Are YOU ready for some football?

It's football season in my house. What does that mean? Thursday freshmen games, Friday night varsity games and Saturday afternoon 5th-6th tackle. 

Patrick is playing wide receiver and safety on the Bay High freshman football team. My son, who at 120 pounds has the distinction of being the lightest player on the high school roster, made three fumble recoveries last week against Westlake. 

Michael is playing center and nose guard on the 5th-6th Bay rec team. He's the shortest guy on the line, but he's the loudest one on the field. Can't wait to watch him in a live game.

After the trials of previous seasons, Ryan is the QB on the Bay High varsity team. So far the team is 1-1 after a heartbreaking loss to Westlake last Friday. But they are working hard and have a great attitude going into this season. You can watch video of his TD pass at the modern-day sports marvel that is Al & Larry Sports. Now where's my wallet....

A 9-year-old's assessment of the NFL Draft

Today's NFL Draft begins at 3 p.m., but Michael has been talking about it since he woke up about 20 minutes ago. SportsCenter has been on since he came down. So while I'm getting caught up reading the New York Times Book Review, Mikey is giving me a rundown on today's draft. He does this often, always quizzing me on where a player went to college or who plays the best spread offense.

First going to the Dolphins in Chris Long. (He's been fascinated with the story of Howie Long's son since the Easter Bunny brought him a Sporting News NFL Draft magazine.)

Second going to the Raiders is Jake Long, he's an offensive tackle, you know, from Michigan. (Because, of course I should know this.)

Third is Glenn Dorsey going to Baltimore. He's that defensive end, number 72 from LSU. He's really good at tackling and sacking.

Fourth going to the San Francisco 49ers is Brian Brohm from Louisville. He's a QB.

Fifth going to the St. Louis Rams from Boston College, Matt Ryan, a quarterback.

Sixth is Andre Woodson, that quarterback from Kentucky going to the Houston Texans.

Seventh is Colt Brennan from Hawaii going to New Orleans Saints.

Darren McFadden is a running/quarterback. He plays both but he'll go to the Denver Broncos.

Going to New York Jets is Rashard Mendenhall from Illinois. He's a running back.

Going to the Detroit Lions is Mario Manningham from the University of Michigan. He's a wide receiver.

Browns don't have a first-round pick.

Those are my predictions. I'm psyched to see the draft cause there are so many good players.

And there you have it. Mikey's 2008 NFL draft predictions.

Ryan's narrative essay

With his permission, I thought I'd share Ryan's narrative essay on overcoming an adversity. He wrote about his collarbone break, which he originally said was a stupid idea, for freshman English. "That's not that big of a deal," he told me. "It was to you," I said. "To write a good narrative, you have to write emotionally about something true to you. Others will relate to it because they may have experienced similar feelings in a different setting."

The only tip I gave him was how to get started. Originally, he was starting with the day the break happened. I told him to think about the worst day of the experience. It wasn't the day of the break. He paused at the computer and said, "Strimbu's office that first time was the worst day." So I told him, "Start there." And off he went. This is his essay as he wrote it, though I broke up the paragraphs for easier reading. He got an A on the essay and his English teacher told me during conferences that she learned a lot about how important athletics are for student athletes as a result of what he shared.

“No football.” Those words rang in my head for hours as I thought about what a stupid decision I had made three nights before. The doctor told me that it wasn’t a big deal and that at least I had basketball to look forward to. That was not what I had wanted to hear, especially after all the hard work and time I had put into football this summer.

All summer long I had been getting up at 6:30 A.M. to go to the lifting and conditioning sessions starting the first day of summer. On top of that everyday after lifting I would spend an hour or more throwing routes to my receivers, and working on my footwork. I had high expectations for myself and my teammates in what was going to be my first high school football season. My sessions with my receivers were helping. We were getting our timing down very well and I was throwing some of the best balls I’ve ever thrown.

The day before our first scrimmage, coach called my parents to see if it would be alright with them if I started JV in the scrimmage the next day. The scrimmage was mainly a varsity scrimmage so there wasn’t much time for the JV players, but the time we did have I felt I made the best of in impressing the coaches. I felt invincible and on top of the world because I had just given everyone a taste of what was yet come and I was excited.

Later on that night before the Browns pre-season game we were playing a little pick-up game to kick off the season. For some reason I played really hard and as I was being tackled I tried to lower my shoulder and truck through my friend but he jumped on my back and I landed hard on the grass shoulder first. I heard a loud cracking sound and I knew right away what had happened. I shouted, “Go get my Dad. I just broke my collarbone!” Of course they didn’t believe me and they thought it was funny until they saw how displaced the bone was.

When I was in the emergency room I knew it was bad, but the thought of it ending my season never really crossed my mind. It wasn’t until the orthopedic told me I was looking at a minimum of 8 weeks, which would’ve given me two games left to play in and that was only if everything went fast in the healing process, that I realized I may miss the whole season.

It sounds silly because it was just football, but it affected my self-confidence as I started high school. The one place that I was 100 percent sure of myself was on the football field and being a part of the team already made me feel like I had started high school. Even though I was still on the team, not being able to participate didn’t fit with the vision I had in my head for how my high school career would start. It even affected my grades in school. I couldn’t concentrate at first and I found myself continuously day-dreaming about football. I couldn’t get over the fact that no sooner had I been given this great opportunity that I had blown it.

I would come home everyday and tell my parents how much I wish I could take back that day. Even more than that, I felt like I had let my teammates and coaches down. Because the football program is so small it messed up the whole coaching game plan and many had to move around positions. I know that programs have to do that all the time but I felt like I was the one to blame for all this.

Each week to get through I would distract myself from it by giving myself little jobs to do like filling up water bottles and fetching balls. Just being there also helped because one of the reasons I love football so much is the atmosphere.

The hardest part to get over was pre-game because that’s when I normally am getting really pumped up and excited to go out and do what I need to do to lead my team to victory but I couldn’t do that. Instead I had to watch my friends get ready and go out and have fun and I just felt so helpless and left out.

Freshman and JV games were bad, but varsity was the worst. Everybody dressed for those games regardless of your class, and when the whole school and town are there to watch while everyone is in uniform and ready to play, I’m standing in street clothes feeling left out again. To pass the time I would stick near the offensive coordinator, quarterback coach and the quarterbacks themselves to see what I could pick up and use to my advantage for my return.

Fortunately, I was never the only one in street clothes on the sideline, there were many other injuries through out the season that sidelined my teammates for various durations and we all stuck together and tried to help each other get through our injuries.

Week 8 rolled around and I had a decision to make as to whether I make a risky return or wait it out for the next season to avoid further injury. As much as I wanted to come back and play this season, the severity of the injury meant that one big hit could result in a re-fracture, causing me to also lose the upcoming basketball season.

By the time I had gotten to the doctor’s office I had pretty much made up my mind as to what I wanted to do, and that was to let the bone thoroughly heal and not to risk re-injuring the bone by coming back this season. Six weeks before it would’ve been impossible to imagine that I’d be already at the point where I needed to make a decision on my return. With the season winding down and only two games left to play there wasn’t really much I could do to help the team by returning. I realized that the best thing I could do for my team was to think about returning strong next year.

In football, I’m normally one of the guys that never comes off the field, but this injury gave me a perspective of the kids that don’t get to play. They put in just as much time as me and they may only get in a few plays a game.

As soon as the basketball season is over I will begin my lifting program again and if I even think for a second about complaining I will think about this past season I spent and how bad I missed everything.

After the fall athletic meeting just before school started my 7th grade brother and I walked over to look at the new turf field and I told him I miss everything. “Don’t you ever take any of it for granted,” I said. I told him, “I miss the heat, the hitting, the sound, the grass, the sweat, and even the smell of football.”

Afterword:
Basketball season has ended, with the freshman team as West Shore Conference champs. Lifting is in full swing and aside from a few sore muscles, Ryan has remained true to his word and has not complained. He'll be playing in a 7-on-7 flag football league starting on Saturday night with some of the varsity players. We practically had to pull him off the ceiling when he got the call to participate. It's another year and a new season.

Word of the day
bildungsroman: a novel about the moral and psychological growth of the main character

WSC Champs—again!

The Bay High freshmen boys' basketball team captured the West Shore Conference championship in an overtime, defensive brawl against Rocky River. This is the second consecutive year our boys have won the WSC, only this year they did it without four key freshmen who play JV. A great victory!

The Village is getting ink

Bay Village is such a tiny little bedroom community that it rarely registers a blip in the local, let alone national, media. Of course, that could change with Mayor Debbie Sutherland entering the race for Cuyahoga County Commissioner.

Today, however, there are two wonderful blips.

U.S. News & World Reports ranks Bay High School among the top high schools in the nation with a Silver Award.

At last Friday's basketball game against Vermilion, apparently the two student sections were engaged in a shout-out that escalated as each student body tried to one-up the other. Vermilion's fans shouted, "How's your football team?"

Bay students chanted back, "Let's take a test!" That even drew a smile from Principal Jim Cahoon who was keeping close watch on the student section.

Bay senior girls' hoop star and D-1 recruit Lindsey Lowrie and her parents, Bob and Lisa, grace the front page of today's Locker Room section. Hope you get a chance to read the article because her parents are the antithesis of today's hovering parents. They also own Java Bay coffee shop and happen to be two of the nicest people around. If you stop in for a cuppa, be sure to say hello.

Congrats to all!

Giving thanks this week

Everyone once in a while I go through these extended work frenzies. Today, I emerge from a six-week-long period of hibernation and extended work. The fruits of that labor are just being revealed here and in publications. Some are still to come, others are a bit longer in the making, but I'm having fun with it all.

I hope you'll take a moment to see the updates I've made to the right margin. I've added some newer work there and a new category for the editing I'm doing these days. The NCAA Women's Final Four wrap-up book will be ready later this week, so I'll post about that on Monday. The Catalyst-Ohio editing work has been very rewarding. A trial editing assignment for the magazine has turned into a steady flow of work for the next few months.

In the spirit of the holiday, let me say I'm so thankful for the work I'm able to do—a real mix of things for love and money.

Time for friends
On Monday night, Dan and I met up with two of his good pals from college. I told him just to go and enjoy (Monday nights are crazy at our house), but they asked to see me, too. So I went along and was so glad I did. We had a great time with lots of laughs.

Bevy of birthdays
Thanksgiving is synonymous with birthdays in our house. My niece, Natalie, turns 5 tomorrow. On the Hoke side, my nephew Ted will be 16 next week and my niece Mary will be 15. And, of course, my own Ry Guy turns 15 on Friday. All of them have taken turns sharing their birthday with Thanksgiving.



Fifteen—yikes! Seems like yesterday. We'll be celebrating his birthday on the basketball court. Ryan opens his freshman basketball season at home against North Olmsted on Friday. It's a triple-header at Bay (with JV and varsity to follow). He's starting power forward. While he's not as big a fan of basketball as he is of football, he's just glad to be competing again after missing his entire football season to a broken collarbone.

Ryan was born under a football star. I went into labor with him on the day of the OSU/Michigan game. Danny had a bunch of buddies over to our Rocky River duplex for the game and his famous chili. I knew something was happening, but didn't want to alarm him out of his football reverie.


We wound up at the hospital around 4 the next morning. That Sunday was the Browns/Steelers game. Ryan took his sweet time in arriving—23 hours. He was a big boy—9 pounds, 14 ounces, 21 inches long born on his due date. He's still a big boy at 6' 1", though he's quite lanky these days. He's counting down until he can hit the weight room in March, giving up lacrosse in the spring, which he really loved to play, to prepare for football.

Oh how time does fly.

Happy Birthday, Ry! I'm so proud to be your mom.

It's only football, right?

When we walked into the Westlake offices of Orthopedic Associates yesterday, there was a football player and his parents in front of us. Ryan smiled and nodded to the kid and said, "Hey."

"What's up?" he said, nodding back.

As Ryan explained to me after we checked in, he was the freshmen QB for Fairview who also broke his collarbone at about the same time as Ryan. He knows this because Bay played Fairview last week and the two injured QBs had the chance to chat at games on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. They shared their mutual frustration at missing their first high school season.

It's been eight weeks since Ryan broke his collarbone. Back in August, this was the week we envisioned him coming back. But time and healing changes your perspective somewhat and we went into this appointment knowing that it was unlikely he would get clearance to return to play.

Ryan was OK with that. We talked a lot about how he plays with an intensity that could put himself at greater risk of re-fracturing. Although it's not his throwing arm, we worried about him running with the ball because he lowers his left shoulder when delivering a pop (he has a tendency to run through people instead of around them, a remnant of his early years of playing fullback).

With basketball season approaching, we just couldn't risk him losing another season. Ryan is a competitor and he needs to have a healthy, constructive outlet for that competitiveness. I certainly can't have him coming home after school all winter and torturing his younger brothers because he's pissed he can't play.

The doctor praised him for his mature decision and then showed us the progression of x-rays to see how he's healing. Since the fracture was so severe, the bones are not joined end to end, but instead overlap with new bone forming all around the break. The latest x-ray showed a good amount of new bone healing the injury. It looks good, but not good enough to take the contact of football.

He got the clearance to attend open gyms and prepare for basketball. He continues his lifting/rehab program in the weight room and he cheers his teammates from the sideline.

But that didn't make coming home after the freshmen game last night any easier. "This is the game I was supposed to come back," he said. "I can't believe I'm missing the whole season."

Neither can we, but we know it's for the best.

While this has been a life lesson for Ryan, it has also been a good one for Danny and I as well. Football isn't everything, we certainly know that, but it means so much to him and he works so hard at it. There's really no way you can effectively play the game unless you are committed 110 percent. It requires so much of players and takes even more from them.

We cheer for the team with great enthusiasm, but it isn't the same. I watch him from the stands as he carries footballs under each arm like a security blanket. I watch his mood shift from elation to frustration and back again. He pats teammates on the shoulder, fills water bottles and high-fives players when they've made a great play. He paces the sideline and in his restlessness I know he would give his left kidney to be out on that field. Sometimes I think I can will him recovered.

But I can't.

It's hard to be helpless, but we're trying to keep it all in perspective. It's only football. He's otherwise healthy, doing well in school, has good friends and is a good kid.

Last night, Danny finally put words to what I've been feeling, "I just miss watching him play." Me, too.

Does parental pressure hurt teen athletes?

While cleaning out my pitches file, I found this story that I tried and nearly placed at several magazines. I'd still like to do this piece because it's an important topic for teens and parents of teens. If you have any feedback on the topic or suggestions on where to take this, feel free to comment. I've added a little more from my notes than what was included in the original pitch.

One-dimensional athletes
How pressure to succeed from parents, coaches and themselves may be hurting our kids
By Wendy A. Hoke
Fourteen-year-old Joe excels at basketball and football and loves playing both. But his parents are discouraging him from going out for the football team, not because of the time it consumes, but because they think he has a better shot of getting a college scholarship in basketball. So in addition to his school team, Joe also plays AAU basketball in the off-season and takes private instruction from a local basketball instructor and former pro.

Great planning on the parents’ part? Not necessarily, say many experts, who believe grown-ups should resist the urge to push kids into sports specialization. They aren't the only ones tempering the idea.

At the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons in February, panelists sounded the alarm of rising overuse injuries in children as young as age 4. In the care of adolescents and pre-adolescents, orthopedics are seeing injuries that stem from year-round participation wearing on young bones. “They never get a chance to rest,” says Thomas Clanton, team doctor for the NBA’s Houston Rockets.

Dr. Michael Connor, a California State University Psychology Professor who has counseled male and female athletes at the high school, club, collegiate and professional level for more than 15 years, agrees. “Athletics as a nice way to round kids out seems to be lost,” says Dr. Connor. Indeed, specialization may set both parents and children up for disappointment and dilute interest in recreational exercise.

“As parents do we want to develop healthy lifelong habits of movement and enjoyment of physical activity?” asks Dr. John McCarthy, Director of the Institute for Athletic Coach Education at Boston University, or are we raising little super-athletes. “Unfortunately society is pushing sport into a professional level.”

What's driving that pressure? Connor believes the motivation is often financial, translating into hopes for a college scholarship. However, some parents will spend more money in help and training to gear up their child for that college scholarship than they would for college tuition.

The push toward specialization is also clouded by the rose-colored glasses parents often wear.

“Parents often see their kids as more talented than they are,” Dr. Connor says. Most parents have no sense of how unlikely it is that there kid will ever play college or pro sports, he says.

When teens make the decision to specialize in one sport exclusively, he says, the pressures are coming primarily from parents. He also notes that overly enthusiastic parents may not properly gauge their child’s interest in a particular sport: "Kids may be saying that this is what they want, but I'm not convinced that they are making an informed decision. Often, they've been coached into believing this by their parents.”

Specialization isn't always what colleges are after. As a former recruiter for college teams, Dr. McCarthy says he would look for athletes who could play multiple sports because of their growth potential. Those who specialized early may not be able to adapt to suit a college team's needs.

Still, focusing on one sport may not always be harmful. A whole generation of kids have yet to grow up and show us whether or not such activity is good for their overall health in the long run, says Dr. Susan Joy, head of women's sports medicine at The Cleveland Clinic. But that impact may be presenting itself now as the orthopedics convening earlier this year in San Diego discussed.

So how do you ensure that sports specialization is right for your children and how to do you encourage your child to do it safely?

Steady As She Goes. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children who engage in one sporting activity exclusively for nine months of the year should take the remaining three months to rest or engage in another activity. Experts also say that children need one day off per week. “They need that time off to allow their muscles to regenerate and recuperate,” Dr. Joy says.

Spread Out Success. Kids who excel at a sport at a young age do not necessarily mature into that sport. “Make sure your child doesn't hinge his or her self-worth on success in a fifth-grade sport,” says Dr. Joy.

Recognize Your Child's Limitations. “Hopefully your kids will get the best of your genes. But if you and your spouse are not athletic, most likely your kids will not be athletic,” says Joy. And even if you were a sports star, it doesn’t mean your child will be—or wants to be. Whether he’s injury-prone, unfocused or competing with too many other top achievers, your child may not live up to expectations.

It’s About Timing. Some sports—football, basketball and swimming—require the release of pubertal hormones before children can mature and develop in those sports. Others—namely gymnastics and figure skating—have such a narrow window for success that you have to decide at a young age to go full tilt.

Follow Your Child’s Heart. Encourage your child to explain what she does and doesn’t like about a sport so you can ensure she has a complete picture.

Keep It Real. Encourage them to try another sport in a less-competitive, more recreational environment to balance the competition with a little fun.

Keep It Balanced. Encourage your child to weigh what he is giving up to specialize. What is he crossing off the list in order to devote so much time to one activity?

Athletics as part of school reform

Here's my profile of Cleveland Heights High School Athletic Director Tom Hill for the KnowledgeWorks e-newsletter.

How 'bout them Browns!

Dan and I had the good fortune to land in a loge yesterday for the Browns game. What a game! We rarely sat, our hands hurt from clapping and at least one member of our party had little left of his voice by the end of the game.

It was a gorgeous day for football and so nice to have something to cheer about.

We meandered through the Flats and the municipal lots past hundreds of tail-gaters, inhaling the smell of beer, barbecue and cigarettes, dodged more than our share of cornhole games and high-fived a colorful (literally) assortment of fans young and old, big and small, male and female.

Cleveland deserved the win, the beautiful day and the fun-filled atmosphere.

Now if only our Bay Rockets can do the same this Friday night. It's T-minus two weeks and counting until Ryan gets the go / no-go on returning to full practice after the collarbone mishap.

Sloppy sports reporting

I'm delighted to see The Plain Dealer devoting so much space to high school football this morning. But is it too much to ask to get them to spell the names of players correctly? Two of the three Bay High players noted in the West Shore Conference preview are spelled wrong. It's Cale LaRiccia and Brian Harrell (not Cale LeRiccia and Brian Herrall).

This isn't limited to the PD sports guys. The West Shore Sun today also has a story about Bay's new head coach and new turf field. In it, Dale Meggas, whom I worked with while I was a reporter at Sun from 1990-95, references senior leader Jon Rieke and in the next paragraph refers to him as Reinke.

Come on, guys! Get it together. These players work hard and the least you can do if you're going to single them out among the thousands of players is to spell their name correctly.

In my sophomore year reporting class at Ohio University J-School, misspelling a word in an assignment was an automatic C; misspelling someone's name was an automatic F.

Creative Ink hits PD Blog 5

Thanks to the PD Blog 5 for feeling that an all-too-common story about a teenager dealing with disappointment is worthy of attention by its readers.

Of course, a hat tip goes to Jill for even bringing to my attention.

Ryan managed his first scrimmage from the sidelines on Friday. It was tough, but he did what he could to support his teammates, especially since there were only 15 able-bodied freshmen able to dress. He's more determined than ever to come back strong.

One week down -- seven more to go.

Life's first big disappointment

When my oldest son Ryan was very young, maybe four, we had taken a bike ride at this time of year and cut through the high school. The football team was in the middle of two-a-days practice.

Ryan stopped his little silver bike and jumped off to watch. In the treeline that ran alongside the practice field, he juked and spun around trees pretending they were defenders and mirroring the moves of the big guys on the field. Cradled in his arms was his imaginary football.

Seems like yesterday to me. Today he is a 6-foot freshman who has spent every morning this summer out on that field or in the weight room—conditioning, lifting, working on agility drills, throwing the football with receivers, muscling through two-a-days. He woke up at six every morning to get there early.

Waiting even a few weeks to get back to the sport he loves is like asking him to give up eating. He got an early taste of what was to come this season last Saturday in a scrimmage. He took a few snaps at QB for the JV team. Still on his morning high, he was goofing around in the yard that evening with a bunch of neighborhood guys.

Ryan was running with the ball, was tackled from behind, lost his footing and fell on his shoulder. Rather than drop the ball to break his fall with his hands, he held onto the ball, fell and broke his left clavicle. He knew it the instant it happened.

Disappointment builds character. When I saw the x-ray, showing that his collarbone wasn't just broken, it was displaced—badly, I knew we were in for challenging few weeks. The bones weren't even touching. My heart sank. He worked so hard this summer, giving up sleep and downtime to work on his passion. In one instant, it was snapped away.

Yesterday was our first visit to the orthopedic and confirmation that it will be eight weeks before he can return. That gives him the possibility of maybe playing in the last three games of the season, provided it heals well.

The good news is that he's young, still growing and will not need surgery. The collarbone heals well with no real residual issues. It's his non-dominant side (not his throwing arm) so that's even better news.

But there was only one thing Ryan heard yesterday—No football for eight weeks.

He looked at me once the doctor left the room with tears in his eyes and said, "Mom, I can't play for eights weeks?"

It sucks. It sucks when you work so hard for something only to see it snatched away in an instant. The tackle was an accident and we had warned him and the neighbor kids many times to play touch, not tackle for just this reason.

"I'm such an idiot! I let the team down," Ryan said.

He was bummed big-time when we got home. Not even three junior bacon cheeseburgers could change his mood. But after a while, his buddy Jake came over and having his friend (and right tackle) hanging around cheered him up. Grandma stopped over on her way home from work. Then a few of the seniors stopped by with wings from BW3. The phone started ringing as news spread. I was amazed by the support, particularly from the senior parents, in letting us know that he would get through this—that we all would get through this.

Their advice was so good. Get him back up to practice, tell him to ask the coaches to give him a job to do. There's much to learn about football just from watching how the linemen move, seeing how decisions are made, watching how the older players handle situations and just being around his friends.

Today is a new day. Ryan is still devastated that he can't play for a while. But he woke this morning, asked for some help getting cleaned up and had his dad drive him up to practice.

Sure he's disappointed, but he's a competitor and this is about his team. And he's not going to miss out on helping and supporting his teammates no matter how badly he feels about himself.

Go Cavs!

Mikey is pulling out all his Cavs jerseys this week. He's got every color except for the old-style orange. Thank God tomorrow is the last day of school because I'd be hard-pressed to get this young fan into bed before the game is over.

Been listening to national media discussion of the finals. Either no one outside of Cleveland and San Antonio will be watching, or else people will be watching LeBron. Either way, I thought this was an interesting statement from NBA commissioner in today's NY Times. A refreshing change after listening to Sir Charles for the past two months.

"LeBron is beyond a highlight reel,” said Commissioner David Stern in acknowledging that there is a certain subtlety to James’s brilliance.

Rockets of the future

Over in this part of the county we may not get much play in the Plain Dealer sports pages, but you never know what the future may bring.

The Bay Middle School 8th grade boys basketball team is 9-1 this year, having only lost one game by two points to North Ridgeville. The girls won the conference last year and almost beat the boys in a scrimmage last spring (until the boys realized they had to play for real).

Maybe the Rockets of the future will make the PD Top 25. In the meantime, we're off this afternoon to a tough game at Rocky River Middle School, a big-time rivalry in the West Shore Conference. Ryan (#32) is a power forward.

UPDATE: The Rockets are now 10-1 after a fairly easy victory over the Pirates last night. We're off for the holiday and finish the season the first two weeks of January.