Brian's Sunday Shpeel

I guess it's my turn to wish everyone a Happy Holiday Season - I hope you all have received what you had hoped for Christmas, but most of all, I hope everyone has made it through the weekend without too much stress from the weather, or the in-laws, or otherwise. As for me, while I was pleased with the gifts I received, I'm still waiting for that Steelers playoff berth (which would certainly be a gift at this point), and the only real major gift I received was about 10 feet of snow in my driveway over the course of the whole weekend. Had we not shoveled four times in three days, the actual size of one huge drift might have been more than that. What an impressive weather system! Stupid global warming anyway!!

Another gift I received this holiday season was a warning ticket (which I appreciated) as I drove home from covering the Lady Govs in Watertown last weekend. I guess driving 70 in a 65 is a little high in some counties. :o) But that's not the real story here, as there apparently must be some real suspicious activity in and around the Clark area. As it turned out, the patrol vehicle that I had a seat in that night was the second of three that I encountered in about a 13-mile stretch on either side of Clark. So to the SDHP, keep up the good work, and all the best to you in the upcoming new year! (Gotta stay on their good side, you know...)

Aside from my racing potential, let's talk sports. In AA girls basketball, let's see....Roosevelt, Washington, Aberdeen - all have been ranked #1 or #2 in the first two weeks of the season, and all have been beaten by SF Lincoln so far, and of course Lincoln's only loss so far came last weekend here in Pierre in a game that they never led in the last three quarters. I'm not going to begin to call the Lady Govs a #1 ranked team, but if anyone out there thought this season might see a huge dropoff, well, maybe things will turn out a lot more interesting for you than you had anticipated. Games in Rapid City this coming week should be tough, especially at Central Tuesday night, with some good things expected from the Cobbs.

And hey, speaking of interesting, the Governor wrestling squad has shown some real ability early on this season. A close dual against a pretty much unanimous ESD favorite Aberdeen and a runaway tournament win at Valentine against some pretty salty Nebraska competition before the break, and now another home dual against Watertown, whom the Govs beat in the Arrows' own dual tournament, coming up Saturday (on KGFX)...here's hoping the Govs can stay healthy through the season and make some noise in the next couple of months! Stay tuned, and again, Happy Holidays!!