gama copious: Prepped And Ready: How To Cheer At A Basketball Game

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By Danny Davis | Friday, February 10, 2012, 10:00 AM

Good morning everybody.

First off, I?d like to wish everyone a Happy Denzel Has A New Movie Out Day.

Secondly, why are you still reading this? There is a new Denzel Washington movie that is now in theaters across the Central Texas area!!!

Well, for those of you who have already seen Safe House, treat yourself to some blog. Let?s do this.

NEWS FROM ACROSS THE STATE

SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION

The theme for the high school sports department this week was apparently athletic eligibility because Rick and I both tackled the subject.

On Wednesday, I had a story about Tai Gadison, a football player at Lago Vista who signed with the Mary Hardin-Baylor football program after sitting out the 2011 football season due to a contested transfer from Rouse.

In today?s newspaper, you?ll find Rick?s story about De?anna Prince, a Connally wrestler who overcame a late start to her season and is trying to earn a state meet berth.

RANDOM RANT

As anyone who follows me on Twitter (@aaspreps) knows, a few of my tweets on Tuesday night were focused on something at the Bowie/Westlake game that had nothing to do with basketball.

Yea, I posted a few tweets about the Bowie and Westlake student sections. See, I love student sections. I feel that in some cases, a student section can help decide the outcome of a game.

No, some kid with a ?Go Team? sign isn?t going to knock down the game-winning jumper but a good student section like the ones at Bowie, LBJ and Vista Ridge can energize the home team while also rattling the opponent. Ask any player if they?d rather be playing in front of an rambunctious student section or a listless group of fans and my guess if they?ll pick their over-caffeinated classmates.

Not all student sections are great, however, and there are three traps that these students need to be aware of. So what gives me the right to give a lecture on student sections? Well, I did earn Billings Senior High?s ?Most School Spirit? award in 2003. And that may or may not be the most impressive thing on my resume?

Don?t swear: The one thing that I can not stand is when student sections chant swear words.

First off, it?s unoriginal. Second off, there are usually small children at these basketball games. Third off, I used to think that swear words were funny when I was 10. Then I grew up.

The dictionary is a big book so I would suggest using something other than a four-letter word when trying to figure out how to humiliate the opposing student section.

Football season ended in December: OK, I lied. There is one thing that I can?t stand more than swear words: chants that are related to the football season.

You?ve all been there. Team A has a big lead over Team B toward the end of a basketball game so Team A?s students start chanting ?Just like Football? to remind the opposing school about Team A?s victory over Team B during the football season. Or when Team A is losing big to Team B toward the end of the game, Team A?s fans start chanting the score of Team A?s victory over Team B during the football season because that apparently makes the sting of losing this basketball game much more bearable.

But guess what? It?s not football season anymore and in a lot of cases, the players on the court have no relationship with the football program so their successes and failures are unrelated.

The football chants are unoriginal and cliche. Now if the Westlake fans wanted to start a ?Just Like Girls Golf? chant, that could actually be somewhat funny.

Know The Situation: Here are two stories to share about when keeping it real goes wrong. And one of these stories involved a very good student section.

During the football season, LBJ and Cedar Park exited halftime of their bi-district playoff game with a 13-13 tie on the scoreboard and the LBJ students - who have been impressive throughout the school year - had a lapse in judgment and showered the Cedar Park football team with the ?Overrated? chant. Cedar Park then went on to win 55-26.

On Tuesday night, a fine fellow over at Westlake decided to tell Bowie guard Paul Baxter how awful his basketball skills were (the kid didn?t use the word ?awful?). The only problem was that at the point that these jeers were being hurled onto the court, Baxter had scored 17 points by himself and Westlake was just approaching the 20-point mark.

The point is that you need to be aware of the situation that you?re in. If you are going to yell the ?Overrated? chant, be sure that your team has already secured the victory. If you are going to tell a player how much he stinks, be sure that he isn?t nearly outscoring your entire team.

So how do you put together a good cheer? Well, how do you put together a good report for your history class? Research. Do research. There is a ton of information out there about everyone so get on the Facebook, read through newspapers clippings and print out rosters. Just keep it classy.

I unfortunately haven?t been able to see the Noyz Boyz from Vista Ridge this season but in writing these last few paragraphs, I was reminded of a video that I shot last season. Kids, take note because this is how we do it:

So there you go kids. Be like Vista Ridge.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

My three siblings and I all grew up on the streets? of Sesame. And since the Count was a member of my childhood crew, I kind of think that numbers are fun. So every Tuesday (or, in this case, Thursday), I?ll be posting some random numbers on the Varsity News blog. Count along.

Today, we?ll be looking at the Lady Panthers from Panthers, who will take their unblemished 37-0 record into the Class 5A playoffs. The Lady Panthers will host Akins in a bi-district playoff game on Monday.

2: Pflugerville is one of two undefeated girls basketball programs in the Central Texas area. The Austin Royals, a team comprised of area home-schooled students, is currently 30-0.
9: Among UIL schools, Pflugerville has one of the state?s nine undefeated girls basketball teams. The Lady Panthers are the only undefeated Class 5A program.
13.8: Senior forward Itiana Taylor, a North Texas signee, is averaging 13.8 points and 10.9 rebounds per game this season. Taylor was the only returning starter this season for a team that graduated nine seniors and lost district newcomer of the year Taliyah Brooks to a move.
8: Pflugerville, which is allowing 37.1 points per game, has eight players on its roster who are averaging more than one steal per game. Taylor and junior point guard Taylor Ross are respectively averaging 3.6 and 3.4 steals per game.
27.8: Pflugerville has an average margin of victory of 27.8 points. Only five of Pflugerville?s game have been decided by less than 10 points and four of those games were played between Dec. 27-29 at a basketball tournament in Mansfield.

THE LIST

Since the playoffs for the 2011-12 girls basketball season will start next week, let?s celebrate with five fearless predictions. We did five fearless predictions at this time last year and I?m going to say that I got 1.5 of those five predictions correct? so that steroid-free .300 batting average should get me into Cooperstown, right?

And here are this season?s fearless predictions?

Crockett and McCallum will grab District 26-4A?s final two playoff spots.
Pflugerville will win the Class 5A state championship. The Lady Panthers have the athleticism and depth on the perimeter to match up with Irving MacArthur superstar Alexis Jones and Itiana Taylor will wrap up her argument for All-Central Texas Player of the Year honors with an all-tournament performance at the Erwin Center.
How many Central Texas teams are going to make it to the Erwin Center? Let?s go with Pflugerville, Vista Ridge and Liberty Hill.
LBJ?s Alexis Hyder will average over 20 points per game in the playoffs. LBJ, however, will be ousted in the regional quarterfinals by a San Antonio Brennan team that is currently undefeated.
Anderson will win its first-ever Class 5A playoff game.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Every week we will be spotlighting the collegiate accomplishments of a few of our area alums. If you know of somebody who should be featured in this segment, drop me an e-mail at danieldavis@statesman.com.

Two-time All-Central Texas honoree Adesuwa Ebomwonyi (Pflugerville Class of 2011) has started in 16 of Tulane?s 23 games this season. Ebomwonyi, whose older brother Osas (Pflugerville Class of 2009) has played in 24 games this season as a redshirt sophomore at Lamar University, had a team-high 17 points in Thursday?s 71-51 win over Houston and she is averaging six points per game for the Green Wave (18-5).
Freshman post Angela Beadle (Crockett Class of 2011) has started in 20 games in her first season at Sam Houston State. Beadle is averaging 7.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per game for the Bearkats (12-9).
Thomas Orr (Hutto Class of 2009) is averaging 8.0 points per game this season at Mary Hardin-Baylor. Unlike teammates Brian Todd (Pflugerville Class of 2009) and Sterling Phillips (Austin High Class of 2008), Orr, a six-foot-five-inch junior guard who previously played at Panola College and State Fair Community College, has yet to earn a start this season but he has still appeared in all 22 games for the 21-1 Crusaders.
Trinity University junior forward Heath Hopson (Lampasas Class of 2009) has played in 13 games this season and he is averaging 11.2 points per outing. Hopson missed the first eight games of the season but he was the Tigers? leading scorer and rebounder in his third game back, a 57-55 overtime loss to George Fox on Dec. 20.

And that all for today. Thanks for reading along today, we?ll see you next week.

Cupid, play us out.

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