Holiday tournaments are over – cheers and jeer

With the conclusion of last week’s Twin Lakes Holiday Classic boys’ tournament, followed by this week’s Best of the Lakes Holiday Classic girls’ tourney here, we can finally start to think about returning to some sort of normalcy with our basketball action – at least for a couple or three weeks when we run into the All “A” portion of the schedule.

But first, a couple of cheers to pass around regarding the two events just mentioned above, as well as at least one ‘jeer” to throw out.

Cheers to our athletic staff as well as the support staff who were on hand last week and this week, all around for putting on another pair of first class events again this season.

I’ve let it be known in these spaces several times that I’m not a big fan of holiday tournaments, but in these times it seems to be a necessary evil as a way of giving coaches the chance to get in some big game numbers in a short stretch of time.

That being said, if we have to endure them – and we do – then I am a big fan of being the host and not having to have our players, and their families, and their support media, on the road through the entire holidays.

It is a comforting realization to know that after putting on as many as we have, apparently the C.C.H.S. staff certainly know what they are doing because teams want to come back, year after year.

Having met the teams, coaches, many of the players and fans that came for both the boys’ Twin Lakes Classic as well as this week’s Best of the Lakes Classic, I have to say for the most part, the visitors are always a first class operation.

Most offer praise at the way the tournaments are always operated, the accommodations are always more then accommodating and the hospitality is always mentioned as being above and beyond from our community as a host community.

Cheers to most of the group of visitors who came to our town the past two weeks and helped make our two Classic events a tremendous success for the student athletes.

Then came Anderson County and my two jeers from the two-week experience. When the final game ended last Wednesday evening in the boys’ Twin Lakes Holiday Classic, head coach Glen Drury was still loudly objecting to the outcome of the game and especially to the officiating as he left the floor following the 62-44 loss his team suffered. (By the way, the officiating crew was one of the best, and it says here that bad officials won’t get you an 18 point defeat). Jeers to that very scene.

Following the presentation of the Classic championship trophies, the team, at the suggestion of Athletic Director Mike Beard, went to the “Sid’s Court” decal in front of the WANY table to have a team photo made.

After the team had assembled and were ready, I spotted a few Anderson County fans still sitting behind the team in the bleachers, and before I made the photos, I politely asked them if they would move in order to clear the background before I snapped the championship team trophy.

After some playful waving back, three of the four fans did get up and move, leaving one lady who refused to leave – apparently her way of protesting the outcome of the previous game.

Again, I asked her to move out of frame, and this time, she just turned her head and made some comments to those who had been sitting with her but had since moved out of frame. You will notice in the photos taken, her legs still showing in the photo behind the team as they celebrated their championship victory.

Jeers to her – whomever you are. Just my suggestion to Coach Beard I think we can do without the Bearcats in the future. No need to tarnish our reputation of having a classy event with a return invite to a bunch of sore losers with a lower standard of class than we are used to having in our Holiday Classics.

By the way – have a Happy New Year, and. . .

I’ll see you in the gym.