Speaking of holiday tournaments

I’ve said it over and over and over again, that I’m certainly no fan of the holiday tournament tradition that most high school basketball teams participate in this time of year, but I must say that if we have to, well no one does one better than Clinton County.

I might be somewhat biased about that opinion, but those thoughts were confirmed last week with the comments I heard from the players, coaches and fans who spent last weekend in Albany and Clinton County from the other four participating schools in the Twin Lakes Holiday Classic.

Before leaving after Sunday’s final games, comments like “great tournament” and “thanks for the hospitality” were expressed several times at the official table, confirming my thoughts of above that our own tournament organizers had indeed put together a fantastic event for all involved.

This week, we’re doing it all again with the girls’ version of a Clinton County holiday tournament and the Best of the Lakes Holiday Classic that includes our own Lady Bulldogs as well as neighboring Pickett County, and Clay County from Tennessee and Caverna and McCreary Central from Kentucky.

The schedule continues through four games on Saturday and I would expect no less than the same well received tournament success for this event as we had last week in the boys’ event.

Ready for some normalcy

Getting back to some sort of normalcy in all of our schedules, when we finish bringing in the new year next week, we can begin getting back to normal with not only our schedule here at the newspaper, but things will return to a more normal pace on the hardwood as well.

With the holiday break and holiday tournaments behind them, the Lady Bulldogs and Bulldogs will host Russell County on Friday, January 3, in an important 16th District contest with the Lady Lakers and Lakers.

After a few more “regular” games, we head into the All “A” Classic run near the end of January, then finish out the final four weeks of this year’s regular schedule before getting into the post season tournament run.

It’s going fast, and as I noted a couple of weeks ago, fans who have been attending are enjoying the heart being displayed by both teams, so if you haven’t made your way out to the gym, do it now. These two teams are fun to watch.

Pink-out for cancer awareness

Word comes from C.C.H.S. Athletic Director Mike Beard that pink will be the color of choice for the Tuesday, January 14 double-header outing at The Castle when the Lady Dawgs and Bulldogs play host to Cumberland County.

The planned “pink-out” night is of course to raise awareness for cancer and in addition to the special activities that are planned for the night, a new silent auction is also being held this year by the C.C.H.S. Cheerleaders in an effort to raise money for their Relay for Life Team.

Happy New Year!