Happy Festivus!
I wish each and every one of you a Happy Festivus (make sure and Google “festivus” as the unadorned aluminum pole makes an appearance on the left side of the search) and I also wish each and every one of you a happy holiday season. I hope your airing of grievances and feats of strength go as well as the ones I have planned. My wife is going to be so pleased.
You all mean the world to me and you still let me do one of the things that I absolutely love doing and I couldn’t be more thankful for allowing me to be a part of your life. And don’t forget, for that you can purchase a Staking The Plains t-shirt (we’ve sold 33 of the needed 50) as well as Travis’ book, which you can buy in paperback form, Dream No Little Dreams.
I’ll probably be checking out for the next few days unless there’s something breaking that happens, in which case I’ll be around to post about it.
Lady Raiders
A good win, but it came at a price as Arella Guirantes rolled her ankle in the third quarter and wasn’t able to put any pressure on it. The Lady Raiders are finished with their non-conference portion of the schedule at 8-3 and face Texas in Austin on December 29th. Let’s hope that’s plenty of time for Guirantes to heal up.
RECAP | Lady Raiders Close 2016 home slate with 79-60 win over UTA
📰: https://t.co/jmpH2GUAPN pic.twitter.com/D0adH8qtoZ— Lady Raider WBB (@LadyRaiderWBB) December 23, 2016
Red Raider Basketball
LAJ’s Krista Pirtle writes about what we know so far about the men’s basketball team and it’s pretty lengthy and Pirtle goes into great detail, so make sure and check it out. We’ll quote her portion about the versatility of the team:
Same with Ross and Temple. When it comes to the other forwards, like Gray and Smith, they aren’t your usual forwards who should not dribble the basketball. Instead, if need be, they can handle the basketball against pressure. In years past they could dribble, but once pressure came things got a bit dicey.
Now, because of the work they’ve put into the game, their abilities will pay off when opponents run a full court press.
The Red Raiders also have the ability to go big or small with their lineup. They could run out Thomas, Evans, Stevenson, Gray and Ross for a smaller lineup or Evans, Gray, Ross, Smith and Livingston for a big lineup.
Whichever way an opponent takes the court, Texas Tech can match.
Football
The title to this article, QB Patrick Mahomes May Declare, means that there’s no insight to Mahomes’ decision, so enjoy your holiday. In other news, I may work out when I get done posting these notes.
ESPN’s Max Olson writes that Texas Tech had the best Big 12 offensive performance of 2016:
1. Texas Tech QB Patrick Mahomes vs. Oklahoma: The most ridiculous individual performance in the history of the Big 12. We’ll recite the numbers just because they’re so mind-boggling: 88 pass attempts, 52 completions, 734 passing yards, 819 total yards, 17 third-down conversions, seven TDs and, in the end, a 66-59 loss to the eventual Big 12 champions.