I like kick-boxing

I took a break from my late-night Xbox fixation to actually scan the TV channels. I stumbled upon a kick-boxing match on ESPN.
For me, kick and boxing go together like nachos and peanut butter. I can watch boxing. I might even watch a kicking contest, especially if the contestants are one-legged men. But, the thought of watching kick-boxing has never appealed to me.
Still, for some reason I paused on the bout just long enough to notice these weren't men, but women duking it out. Again, women's kick-boxing isn't any more appealing to me than men, but, one of these women was rather attractive.
Being a red-blooded man, I didn't change the channel. I watched long enough to notice she wasn't rather attractice, this lady was good looking, hot even.
Okay, now I'm watching.
Anyway, as I watch the fight, I see the pretty girl is beating the crap out of her opponent. She's actually quite skilled both with her punches and her kicks, which were crisp and on target.
Okay, now I'm intrigued.
When the bout ended, I hopped on my computer and Googled my girl's name.
Oh my goodness, up popped a bunch of pictures of my girl, including some where she was quite scantily clad. Turns out, she's also a model in addition to a fighter. Judging by the pictures, she's not a shy girl, either.
Of course, not being a pervert, I immediately shut down my computer and headed off to church. Hee! Hee!
By the way, ladies kick-boxing is my new favorite sport.

PC toughens schedule

I thought Parkers Chapel's nonconference schedule hurt them during last year's basketball season. The Lady Trojans' toughest games came during conference play this past season.
I like teams that have difficult nonconference opponents. They always seem to be more resilient during the long season and usually have something in the tank during the stretch run.
Parkers Chapel coach Mark Young is optimistic about his team's chances of a postseason run next year. The Lady Trojans could've improved their chances by toughening up their nonconference slate.
Young told me that Jessieville, which finished second in the state this season, will be coming to Parkers Chapel next Dec. 21. The Lady Lions have a quality team that includes 6-1 Mandy Masino, who is an inside-outside player.
In my opinion, teams that want to compete for a state title have to see that kind of opponent before they get to the postseason. Last year, in addition to Bearden, Strong played the likes of Camden Fairview, Pulaski Academy, Fordyce and Dollarway.
The Lady Bulldogs lost all of those games but, along the way, learned from the mistakes they made and got better as the season went on.
Hopefully, Parkers Chapel has taken a step toward doing that next season.

Coaching under pressure

Friday at the 6A State Softball Tournament at El Dorado, I thought Lady Wildcats' coach Lyn Benson made a mistake during her team's 4-1 loss to West Memphis.
In the bottom of the seventh, El Dorado had an opportunity to walk the Lady Blue Devils' power hitter. The Lady Wildcats pitched to her and the young lady hit a game-winning home run that left a lot of folks wondering about the coaching decision.
I must admit, I was one of Benson's critics.
Saturday afternoon, she silenced all of my criticism with one of the best performances I've seen in a long time. A man standing behind home plate had a seizure and fell to the ground in what appeared to be convulsions.
I froze, not knowing what to do. Benson did not.
She immediately aided the man, sent word to get the paramedics to the sight and stayed with him until they arrived. It was amazing how she took care of the guy, talked to him, telling him he was going to be alright.
In the heat of battle, you never know how a person will react. I thought the coach might've froze in a pressure situation on Friday.
I was wrong. When the real pressure situation arose, Coach Lyn Benson made the best call I've ever seen a coach make.

Let's play softball

This wasn't part of the plan but apparently, I'm about to get knee-deep into softball.
Dadgum, I thought the school sports year was slowing down for me.
Actually, I haven't done a lot the past couple of weeks. Age is, unfortunately, hitting me as I've had an assortment of ailments recently, including a nasty ear infection that had me wishing for a visit from Dr. Kevorkian.
I'm back at work, just in time for regional and state softball. Woo Hoo!
El Dorado is hosting the 6A State Tournament and I'll be helping Big Kev with that. Also, Parkers Chapel and Smackover both qualified for state tournaments in 2A and 3A. Kev is the softball man so he'll have to figure out how to cover three teams, playing in three separate tournaments at the same time.
Good luck with that, Big Guy.
Like I said, I'll help with the local tournament. Texarkana's paper is covering our soccer teams over there this week so I'm covering Texarkana softball this weekend. We do this stuff in the newspaper business sometimes.
Anyway, it's busy around the office. Jason has his hands full with baseball. Kev is swamped with softball. Meanwhile, I have to get on top of some of this track and field. We actually have three or four athletes who are doing good this year. At the same time, I'm trying to put the finishing touches on our banquet, which takes place May 24.
It's hectic. But, I kind of like it, too.