On Wednesday, I was at the good ole bee hive of St. Anthony as the Yellow Jackets hosted the San Marcos Home School Panthers. Yes, folks, the San Marcos Home School Panthers…a home school with not only a basketball team, but also a mascot!!!
When I arrived, I shook hands with Alejandro Calderon, Javier Saenz, and head coach Kevin Smisek. I then proceeded to locate a seat next to assistant coach Lou Martinez. The JV game was still being played and the Varsity players were sitting behind us. One of the JV players hit a game winning 3 pointer at the buzzer to win the JV game!!! WOW!!!
Lou asked me if my camera had a sports mode? I was like “not sure…were my previous photos too blurry?” I kinda like em blurry cause the players are in constant motion.
I did eventually locate the sports mode setting on my camera phone and a few minutes later, I found the sports mode setting on the digital camera and changed it to that and also made sure that the flash was turned off.
On the lower right of the camera screen, it tells me how many photos I can take with each particular setting. I have a 2 GB SD card and photos are set for 12 million mega pixels…why does it say 14? Should be like 650!!! Hmm!! I took a photo….13. Let me look at the settings…everything looks OK. I took another photo…12.
Now, I am worried!! What is going on? Let me check the memory card…umm where is the memory card? Crap…it was very likely still in my memory card reader at home (it was; I checked when I got home that evening). Problem solved and a huge sigh of relief from me!!
So, I switched to the camera phone which has 16 GB internal memory and a 16 GB external SD card…basically, I could take a lot of photos!!! But, I didn’t. It wasn’t because I was using the back-up camera, it was the fact that I really wanted to watch the game and not get engulfed in photo mania.
After this little mini ordeal, I got some pre-game audio with Kevin Smisek even though he was running around doing everything. I told him if you need help, let me know. Well, he wanted me to announce the pre-game introductions and I was like, “NO NO NO.”
I hate hearing my own voice!!! I didn’t tell him that I have a rare voice condition called Abductor Spasmodic Dysphonia…it means my vocal cords have involuntary muscle spasms which I have no control of. It is treatable but not curable with speech therapy which I did for a year when I was diagnosed in 2006 and also Botox injections which I have gotten 13 since 2006. You may not notice it in my voice, but when I hear it, I definitely can (with certain words and letters).
For the first half, I saw directly across from the St. Anthony bench and I got recognized by a St. Anthony fan!!! Yep, that was the highlight of the night for me!!! She saw me at the Judson game and thought I was part of the Judson crew. I said, “NO, but I do know a lot of the Judson peeps.” I didn’t tell her that I am the stat man for Judson Football on the Texas Sports Radio Network and have been since 2003). I did give her my business card.
For the second half, I sat at the end of the St. Anthony bench and I was patiently waiting for Coach Smisek to say, “Lieberman, go in for Isiah.” Not really folks…I don’t have any high school eligibility remaining! Normally, where I was sitting would be reserved for the cheerleaders, but they weren’t present. And, you know something, it was very quiet without them…small crowd also.
I enjoyed being close to the team and Coach Smisek as I got to hear the chatter during time-outs. I would love the opportunity to get some pre-game audio before a game, during halftime, and after a game of what Coach Smisek preaches to the team (and I am sure he would be OK with it). I just gotta ask!!!
At halftime, the Yellow Jackets led 32 to 22. Shots were falling, the defense looked solid, and everything looked like it was going according to the game plan.
Totally different story in the second half as San Marcos Home School outscored St. Anthony 45 to 26. The panthers were hitting 3’s, making easy layups, and getting to the free throw line and making them and unfortunately, the Yellow Jackets just couldn’t make buckets like they did in the first half.
The final score was St. Anthony 58 and San Marcos Home School 67.
Isiah Saenz led the Yellow Jackets with 16 points (with at least 4 three pointers made). Brandon Armstrong had 15 points, Johnatan Reyes had 11 points, Darren Meeks had 9 points (all on three pointers), Daniel Ledesma had 3 points, and Stephen Wallace and Jax Chavez each had 2 points.
You can catch me at the following St. Anthony games (my articles will appear a few days after):
Wednesday, January 22nd @ UIW (vs. Antonian)
Wednesday, January 29th @ Central Catholic
Saturday, February 8th @ UIW (vs. Central Catholic)
If you see me, please introduce yourself to me. I will be the one with the TSRN media pass and a camera around my neck taking lots of pictures of the Yellow Jackets.
STING EM JACKETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
