It was a homecoming of sorts tonight. Even though I live less than 5 minute from Perry HS, I don't get back to the alma mater to often. Tonight the wrestling Panthers hosted Lake with the Federal League title on the line. The Panthers came up big with a victory over the Blue Streaks. It was a big and loud crowd inside the gym. The picture below is a view from our seats. K wanted to sit near the floor.
When the acton got interesting, we had to look around a 7 footer. Perry's big, Kenny Frease, was on hand to root on the team. Kenny has the Panthers on the verge of their own league title. He will playing for Xavier next season.

Ok, it is a bad picture, but if you go into the Perry gym and look above the doors into the vistors side, you can see then 1987-1988 basketball team picture. I was the video guy on that team. When the team won the Federal League, the team picture was placed in the gym. One day, I will need to get a real good picture of the picture. I did receive one aftert the season, but I would like to have one.

Not much has happened this week. The wrestling team has the weekend off. We have had a few sick wrestlers this week. Hopefully, they will be 100% next weekend.

The weather has been the biggest news. We have had a high of 50 one day, then 16 the next. One night there were wind gust over 50 mph. There is a winter storm warning for tonight. Ice and snow is predicted. Some students think we will have a snow day. As I write this, nothing is failing from the sky.

When Friday night ended, I thought both Matt and Bubba would ended up being eliminated quickly in the Junior High PTC Tournament. Well, Matt did losing two times ended his 7th grade wrestling season. However, Bubba, who up until Thursday night had never won a match went on to pin two more opponents on his way to a 6th place finish. The thought of him placing in this tournament never crossed my mind. He is now talking about wrestling in high school. I hope so. He needs to stay active. Bubba is the wrestler on the far left.
Because Bubba did so well Saturday, I never made it out to Austintown to see the varsity team. Joe (4th) and Shayne (5th) placed. This is the toughest tournament we are entered in all season. It is loaded with a couple D1 powers, plus a couple of D2 powers. However, it gives us tougher competition than we will face in our league meet. It is a great warm-up for the sectional tournament next month.
We did not do much today. T got called off work today. No big surprise there. I did clean the fish tanks. K new beta fish moved into his bigger tank. The picture below shows the 5 fantails that reside in the tank in the living room. You need to look close to see the fifth fish, but they are all there. 3 of them have been living with us for over a year. Lately, J has been asking to get a puppy. Thankfully, the other 2 have not got on that bandwagon. I would love for them to have a dog, but with my allergies there is no way. I saw what my mom went through on a daily basis with Sadie and I don't want to go through it. So, I am more than happy with the fish. There is a nice big tank at Petsmart I would love to have. If it goes on sale, it might just end up here.

See you Down by the Bayou!

Brenna made her entrance into the world today. I now have 3 nieces. My parents have 11 grandchildren now. Everything went well today. She arrived shortly after 2pm.

In other news, J got his braces off today. He did really well again. The dentist said there is a good chance he will lose his tooth early.

The wrestling Wildcats defeated the Rootstown Rovers 28-25. It come down to Phil Everett at 215. He won 8-2. We ended up 5-8 in duals this year. The match of the year was between Troy Spiker and Josh Bailes. Josh went up a weight class to wrestle Troy. Troy is a top ranked wrestle at 189. Josh was 25 pounds lighter than Troy. Josh fought hard, but lost 6-5.

My junior high wrestlers did well tonight as well. Matt pinned his opponent. But, Bubba won his first two matches of his junior high career tonight, both by pin.

It will be a busy weekend, so my next update will be Sunday.

Tomorrow my younger sister will give birth to a little bundle of joy. According to the ultrasound this bundle will be a girl. Early reports have the first name as Brenna. I am not sure if that is what they settled on, but it was a favorite of Nick. Kerri will be induced in the morning. I am will not be able to see them in hospital until after my wrestling meet. Even then, it might be too late to visit. I pray everything goes well for everyone tomorrow.
In the sporting world, Kent State scored 50 points in the second half to beat Akron 75-69. Kent has won 15 games this year. They are looking to win 20 games again this year for the 10th straight year. I am still hoping to go see them play a couple more times this year.

Yesterday, I had a busy day for a day off school. I had a dentist appointment, followed by a meeting with Jose. I am going to shot Jose's wedding this year. He looked over my other wedding photos. Then, if was off to Garretsville for the Junior High PTC wrestling tournament seeding meeting. It was 112 miles round trip. It is a good thing I get paid mileage for stuff like that. I was home by 8pm.
Today was the first day of the new semester. I have a couple of new classes this semester. It is only 89 school days til summer break.

Just for fun today, I tried to log into my blog from my classroom and guess what? It worked. Of course, I don't have much to say on this Friday. Today is the last day of exams for the high school. Right now, I don't have any students. So, I have been cleaning up my classroom. I have already finished grading my exams and entering them into the computer.
I am not sure what I am going to do this weekend. I don't have any sporting events to worry about this weekend. The wrestling team is off til Thursday. I really don't care about the NFL games this weekend. Maybe I will head over to NC to see Perry play some basketball on Saturday. I would like to head to OU and see Kent State play, but I will be gone most of next week, so I want to spend time with the kids.

Bayou out.

While I was sitting in the stands at the Northwest Tournament, I had an idea. Why not start a "trophy" for our wrestling team. We were wrestling our neighbors to the east (Field HS) and to the west (Ellet HS). I started calling the match "The Backyard Battle." I made up a small fence-like trophy and had a MHS student paint the fence in each schools colors. Ellet defeated Field in the first match of the night. Then we went on to defeat Ellet 35-30. The match was tied 30-30 going into the last match. My 103 pounder scored a tech fall 20-5 to win the match for the Cats. Then we cruised to an easy win over Field 35-22 to win the first Backyard Battle.

The Cats pose with "The Fence" after the Backyard Battle.

I know you can't see the license plate real well, but it is a Browns vanity plate that says "NXYEAR". I guess the seems the same can be true for the Cowboys. I am not talking to anybody right now. I am sick how the game ended, really the entire fourth quarter. The playing calling, quarterback play, drop passes, penalties and did I mention the play calling? Jason Garrett just coached his way out of a head coaching job. Wade Phillips better be licking Jerry Jones's boots to keep his job. It has been a real crappy week in sports for me....First the Buckeyes and then the Cowboys. I could really careless who wins now. I guess I can root for KSU alum Antonio Gates and the Chargers, but really I don't care.

My busy week came to an end tonight. We wrestled at Garfield on Thursday night. We won 6 of 8 matches against Kenmore and 5 of 7 against Garfield, but forfeit cost us the victories. The team was at the NW Invitational the last 2 days. We placed 4 guys, 2 Seconds, 1 thirds and a 5th. I am not sure we could have had anybody else place.
We are hosting Field and Ellet for the "Backyard Battle". I am going to make up a small trophy that will go to the overall winner. It will be senior night as well.

Go Cowboys! beat the giants.

It seems to take an Ohio born coach(es) to beat Ohio State in the championship game. Both the head coach and the defensive coordinator were born in Ohio. Their defensive coordinator played at OSU and was a captain his senior year. But, the sun will rise tomorrow. The Buckeyes had another good season. I would rather have a chance to win the BCS game, than not play in it.

J had his stitches removed today. T said he was as good getting them removed as he was when they put them in.

It was a record high temperature today. My car said 64 on the drive home at 5:30pm.

I am going to bed.

Congrats to the Bayou Bengals from the Bayou.

Yesterday, K tied for 3rd place in his boy scouts den's pinewood derby. He was upset he did not win a trophy. But, we had fun making the car together. Next year, he will do more. I would rather him do this with as little help from adults as possible. It seemed like alot of fathers build the cars without little help from the scout. K used a band saw, with my help, to cut his car. He sanded it himself as well. We will try harder next year.
My brother came over for the Pittsburgh game. We had a fun night even though the Steelers lost.
Tomorrow, we are having a small gathering for the BCS Championship game. I am sure the Buckeyes will not be blown out like last year. They might not win, but they will be in this game. Coach Tressel won't let that happen. Now, I also think the Buckeyes will win a close hard fought game. It will be a low scoring game 13-10. Buckeyes win with a late field goal.

Go Buckeyes!

Update on J. He went to the dentist this afternoon. The dentist moved the tooth back in place and placed a metal brace on the front of J's front 6 teeth. I would put another picture up on the blog, but you really can't see the brace too well. T said he did great in the dentist chair. The dentist has TVs on his ceiling so his patients can watch DVD while getting work done. J watched episode of Blue's clues. I wish Dr. Cohen would have something for me to watch while I am getting my teeth cleaned.
The wrestling team won their first match of the year tonight. We beat Youngstown Ursuline 30-18, but lost to South Range 27-23. It was a tough close match all night long. I think we wrestled better as a whole, but some guys need to focus during practice. We are off until next Thursday when we travel to Garretsville Garfield.

--Bayou

OUCH!

T called me at the beginning of practice today. J bit his lip as he fell off his bed. He was helping K put sheets on his bed and fell off the side. He needed 6 stitches to close up his lip. He did wonderful. He did not fuss or cry while the doc worked on him. He will go to the dentist in the next couple of days. His front teeth were pushed back when hit hit the window. I guess we will meet our deductible early this year.

Hopefully, this will be our only trip to ER this year. K was the only one to avoid the ER last year. Maybe he and B can avoid it this year.--Bayou