t confirm them to be accurate, I’m not going to share, but DeAngelis and company hope a new coach can be named as early as this week.

———o———

Alma Maters clash

I know there have been previous meetings between the two schools in a couple of different sports, but for the first time I had the chance to witness my two collegiate alma maters square off Friday night inside the Kerr Activities Center.

The East Central women’s basketball team played Hillsdale Free Will Baptist College in the 2008 East Central University Thanksgiving Classic Friday night at the Kerr Center. It’s a little known fact that I spent a semester at Hillsdale during my college days but earned my degree at ECU.