swamprat

Several people from up there have attended high school games with me here in Tampa Bay and have been surprised by the band playing during game play. I see and hear cowbells, air horns, and vuvuzelas all of the time. In fact, this season, there was a home fan who blasted an air horn during JV game that disrupted the home offense on a critical 4th down play and cost them the game. It was obvious the blast startled a lineman and caused a false start. I checked before leaving and a couple of player parents were relieving the fellow of his air horn. ?

Had a person inform us that their daughter, who lives at home, tested positive, today. Luckily I did not have to go into the department they worked in to get them outfitted to work from home. The person got tested this evening. I do not know the results, but they are quarantined for the time being. If they do test positive, it will be their 3rd time. We also had a person test positive over the holiday. At this rate, I will be the only one here by the end of the week. ?

I like Dixie and order a case every now and again. However, it is still too watery for me. I always add a can or three to a pound of ground beef and cook it down a bit. Now, that is a treat.

I talked to a nursing director for a hospital in Orlando. She said Omicron has milder symptoms verses previous strains, but it is more contagious. She compared it to measles, in that regard.

My daughter-in-law, her sister, and 2 of their friends (all gators) went to the game and stayed here, last night. Not a happy bunch. To make them feel better, I served them coffee in UK mugs, this morning. ?

Army 24 Missouri 22. Texas A&M's loss to Covid would be to an ACC team. ?

Florida 6A Championship. Tampa Jesuit 35 Pine Forest 29

Florida 8A Championship Venice 35 Apopka 7

Florida 7A Championship St. Thomas Aquinas 42 Tampa Bay Tech 14

Florida 5A Championship Miami Central 49 Merritt Island 14

Florida 4A Championship Cardinal Gibbons 21 Cocoa 19

Florida 1A Championship Madison County 13 Hawthorne 12

If you look at Chaminade-Madonna's schedule, you can see why to some extent. Not a cakewalk in the bunch. It contains two 8A State Semi-finalists, and a 4A State Semi-finalist. They are the only reason Buford (GA), who won the Georgia 6A championship last night, did not have an undefeated season. The team that beat Chaminade-Madonna, American-Heritage, had the worst record of the all of teams on their schedule, 6-4. It appears that they are an independent 3A school in Region 4. No district. Not sure how that works. I read somewhere, that C-M's SOS ranked 2nd in the state, where Berkley Prep's SOS was at 212. In the playoffs, they out scored their opponents 153-3. At the end of the season, they were ranked 5th in the state among all classes, and 27th nationally.

Florida 3A final. Friday, December 10. Chaminade-Madonna 21 Berkley Prep 0

Florida 2A finals. Thursday, December 9. Trinity Christian Academy 41 Champagnat Catholic 23

Not really. If you notice, most the final matchups, are between schools from the large metropolitan areas around the state (Tampa Bay, Orlando, Jacksonville, and Ft. Lauderdale/Miami). Because of the geographical aspect of the region and districts, the teams in the large metro areas thin themselves out in district play and regional rounds while remainder of the brackets tend to clear out the schools from rural areas, for the most part. That is especially true in the large school classes. With the exception of 1A, there is at least one participant from a large metropolitan area in every final. That's pretty much the same every year. 8A Apopka (Orlando Metro) vs Venice 7A Tampa Bay Tech vs St. Thomas Aquinas (Ft. Lauderdale) 6A Tampa Jesuit vs Pine Forest (Pensacola) 5A Miami Central vs Merritt Island 4A Coco vs Cardinal Gibbons (Ft. Lauderdale) 3A Berkley Prep (Tampa) vs Chaminade-Madonna (Miami Metro) 2A Trinity Christian Academy (Jacksonville) vs Champagnat Catholic (Miami Metro) 1A Hawthorne vs Madison County

I was watching "Hunt for Red October" this afternoon. When Scott Glenn hands Alec Baldwin the hand gun on the mini-sub, the first thing that popped into my mind was "Are you sure you want to do that?"

Florida Semi Finals. Games I was interested in are in bold. 8A Apopka 21 Treasure Coast 0 Venice 35 Columbus 7 7A Tampa Bay Tech 42 Lake Gibson 24 St. Thomas Aquinas 45 Bucholz 7 6A Tampa Jesuit 37 Miami Northwestern 12 Pine Forest 20 Orlando Jones 13 5A Merritt Island 12 Sebring 10 Miami Central 54 Baker County 21 4A Cardinal Gibbons 36 Lakewood 18 Cocoa 35 Jacksonville Bolles 24 3A Berkley Prep 42 Lakeland Christian 14 Chaminade-Madonna 38 Florida State University High 3 2A Trinity Christian Academy 29 Orlando Christian Prep 21 Champagnat Catholic 27 Zephyrhills Christian 8 1A Hawthorne 24 Chipley 6 Madison County 37 Chiefland 0

Game on. Miami Northwestern at Tampa Jesuit Friday night.