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Thanksgiving makes me think of football

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It is a cliché at this point that Thanksgiving is so entrenched with the sport of football.
There is a whole “Friends” episode about it along with probably and many other Thanksgiving themed episodes from television shows.
For me, my pea brain sat out the 1990s in some other room because football on TV was repellent to my adolescent eyes and my parents weren’t strict enough to make me watch things I would regret missing out on years later.
Only through the combination of renting some NFL Films video cassettes at the local Blockbuster, my family finally scrounging for satellite television and my then discovery of ESPN did I finally start following sports in 2001 when I was 11.
By then I found I missed the Dallas Cowboys 1990s renaissance glory years despite actually being alive during the time, enough to be disappointed in my dad for not forcing me to watch it.
My history of actually watching football on Thanksgiving reflects my history with watching the Cowboys in general. The heartbreaks outweigh the wins in my memory since it seems there is a whole lot more of those than the other in my mind despite Dallas actually having an 11-11 record since I’ve been watching.
What makes watching these games harder for me is I usually watch games by myself. Even when I started watching as a preteen and my dad would have the game on in the living room, I would be watching the same game upstairs in the game room. It was funny at times because my television was a few seconds ahead of the living room one so I spoiled some big plays for my dad during the early years.
My sports fandom was and is a very personal thing that I isolated from other people. The only kids my age who actually followed sports didn’t start to pop up until several years later in junior high. With my several years head start, my hobby of reading books about professional sports league’s history that included perusing the 2003 sports almanac, I had a superiority complex discussing sports with them since it felt like having a conversation with a five-year old.
My dad I could have conversations about it, but he was usually vague on the details so it only went so far. Plus, he was more invested in his Texas A&M football fandom which I couldn’t relate with.
So usually being forced to watch the Cowboys with other family members on a day of celebration when my investment in them can turn my whole mood depending on the results can make for some ugly Thanksgiving Day memories.
With other family members not being as invested, making oddly hopeful comments that elude me as a game watcher and other things I am not used to has always made the experience weird for me.
Thankfully, it’s not all bad and I have gotten better as I have gotten older. I usually only save my full on investment while watching the most important games and I know I need to watch by myself if I can.
I also have developed a technique where I am ready to give up and detach if I see a game is going bad and no longer take the performance as a personal attack against me and my caring.
My favorite memories around Thanksgiving and football though centers on the college games in the days that followed.
Despite not being as big of a fan of college football as the NFL, I still follow it enough to know which games are big and the traditions behind some.
One such from growing up was the vaunted A&M vs UT game that was always during that weekend.
My family would usually travel to see family somewhere and stay for several nights before and after Thanksgiving.
Football would just be on and it was up to anyone sharing the room on how invested you got watching a rivalry game you did not care about and see how it played out.
What made the A&M vs UT rivalry fun though is because it split the family. My dad is and was the biggest Aggie fan and graduate I know and gets more invested than I do with my Cowboys since he regularly scares the dogs from wanting to sit with him.
My mom graduated from UT and is enough of a sports fan and proud of her alma mater to at least follow them even if she doesn’t seek out to watch every game.
You have to understand the hatred Aggie fans have about Longhorn fans to realize it went deeper than just football or sports. I’ve heard the speal from my dad himself and it almost makes me question how he allowed himself to marry my mom.
It would come out during games to the point my mom would have to watch in another room. Obviously my dad took it way more seriously and she would never rub it in if Texas won, which they did more often than not in the 2000s, but it was still a fun dynamic for me as a sidelined observer.
The last game happened 12 years ago and I miss the weird tension it would cause since my parents are as civil as any married couple of 37 years are.
Nowadays, I like watching my sports averse older cousin, whose only football watching of the year comes when he is forced to watch it at Thanksgiving since that is what the rest of us are doing.
It’s not that he can’t stand to watch sports or never played and enjoyed them, he just never got in the habit of regularly following or watching them on television. I like getting his unique perspective while watching and filling him in on the context and other things.
While I am more chilled out these days the games usually don’t ruin the memory of hanging out with family, let’s just say I am glad Dallas plays a really crappy Washington team this year on the day. I hope my chill does not get tested.

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Volleyball Roundup

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Bowie
The Bowie Lady Rabbits lost a competitive match at Childress on Tuesday night.
The Lady Cats won in straight sets 3-0, but two of the sets went down to the wire and easily could have been won by the Lady Rabbits.
With it being the final game before district play begins, Bowie wanted to make a good showing.
The two teams met nearly two weeks previously during the Nocona tournament. Childress won the match, but the Lady Rabbits took a set off the Lady Cats so they knew they could compete with them.
The first set went back-and-forth throughout. The set went well past the 25 points and hit into the 30s before one of the teams could pull away by two points.
Unfortunately, it was Childress, winning the set 32-30.
The letdown from losing that set seemed to affect Bowie at the start of set two.
The Lady Cats got the lead and did not let go even as the Lady Rabbits started to play more competitively. Childress won the set 25-18 to go up 2-0.
Bowie started the third set well, knowing it was the last chance to start a potential comeback attempt.
Like the first set, it was back-and-forth as neither team could grab control. Also like the first set, it went past the 25 point mark as neither team was able to go up by two points.
Unfortunately, also like the first set, it was the Lady Cats that came out on top 29-27. Childress won the match 3-0.

Nocona
The Nocona Lady Indians lost a tough match at 4A Eagle Mountain on Tuesday.
The Lady Knights won in straight sets 3-0 as the Lady Indians struggled to compete close against the bigger school.
Nocona was coming off a tough five-set loss against Harrold. Playing the bigger school Eagle Mountain on Tuesday, the Lady Indians were without Meg Meekins, who was out with an injury.
The Lady Knights won with the set scores being 25-15, 25-12 and 25-15.

Gold-Burg
The Gold-Burg Lady Bears picked up a win at Midway on Tuesday night.
The Lady Bears won 3-1 against the Lady Falcons, bouncing back from a disappointing third set to seal up the victory.
Gold-Burg came out strong and won the first two competitive sets 25-17 and 25-19. However, a bad stretch of serve-receive from the Lady Bears allowed the Midway to get a lead Gold-Burg could not come back from. The Lady Falcons won set three 25-19.
Not wanting to give Midway too much hope of trying to come back and win the match, the Lady Bears refocused and played set four well.
It was the most competitive of the match, but Gold-Burg still was able to win with a little bit of breathing room as it took the set 25-20 and the match 3-1.

Bellevue
The Bellevue Lady Eagles lost at home on Tuesday night against Ector.
Ector won in four sets 3-1 as there was a lot of ups and downs for Bellevue.
The team was coming off a one-sided loss against Archer City and knew they could compete better.
Ector won the first set 25-16. However, Bellevue came back to win in set two just as handily 25-18 to tie the match at 1-1.
Unfortunately, set three went to Ector again by the score 25-16. In set four, Bellevue fell behind early and could not recover as Ector won easily 25-10 and the match 3-1.

Missing scores
The Bowie News did not receive scores from games earlier in the week from Saint Jo, Prairie Valley and Forestburg.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.

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Bowie tennis loses district match

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The Bowie tennis team lost a tough match to Holliday. (Courtesy photo)

The Bowie Jackrabbit tennis team came up just short in their district opener against Holliday on Tuesday.
The Eagles won the closely contested dual 11-8, withstanding a great comeback attempt from the Jackrabbits during the singles matches.
Bowie last played a match almost a month previously in early August when it played seven pre-district matches. The Jackrabbits were supposed to open district the previous week against Vernon, but it got rained out and was rescheduled for Sept. 27.
Bowie’s last pre-district dual was against Holliday. The Eagles won it 11-8, which was close enough to give the Jackrabbits hope they could turn the result around with a couple more matches going their way.
Unfortunately, Tuesday did not start out great. Out of the seven doubles matches, the Jackrabbits won two. The second and third position girl’s doubles teams, made up of Willow Siebert/Alyssa Airington and Cassidy Brison/Gentry Gray took care of business.
Heading into the singles matches, Bowie was down 5-2. With 19 total matches in the dual, the first team to 10 wins overall.
The Jackrabbits made a good attempt to comeback. The girl’s side had four of its six matches go their way. Willow Siebert dominated her match in the second position 8-2.
Laney Enlow pulled out all of the stops to win her third position match in tie breakers, eventually winning 14-12. Alyssa Airington’s fourth position match also went to tie breakers, though she won with relative ease at the end 7-1. Ava Dalme then won her pretty competitive sixth position match 8-5.
On the boy’s side, Rush Williams dominated at first position, winning easily 8-2. The sixth position match for Bryson Mills went down to the wire in tie breakers where Mills pulled out the win by the smallest of margins 7-5.

To read the full story, pick up a copy weekend edition of the Bowie News.

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Bowie boys cross country win Chico meet

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Almost all area schools were busy running cross country meets on Wednesday.
Runners from Bowie, Gold-Burg, Bellevue and Forestburg ran at the Chico meet, with the Jackrabbit boy’s team winning first place. Teams from Nocona and Saint Jo competed at a meet in Lipan.
The Bowie boy’s team finished first and was led by Isaac Renteria who finished second overall with a time of 17:23. The Jackrabbits top five runners included Brayden Willett (3rd), Monte Mayfield (9th), Jackson Frie (13th) and Russell Anderson (15th).
The Gold-Burg boy’s team finished sixth overall. The Bears were led by Claudio Segura who finished fourth overall with a time of 18:39. The team’s top five runners included Isaiah Willett (32nd), Jorge Montes (45th), Brady Allen (54th) and Efren Villegas (59th).
The Bellevue boy’s team finished ninth overall at the meet. The Eagles fastest runner was River Trail who finished 16th with a time of 20:35. The team’s top five runners were Ryan Jones (36th), Bryce Bancroft (50th), Cowyn Langford (73rd) and Brennan Criswell (88th).
The only Forestburg runner was Jesse Wadsworth who got 28th place with a time of 21:56.
In the girl’s race, the Bowie team finished fifth overall. Ollie Gaston was the team’s top runner as she finished ninth overall with a time of 15:02. The team’s top five runners included Bella Lozano (14th), Harlei Hudson (30th), Brilee Lemons (47th) and Isabella Caswell (48th).
The Bellevue team was one runner short of competing as a team to get a result. The Lady Eagles top runner was Mattie Broussard who finished second overall with a time of 13:55.
Gold-Burg had one girl run in the meet. Alyson Rojas placed 51st with a time of 18:27.
At the meet in Lipan, both of Saint Jo’s cross country teams placed fifth overall.
The Lady Panthers were led by Abigail Carter who finished 11th overall with a time of 13:05. The team’s top five runners included Savannah Hill (23rd), Taylor Patrick (34th), Kaycee Clark (48th) and Tatum Morman (66th).
The Saint Jo boy’s team was led by Elijah Young who got seventh place with a time of 17:59. The Panthers top five runners included Barrett Johnson (12th), Jayden Curry (21st), Julian Luna (52nd) and Trent Gaston (61st).
For Nocona, the boy’s team finished ninth overall. The team was led by Andrew Perez who got 23rd with a time of 18:37. The Indians top five runners included Freddy Duran (27th), Omar Salinas (44th), Corbyn Patton (60th) and Brady Cunningham (108th).
The Lady Indians had only one runner compete in the race. Bayler Smith earned eighth place with a time of 13:01.

To see complete results for all high school runners from area schools, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.

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