If you’ve been following along the past few weeks then you know I’ve kind of been doing a countdown of how many local sports teams we have left to cover and last week we were down to two-the Hawk softball team and two kids at the state track meet. We knew going in the track guys were done no matter what, but I still held out hope that the softball team, despite the fact they were playing the No. 1 team in the state, could move on for one more weekend. Alas, it was not to be.

That does not mean the Hawks didn’t give it their best shot. Thanks to Alexa Cunningham’s no-hitter the Hawks handed Ennis their first loss in 25 games and set themselves up in a position that a split over the next two games would earn them the right to move on. Unfortunately they could not get the win they needed and we are left where we are today, at the end of the line.

The end of the Hawks season also means the end of the high school careers of a lot of players we have had the pleasure of watching for close almost their entire careers. Ashley Elicerio, Cunningham and CoCo McCoy have been a part of the Hendrickson varsity for a long time and, as is always the case, it will be strange to watch the team play in the future without them. They are not the only seniors Hendrickson will lose. Saturday’s game was also the last for Brooke Bishop and Jayme Prinz, both big-time contributors to the Hawk squad. The good news, however, for coach Douglas Harrigan and the Hendrickson program is that the list of players lost to graduation ends there. The remainder of the roster will return next spring, although it will be difficult for him to replace the one-two punch of Cunningham and Elicerio on the bump.

As for yours’ truly, well I think I’ll be okay. We’ve got the Deutschen Pfest fun run this weekend and my kid is officially entered in the 1K race. So, expect lots of coverage of that (okay, so I kid … a little). Next week will be Pflugerville High’s spring football game and a few weeks after that the annual Connally High summer basketball league begins and this year the Cougars will be joined by a team from Hendrickson which should make for some interesting action in the wonderfully air conditioned gyms.

But, for now, I guess it’s time to put a wrap on the 2011-12 school year. All in all I’d have to say it was a good one. Perhaps no team got quite as far as we thought they would, but some great things happened along the way. The Pflugerville girls’ basketball team won almost 40 consecutive games, the Connally High boys’ basketball team got back to the playoffs as did every football squad and we also had a couple track athletes get back to the state meet. See what I mean? It might not have been the greatest year athletically in my tenure at the Pflag but it certainly wasn’t the worst either and there were certainly enough new faces on the scene to leave me looking forward to what we might see this fall.

With the conclusion of action on Friday night we were left with just one local baseball team still playing. That team, the district champion Hendrickson Hawks, join the only softball team that qualified for the playoffs, who also hail from Hendrickson, as the only two local teams still playing in this the 2011-12 school year. On Saturday a couple of track kids (coincidentally also from Hendrickson) joined them in the rarified air of local athletes who will still be competing in the month of May and so they are all we’re left with.

After what was a pretty good year for the baseball/softball teams in 2011 I was kind of surprised by the down year this season turned out to be. Most of the squads brought back a decent number of veteran players and it seemed (at least when the season began) they all had good chances to get into the playoffs. Unfortunately that was not the case. Pflugerville and Connally were unable to extend their seasons in either sport and for all intents and purposes competitive athletics at both high schools (with the exception of spring football) concluded with the end of those baseball games on Friday.

On the other hand it’s been a banner spring for the Hawks. The baseball team won another district title, the softball team finished second and will get back to the playoffs after some off-field problems kept them out of the postseason a year ago. The boys track team won district as well and after sending a bunch of competitors to region, saw Datrick Edwards pick up a region title and qualified one other athlete for the state meet as well. It was good for me o see a couple local kids qualify for state after the disappointment of last year when not one local was able to earn a ticket downtown. In the first five or six years of my tenure at the Pflag our local track teams had been some of the most dominant teams in Central Texas, sending multiple competitors to the state meet on a yearly basis. However, once the UIL moved them into Region II that dominance seemed to subside and ultimately we ended up with what happened last year when we didn’t have an individual qualify at all. With the way Edwards has been throwing the discus it seems like we might have a good shot at getting another PISD state champion which is something we have not seen since Natasha Masterson won the pole vault in 2009.

If there is a silver lining to the lack of quantity in 2012’s spring postseason it is that I can devote my full attention to the teams that remain. I look forward to seeing if the Hawk baseball team can get out of the first round this year and possibly go on another run like the one they put together in 2010 or if the softball squad can get past a team in Marshall that has already knocked out one of the top 10 teams in the state. Ultimately there is no telling what will happen, but I, for one, am hopeful that whatever does happen will last for as long as possible.

As you know, it’s hard to make friends when you change cities. It’s even harder when you are in middle school. Thus, I spent a lot of time making friends, losing friends or simply by myself. However, I was never truly alone as I always had my baseball team, the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox were always there for me, Dwight Evans, Jim Rice, even Roger Clemens. Wearing their home whites and playing in that grand ballpark in the northeast with the oh-so green grass and the equally impressive green monster in left field, the Red Sox brought at least a little normalcy to my turbulent early-teenage years. So, when the opportunity arose for me to visit Fenway Park last week and be there as the stadium celebrated it’s 100th birthday, I jumped at the chance.

Words cannot express just how amazing the experience was for this lifelong Red Sox fan. Prior to the start of the game against the New York Yankees, the Red Sox brought out every living former player who had accepted their invitation to come back and stand in their former position for one last cheer from the hometown crowd. Accompanied by the music from the movie “Field of Dreams” Red Sox players from as far back as the early 1940’s right up to guys who quit playing a few years ago all showed up to wish the great ballpark a happy birthday.

My first goosebumps came when Carlton Fisk took the field. The team made the good decision (in my opinion) to break up the stars so they would come out every few minutes after a string of guys you may, or may not, have heard of. Fisk was mostly a White Sox when I was really aware of baseball as a kid, but every person who’s ever watched a game has probably seen him waving that ball fair in game six of the 1975 World Series. More goosebumps came as Jim Rice and a few others came out and then came Dewey.

When I was a kid Dwight Evans was my guy. He could hit, he had a rocket arm and a really cool mustache. He played right field with a cool head and his batting stance (inspired by Walt Hriniak) was kind of strange and fun to imitate. It had always been my dream to watch Evans play in Fenway but it was a dream that went unfulfilled. So, when he came trotting out to right field wearing his familiar number 24, the music from Field of Dreams seemingly even louder, I felt myself choking up and, honestly, came pretty close to producing a very steady stream of tears. I will go on record here and let you know I’m not a particularly emotional guy, but seeing Dwight Evans in his natural environment – in right field at Fenway Park – was just about more than I could take. Luckily I was able to hold off a full-on breakdown in front of my daughter long enough for Jose Canseco to come out. His appearance was puzzling (and funny) enough to help me clear my head and get back to enjoying the day.

The procession of players continued for well over 30 minutes. Pedro Martinez, Kevin Millar and Terry Francona all got huge cheers as did Carl Yastrzemski (my very first Red Sox hero). After Evans’ appearance I was happiest to see two of the oldest Sox, Bobby Doerr and Johnny Pesky who were wheeled out by Tim Wakefield and Jason Varitek.

If you follow baseball then you know the day did not end well for the Sox. They lost to the Yankees (which, in retrospect might be appropriate) but that did not take any of the joy from my heart as I left Fenway that day. There is no way those men or that stadium will ever know what it means to me or the thousands of other people watching in person or on television that day and I know it’s that way for fans of any team in any place and that is what makes sports so great. It gives you a connection with a larger group, a feeling of community, a cause to cheer for, a welcome distraction and yes, for a lonely kid in Bryan, Diboll or Roseburg, Oregon, even friends when he needed them. And for that I say happy birthday Fenway Park. Thank you for everything, most especially welcoming me to your party last week.

It has certainly been an interesting start to the MLB season. In the American League the Tigers and Rangers are good while the Angels, Red Sox and Yankees aren’t. It’s certainly no shock that Texas and Detroit are at the top of their divisions, but it’s always a surprise to see the Yankees and Sox at the bottom of theirs. As for the Angels, it seems Arte Moreno’s shopping spree this summer has yet to pay dividends. Hardly time for Halo’s fans to hit the panic button though, Albert Pujols is not a powerless .268 hitter.

Over in the National League the Nationals, Mets and Cardinals are all off to hot starts. The Phillies, Braves and Giants not so much, and then there are the Dodgers. The team from Los Angeles is just one game shy of being undefeated and has the best record in baseball thanks largely to the herculean efforts of Mr. Matt Kemp. While I’m always going to be a Red Sox fan, Kemp has quickly become my favorite player thanks largely to my love of Vin Scully and all the late night Dodger games I watch here in the central time zone. Honestly the guy reminds me of Barry Bonds back in the days before his head grew and when he says he’s going to his 50 home runs and steal 50 bases I tend to believe him. There’s no telling if the Dodgers can keep winning games like this. Kemp (and Andre Ethier as well) will have to continue to do their best Mantle/Maris impersonations if they are, but it looks like it will be a fun summer watching the boys in blue.

Turning my attention to the NBA it was a bitter pill for me when Kobe Bryant went down with his most recent injury. Not because I’m a big Lakers fan but because he was one of the key players on my fantasy basketball team. And while my fantasy team floundered and was knocked out of the playoffs because of Bryant’s hurt foot the Lakers have hardly missed a beat. Los Angeles holds a one-game lead over the other team that occupies the Staples Center in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. With two weeks left to play it’s interesting to see both teams from L.A. jockeying for playoff position and it will be even more of a shock should the two actually meet in the playoffs.

Then there’s the NFL. Peyton Manning is officially working out for the Denver Broncos while Tim Tebow gets booed at a Yankee game. New faces are showing up in new places (Mario Williams in Buffalo anyone?) as the teams prepare for this week’s draft that features two of the most hyped quarterbacks to come out in a single class since Manning and Ryan Leaf joined the league back in the 1990’s. And I haven’t even mentioned the NHL where I’ve managed to watch all three Bruins-Capitals playoff games as the B’s attempt one of the hardest feats in sports – repeating as Stanley Cup champions.

So there you have it folks, a bevy of action not even this space could contain. With so much going on I’m guessing you’ve got plenty on your plate, and if you don’t, you can always wait for the Olympics in July.

In fact, I had to take time away from gorging myself on MLB’s opening day to head out to Hawk Field on Thursday to watch the Hendrickson boys decimate Bastrop. I really like the way this Hawk team is built. They have an exciting group of forwards who are capable of not just scoring but of scoring quickly and with a bit of style as well. In no way am I taking anything away from the rest of the Hendrickson team. They are equally strong in the middle and on the defensive side of the field and I believe that’s why they’ve have the success they have enjoyed in the first three rounds of the playoffs. I have no possible way to predict what will happen for them (or for Hendrickson’s equally talented girls’ team, but I won’t be surprised if I’m driving to Corpus on Friday).

Before finishing on the subject of soccer completely, I’d like to give a tip of my cap to the Connally High girls program and their coach Jessica McCartney. It seems like just a short time ago the Cougars were being forced to cancel games for their sub-varsity teams because they didn’t have enough players in the program to fill squads at every level. This year they not only reached the playoffs but they also won a bi-district title in the process. It certainly hasn’t been easy for the Connally program to dig themselves out of that hole (and to do it fairly quickly) and McCartney, her staff and the players who have stuck with them deserve a ton of credit. I am hopeful that this year’s success will attract more players into the program and they will be able to flourish even further in the future.

So, getting back to the start of the MLB season and the excitement it brings me (and you, hopefully as well). The greatest thing about the start of the year is the possibility anything can happen and the fact every team is in first place (at least for a day). There’s going to be a lot to watch this year, including the addition of a new playoff team and I’m looking forward to tracking it all and getting reacquainted with Vin Scully as well.

As I’m apt to do I like to lay out my predictions for the season in this column so I figured now would be the time to do it. Now, don’t forget, these predictions are for fun only – don’t go betting your house on my picks or you’re very likely to be homeless!

Starting in the senior circuit (that’s the National League) I’m taking the Philadelphia Phillies in the east, the Cincinnati Reds in the central and the Arizona Diamondbacks in what should be a closely contested western division. My wild card teams are the Atlanta Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals. In the American League’s eastern division I like the Tampa Bay Rays, in the central I’ve got the Detroit Tigers and I’m going with the L.A. Angels to win the west. I’ll give the AL wildcards to the Texas Rangers and the New York Yankees. I’m taking the Braves and the Yankees to advance from the one-game wild card playoff and expect the Reds and the Phillies and the Tigers and Rays to end up in their respective league’s championship series. My World Series picks are the Phillies and the Tigers and I’ll take Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder (and Detroit) for the win.

Well, that certainly was easy – right? I guess we can move on to football. Ha ha, not hardly. Watching (and seeing just how wrong I am) is most of the fun in my opinion and I cannot wait to get to it on Thursday.

This changed, however, Monday as I have a hard time not watching the final game and especially watching the final “One Shining Moment” video. It didn’t matter all that much to me that Kentucky won. A long time ago I thought a lot of John Calipari as a coach. As I’ve grown older and watched his career progress I believe I’ve lost a little bit of respect for him but he is a good coach and on Monday night Kentucky was certainly the best team on the court. Oh, and the video didn’t disappoint either. It’s funny, that video is usually the best thing about college basketball as far as I’m concerned.

Speaking of shining moments, the Hendrickson High boys soccer team certainly enjoyed one Friday. It was nice to see the Hawks kick off their second season with a pretty convincing victory over Cedar Creek and I look forward to seeing what else they do in the playoffs. Hendrickson coach Bill Anderson runs a top-notch program and seems to be able to replace the talent he loses on a yearly basis due to graduation with players from his sub-varsity program and this is a big reason why the Hawks are a perennial playoff team. As is usually the case there’s a lot of talent on the pitch at Hendrickson and I’d think they should be able to put a nice run together.

If there is one thing I do regret every year when the soccer playoffs begin is that I have not had a chance to watch much soccer leading up to the playoffs. In fact, it seems like every year I think to myself, “man, I wish they were playing another game,” after the last local team falls. Unfortunately, that’s the way it goes in our super-successful district. With the exception of football and volleyball, there is always an overlap of playoff games that take me away from a good portion of the regular season of the next sport on the schedule.

Football and volleyball bleed over into basketball, basketball takes up a huge portion of the soccer season and soccer usually occupies most of my March leaving the baseball and softball teams a bit neglected. I hate that it’s that way, but, as I said, that’s what happens when you have three schools that produce mutiple playoff teams in just about every sport. So, that said, I look forward to seeing as much soccer action as I can squeeze into the next two or three or four weeks and when I’m done I will anxiously squeeze in as much baseball and softball as I can get to before another school year ends.

There certainly were plenty of upsets in the NCAA tournament this year, right? Lots of top seeds got knocked out early (I’m looking at you Duke and Missouri) but when all was said and done and this weekend’s final four lineup was set, none of the upstarts are left. Instead we are left with one No. 1 seed (Kentucky), two No. 2’s (Kansas and Ohio State) and one No. 4 (Louisville). Honestly, none of this surprises me. The yearly loss of top talent from top programs to the NBA will continue to set teams that seem like national powers up for early exits from the tournament. There are too many senior-laden mid-major type teams with something to prove once tournament time rolls around for this not to be the case. While talent is a big part of the winning equation you cannot discount senior leadership and experience which is why a veteran team has a good shot against a team stocked full of freshman McDonald’s All-Americans who are only in school because the NBA would not have them yet. At the same point, this superior talent always seems to win out in the end. Think about it. In the past 10 years or so there have been a ton of upsets I never would have dreamed of when filling out my bracket as a kid, but how often have those teams reached the final four or, better yet, the final game? Once? Twice? Not very often is the answer. Ultimately the game of basketball is a game that can be dominated by a few seriously talented players and that seems to be what happens every year once the tournament reaches its final stages. That said, it certainly makes for high drama and makes it nearly impossible for anyone to fill out the mythical perfect bracket.

Going back to my European vacation, it was interesting to note that soccer (err football) was on four of five channels pretty much all day long. Living in the U.S. we are told that soccer is big in the rest of the world, but it honestly took a trip to a couple foreign countries for me to finally understand just how big it is. And, honestly, it just might be bigger than any one sport we have here.

Finally, we’ll wrap this up with a little Tebow Time. The media’s favorite quarterback lost his job to Peyton Manning then got traded to the New York Jets where he seemingly will sit behind the mediocre Mark Sanchez. It’s a tough break for Tebow. As you know I’m a fan of his unconventional style and I had hoped he would get another year to try and mature into an NFL-caliber quarterback. I doubt he can accomplish any of this on the bench or being used as a “Wildcat” type player. It’s certainly hard to write the guy off at this point but I don’t think the future looks too bright for Tim. Although, as we’re constantly reminded, he’s heard that plenty of times before, right?

Speaking of things that are hard for me to believe, it is hard for me to believe anyone is surprised the New Orleans Saints paid bounties to their players for particularly vicious hits on opposing players. Football is a violent game and the guys who play defense are on the violent side of the ball. If you don’t believe me as Pittsburgh Steeler James Harrison. He’s pretty open about his intentions when making a tackle. I guess what I’m surprised about is the story got out, that seems like a betrayal of someone’s trust.

And, speaking of violent sports, I watched my first MMA bout this weekend. I’d read about this female fighter by the name of Ronda Rousey and when I saw her fight Saturday was on Showtime I figured I’d check it out. And to be honest with you, I came away impressed. Rousey, who’s fights lasted an average of 36 seconds going into Saturday’s title bout, is every bit the female version of old-school Mike Tyson as I imagined her to be. She put an arm bar on her opponent Miesha Tate and made her tap out a little over four minutes into their bout. Then, when the fight was over, she said to the everyone listening that she wasn’t upset by the fact she might have seriously injured Tate’s arm. To put it simply, Rousey is a bad woman (and I mean that in the best way). They say she might be the sport’s first transcendent star and I don’t doubt it. At the very least she has piqued my interest enough that I will watch her next fight if given the opportunity.

Finally, so we can come full circle, how many great story lines are there as MLB heads into the new season? Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder in different leagues? Matt Kemp’s pursuit of the mythical 50 home run/50 stolen base season, Yu Darvish coming over from Japan to pitch for the defending American League champion Texas Rangers, Ryan Braun and his overturned failed drug test, the impending arrival of the latest baseball phenom Bryce Harper – seriously folks I could keep going, but I won’t. As I said when I opened this column there’s a lot to look forward to this year, maybe more than I can recall in years’ past. As far as I’m concerned that first “play ball” can’t come soon enough.

Perhaps, the fact that three teams lost on one night is not the greatest catastrophe in the history of sports. It happens. But there’s not way anyone could have convinced me that the Pflugerville girls would lose in the third round and the Pflugerville and Connally boys would both get knocked out of the bi-district round on the same evening. Still, the facts speak for themselves, and it happened.

Now I don’t really know what happened to the boys’ teams. I wasn’t there. I was, however, in College Station to watch the No. 1 or 2 team in the state (depending on which poll you were looking at) take on a pretty tall team from The Woodlands (who was ranked in the top 10 as well). From the start of the game I knew Pflugerville was taking on as good a team as I’d seen them face all year. However, The Woodlands was not a better team than Pflugerville. Perhaps they were their equal, but they certainly weren’t better. I’m guessing if the teams played each other again the outcome might have been completely different, but those are the hazards of the playoffs – you only get one chance to win. If you don’t you are done.

I knew going into the playoffs that if there was one thing Pflugerville was lacking it was size. The Panthers have a couple 5-foot-10-inch players but that’s it. I thought they might struggle against a taller foe and The Woodlands was certainly that with a 6-foot-4-inch player in the middle and four other players listed at taller than 6-foot on their roster. While it didn’t play that big of a difference in the rebound category (the teams were pretty close in boards at the end of the game) it did make a difference at the end of the contest.

“Like most other games, we knew that we needed to block out and hold them to one and out, on their offensive possessions,” Panther coach Nancy Walling told me. “They were able to go over our backs, with their size, and get some offensive rebounds that we couldn’t afford to give up. Beside that, I feel like we attacked them pretty well on offense, but we quit doing it towards the end of the game. We also usually do a pretty good job of getting offensive rebounds and I think that their height hurt us there also.”

And so, in the span of about two hours, local basketball season came to a screeching halt. Do not fear. We still have some good soccer teams playing and the baseball and softball squads are getting their pre-district work in as they look to get back to the playoffs as well. But, we are forced to bid a fond adieu, to some great senior basketball players including Pflugerville’s Itiana Taylor, Ari Booth and Jasmyn Booker, who have left lasting marks on our local courts. They will all, certainly, be missed.

“I don’t remember enjoying being around a group of kids as much as I have this team,” Walling added about her seniors. “What a pleasure it was for me and our staff. A large part of that can be tied to our great senior leadership. I feel like they were determined, focused, and the younger kids respected their leadership. We will miss them tremendously and couldn’t be more proud of how they’ve represented themselves, our school, team, community and families.”

As we’ve been focused hard on local basketball there have been a few exciting things from the wide world of sports I’ve missed out on talking about (like Lin-sanity), so I figured I’d take the opportunity now to do a little catching up. Here goes.

Speaking of the aforementioned Jeremy Lin, the New York Knicks guard seems to be everywhere these days. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Lin is the phenomenon who seems to have turned around the fortunes of New York City’s basketball team. He was cut in the preseason by Houston (after barely playing for Golden State last year). He then warmed the bench for the Knicks for the early part of this season, before finally getting a chance to play a few weeks ago. Once given the chance, the Ivy Leaguer has shined, proving himself to be one of the NBA’s elite over that span of time, and winning game after game for the beleaguered Knickerbockers. My favorite part of the Lin story is the little known fact that he lives on his brother’s sofa, because his contract was not guaranteed up until a week ago.

The real question at this point: can he continue to play the way he has played for the rest of the year and beyond? Honestly, I have no idea. There are few players who have ever flown so far under the radar before, turning into legitimate stars. I’m sure his points per game will suffer once Carmelo Anthony returns (that guy has never met a shot he didn’t like). Ultimately, I guess it doesn’t matter. Lin is having his 15 minutes of fame, and you’ve got to say, “good for him.” He seems like a decent guy who loves basketball, and is genuinely happy for the opportunity to play. I think we should all just enjoy the ride with him, whether it ends next week or 10 years from now.

And, finally, I don’t think the Indianapolis Colts really want Peyton Manning back. I read a report today where the team’s owner said they’d welcome their franchise’s greatest star, since a guy named Unitas is back, if he’d restructure his contract. I believe this was a PR move by the owner, who can now claim the ball is in Peyton’s court. However, we should all realize that contracts in professional sports are about more than just money, they are also about respect, and Jim Irsay seems to be disrespecting Manning by asking him to do this. My guess is Peyton plays elsewhere next year, and I would not be surprised to see him come back to haunt the Colts because of the way they have treated him.