Roundball time – let the games begin

Wow – hard to believe but after we fill up with turkey this week and weekend, it’s finally going to be time to throw it up.

No, not the turkey, the roundball.

High School basketball 2012-13 officially gets underway in this bluegrass basketball crazy Commonwealth next week, and our Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs will get the year off and running in two separate regions on the same night.

So, in an effort to get things off on the right foot – let me throw out a couple of “fixes” already.

Last week in this space, I mentioned that the Meet the Bulldogs event – which was the best one ever – was “beefed up” with a video production thanks to the efforts of Lisa Beard, Mike Beard and videographer J.T. Hardin and others. In that paragraph, I incorrectly labeled Lisa as President of the Basketball Boosters, when in fact, she is not, but simply worked to have the video production completed as a parent of players.

To state it correctly, this year’s Booster Club President is Julie McWhorter, who also worked hard to put together last week’s kickoff night, and will continue to have a full plate of duties as the season progresses.

The second “fix” involves the distribution of basketball schedules, which due to circumstances out of anyone’s control last week – were locked up and out of reach for the Meet the Bulldogs. So – basketball schedules are available and can be grabbed at several locations, including here at the Clinton County News, the Clinton County Hospital, Horizon Health Care or at the Clinton County High School. They will also be available at the Booster Club booth at all home basketball games.

With all of that out of the way – with the upcoming start of the basketball season of course comes our annual presentation of the Clinton County News special section – Big Blue Preview.

Production of this special section was in the hands of Brett Gibson, Sonja Carrow and Stacy Shelley – and we hope you fans enjoy this pre-season look at the players and coaches as we head toward next week’s season start.

I think our team has done the best job ever – I hope you enjoy it and appreciate their efforts to bring you the best in Big Blue Coverage.

Another year at the microphone – it can only get easier from here

Both our Lady Dawgs and Bulldogs will get the 2012-13 season off and running next Monday night in two separate locales – the Lady Dawgs headed west to Franklin Simpson ((6:00 p.m. JV start), while the Bulldogs are headed east to take on Rockcastle County (5:30 p.m. JV start). Not going to harp much on that scheduling maneuver, but it gets easier for fans later in the week when they both hit the hardwood at the Lindle Castle Gymnasium for the season home opener when we play host to the Australian National Team from Maribyrnong Sports Academy.

Getting to the games might get easier, but that’s where it ends for me.

If something doesn’t go awry, I will be sitting down at the microphone to begin my 34th season as the Public Address Announcer, and I’m certainly hoping that this first game is the most difficult I’ll have this season.

Athletic Director Mike Beard sent me a list of players from the visiting team last week, so I would have the chance to work on their names before game night.

I can’t even pronounce the name of the school – Maribyrnong – much less have any clue about these players’ names.

The boys’ varsity features a lineup with the likes of: Panashe Dzmimati, Sam (I got that part) Mangakahia and Jake Kurzemnieks. Should be an interesting night.

Still, I can’t wait!

Go Big Blue