Some of you might have noticed the addition of "fan polls" to the right of the page here on TigerBlog. Well, at least to this point, a few of you have.
We decided to add this feature for several reasons. First of all, I personally love voting in fan polls on the Internet myself. No need to wait until November to exercise your right to vote. It's a great method of interaction and creates opportunities for discussion, which is vital in sports and among sports fans.
Also, it can give you an idea of just how many people read your site, or your blog, in this case. Each poll we've produced over the last month or so has had an increasing number of votes. Now, that could mean the same person is voting a bunch of times. In that case, I thank the two or three people out there in cyberspace who regularly visit TigerBlog!
But getting serious now... the latest poll was about the greatest sports movies of all time. The choices posted were ones that I could think of at the moment. And the winner is...
Hoosiers. Great sports movie focusing on, of course, basketball. I've seen it at least 50 times and never, ever get tired of watching it. Rumor has it that Jimmy Chitwood was recruited to play at then-East Texas Baptist College but he declined because we pumped too much air in the basketball down here in Texas...
Little disappointed that "Rocky" didn't get more love. Personally, I put it in one of my top 10 movies of all time. Again, it's one of those movies I just can't put down. Now, there's not a referee or boxing official in the world that would allow a fighter to continue that was as pulverized as Rock against Apollo, but that bit of make-believe aside, Rocky is just a feel-good story that has something for everybody -- blood, gore and violence, not to mention sports, for the guys, and a love story for the gals.
Maybe some of you didn't vote for Rocky because of what I call "Rocky fatigue." 25 sequels will do that to you I guess.
"Remember the Titans" got some love figuratively, meaning it got a vote. As did "Major League" and "Field of Dreams." Can't believe no one stepped up with at least one vote for "Kicking and Screaming," the Will Ferrell classic on the pitch.
And "The Longest Yard" probably needed some clarification -- I should have stressed that it was the original, with Burt Reynolds as Paul Cruwe. Yep, that probably would have made a difference.
The biggest mystery coming out of the poll? The one vote for "Other." Now I have to guess what that "other" is. "Raging Bull?" "Semi-Pro?" "Caddyshack?" "Kingpin?"
Watch for more polls in the future and don't hesitate to vote... many times if needed. Make your vote count!!!
DW
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Website Launch
If you're reading this post in TigerBlog, you've most likely discovered that we've launched a new ETBU website.
A great deal of my time over the last 1 1/2 months or so has been designing the new athletic pages on the website. We wanted to make the new site as informative as possible while also keeping it somewhat easy to navigate. A problem with our old site was that it had become almost impossible to navigate and locate information in a timely manner. We hope the new site, at least our athletics pages from my perspective, might be a little easier.
There's nothing drastically different from the old site to the new, but I can tell you it is much easier to work with and navigate. Hopefully as you will see over the coming weeks that it is also much more colorful and will have more photos/features. TigerBlog is a main feature on every athletics page, of course, and I'll hopefully be adding more as time and manpower allows.
Let us know what you like about the new site, and maybe some suggestions for features and other ideas to include. If I can make it happen and think it would be a quality addition, we'll certainly consider it.
A big thanks goes out to ETBU webmaster Mr. Brandon Diffey, who has been working on the new site longer than any of us -- months and months and months of work went into the launch of the new site and Brandon was behind it all with some help from student workers.
I am continuing work on adding the links to various sections, which can be tedious and time-consuming, so please be patient Tiger fans. We hope to have everything linked up and ready to go full-bore by the time the Tigers and Lady Tigers come back to campus in the fall.
Go Tigers...
DW
A great deal of my time over the last 1 1/2 months or so has been designing the new athletic pages on the website. We wanted to make the new site as informative as possible while also keeping it somewhat easy to navigate. A problem with our old site was that it had become almost impossible to navigate and locate information in a timely manner. We hope the new site, at least our athletics pages from my perspective, might be a little easier.
There's nothing drastically different from the old site to the new, but I can tell you it is much easier to work with and navigate. Hopefully as you will see over the coming weeks that it is also much more colorful and will have more photos/features. TigerBlog is a main feature on every athletics page, of course, and I'll hopefully be adding more as time and manpower allows.
Let us know what you like about the new site, and maybe some suggestions for features and other ideas to include. If I can make it happen and think it would be a quality addition, we'll certainly consider it.
A big thanks goes out to ETBU webmaster Mr. Brandon Diffey, who has been working on the new site longer than any of us -- months and months and months of work went into the launch of the new site and Brandon was behind it all with some help from student workers.
I am continuing work on adding the links to various sections, which can be tedious and time-consuming, so please be patient Tiger fans. We hope to have everything linked up and ready to go full-bore by the time the Tigers and Lady Tigers come back to campus in the fall.
Go Tigers...
DW
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The Big Tenn
Saw a familiar face down at the football fieldhouse this morning taking pictures of football camp participants.
Fans of Tiger football and a lot of opposing d-linemen will remember Littleton Dean. Littleton, a high school star in Tennessee, was originally signed out of high school as a linebacker by the University of Arkansas but ended up playing the final three years of his eligibility at ETBU from 2002-04. By the time he saw the field in a Tiger uniform he had been converted to a defensive lineman.
You don't see a lot of six-foot, maybe five-eleven, 200-pound defensive linemen in college football. But when Littleton arrived at ETBU, the Tigers' middle linebacker spot was manned of course by the program's all-time leading tackler Greg Washington. And Washington was necessarily ready to give that spot up, so Dean had nowhere to go as a standup linebacker.
But he was quick as a cat, and he was as aggressive a player as has ever come through this program. He also had a knack for finding the ballcarrier and doing it rather quickly, no matter where he was. So entering the 2003 season, coaches put Littleton in a defensive tackle position right next to big 300-pounder Thomas Young-Davis.
You'll remember what happened over the next 12 games. Dean earned All-America honors as the Tigers went 9-3 and advanced two rounds deep in the playoffs. He created havoc all over the field, and it was him bursting through the line to block Trinity's extra point in overtime that gave the Tigers a 42-41 win in the first round of the playoffs in Ornelas Stadium.
Littleton has gone on to play some Arena Football, with Laredo in the AF2 league. In talking to him this morning he had received an offer to try out with the arena team in Odessa, but was leaning toward hanging it up. He was just stopping by to work out in the newly-refurbished Tiger weight room, which several former Tigers have done over the last couple of years.
He still looked like he could jump a snap count too, and hit the quarterback before he ever turned around. That was Littleton Dean right there.
Fans of Tiger football and a lot of opposing d-linemen will remember Littleton Dean. Littleton, a high school star in Tennessee, was originally signed out of high school as a linebacker by the University of Arkansas but ended up playing the final three years of his eligibility at ETBU from 2002-04. By the time he saw the field in a Tiger uniform he had been converted to a defensive lineman.
You don't see a lot of six-foot, maybe five-eleven, 200-pound defensive linemen in college football. But when Littleton arrived at ETBU, the Tigers' middle linebacker spot was manned of course by the program's all-time leading tackler Greg Washington. And Washington was necessarily ready to give that spot up, so Dean had nowhere to go as a standup linebacker.
But he was quick as a cat, and he was as aggressive a player as has ever come through this program. He also had a knack for finding the ballcarrier and doing it rather quickly, no matter where he was. So entering the 2003 season, coaches put Littleton in a defensive tackle position right next to big 300-pounder Thomas Young-Davis.
You'll remember what happened over the next 12 games. Dean earned All-America honors as the Tigers went 9-3 and advanced two rounds deep in the playoffs. He created havoc all over the field, and it was him bursting through the line to block Trinity's extra point in overtime that gave the Tigers a 42-41 win in the first round of the playoffs in Ornelas Stadium.
Littleton has gone on to play some Arena Football, with Laredo in the AF2 league. In talking to him this morning he had received an offer to try out with the arena team in Odessa, but was leaning toward hanging it up. He was just stopping by to work out in the newly-refurbished Tiger weight room, which several former Tigers have done over the last couple of years.
He still looked like he could jump a snap count too, and hit the quarterback before he ever turned around. That was Littleton Dean right there.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Football in Croatia
Got the first report of the activities of ETBU football's nine-player delegation on a mission trip to Croatia. The group left last weekend for a two-week trip to Pozega, a bustling economic hub in the former war-torn region of the Balkans.
Head coach Mark Sartain, assistant coach David Banks and nine Tiger football players made the trip with the purpose of helping build/renovate/repair a church there in Pozega. Sartain called back to the States Wednesday to give an updated report of the group's progress, which has been nothing short of amazing by all accounts.
The group's main objective was the demolition/remodeling of an underground kitchen at the church. A concrete wall had to be destroyed and cleaned up and then the players helped pour new concrete into the structure.
The amazing part of the group's job was that organizers with Advancing Native Missions expected the job to last most of the two weeks Tiger football was there. Sartain and his bunch got the job done in three hours. That's good for the church of course. But now, after just three days into the trip, with another 1 1/2 weeks to go, the group is looking for new stuff to do that wasn't originally planned.
The ETBU group has been invited to a local graduation ceremony and to attend church this weekend, where the players will have the opportunity to discuss their lives and faith at youth meetings. They have been received by the younger population in Pozega as rock stars almost -- American football is still quite the mystery overseas in some parts. And by and large Croatians don't see many large, rocked-up individuals who spend their time banging heads and crashing into each other.
There is a group of neighborhood kids who have also taken to the Tigers. Every day a football game breaks out in the street, with Tigers and locals mingling together. Sartain said the local kids are also amazed with the brand of "ladder golf" the Tigers have brought with them to Croatia.
The main thing is that it appears the Tigers are getting a chance to share the Gospel, and that is the most important thing on this particular venture. Continue to pray for their safety -- Pozega has a very large, traditionalist Catholic population that is largely unfriendly and downright hostile toward Protestants of all kinds -- and that God can use them further to spread the Good News.
More on the trip will be coming once they return.
Head coach Mark Sartain, assistant coach David Banks and nine Tiger football players made the trip with the purpose of helping build/renovate/repair a church there in Pozega. Sartain called back to the States Wednesday to give an updated report of the group's progress, which has been nothing short of amazing by all accounts.
The group's main objective was the demolition/remodeling of an underground kitchen at the church. A concrete wall had to be destroyed and cleaned up and then the players helped pour new concrete into the structure.
The amazing part of the group's job was that organizers with Advancing Native Missions expected the job to last most of the two weeks Tiger football was there. Sartain and his bunch got the job done in three hours. That's good for the church of course. But now, after just three days into the trip, with another 1 1/2 weeks to go, the group is looking for new stuff to do that wasn't originally planned.
The ETBU group has been invited to a local graduation ceremony and to attend church this weekend, where the players will have the opportunity to discuss their lives and faith at youth meetings. They have been received by the younger population in Pozega as rock stars almost -- American football is still quite the mystery overseas in some parts. And by and large Croatians don't see many large, rocked-up individuals who spend their time banging heads and crashing into each other.
There is a group of neighborhood kids who have also taken to the Tigers. Every day a football game breaks out in the street, with Tigers and locals mingling together. Sartain said the local kids are also amazed with the brand of "ladder golf" the Tigers have brought with them to Croatia.
The main thing is that it appears the Tigers are getting a chance to share the Gospel, and that is the most important thing on this particular venture. Continue to pray for their safety -- Pozega has a very large, traditionalist Catholic population that is largely unfriendly and downright hostile toward Protestants of all kinds -- and that God can use them further to spread the Good News.
More on the trip will be coming once they return.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Ratcliff makes pro football team
ETBU has its first pro football player in... its all-time softball home run king?
Allison Ratcliff, who slugged 34 home runs with the Lady Tigers from 2003-06 and is still the leading home run hitter in the ASC, tried out for and was accepted to the East Texas Saberkats of the National Women's Football Association (NWFA). The team held an open tryout this past Saturday in Marshall and will conduct another tryout in a couple of weeks.
I talked with Allison this morning and she's excited of course, but still not quite sure of what she's getting herself into. The team's coaches told her Saturday they envision using the former ETBU slugger at defensive tackle and/or center. Al was impressive enough in her tryout that she was already named team captain as well, she said.
"I don't know what all that means really other than I will have a big 'C' on my jersey," Al said with a chuckle.
The Saberkats will begin playing in the NWFA next spring. Al is currently an assistant softball coach at Waskom High School near Marshall.
Best of luck to this former Lady Tiger who certainly made an impact in a lot of areas here at ETBU during her days as a student-athlete. Al was a dynamite softball player, particularly with a bat in her hands; she was a good student, being named to the ASC's All-Academic team; and she was very active in campus groups such as the BSM.
Now apparently she'll get the chance to blaze new trails on the football field.
Allison Ratcliff, who slugged 34 home runs with the Lady Tigers from 2003-06 and is still the leading home run hitter in the ASC, tried out for and was accepted to the East Texas Saberkats of the National Women's Football Association (NWFA). The team held an open tryout this past Saturday in Marshall and will conduct another tryout in a couple of weeks.
I talked with Allison this morning and she's excited of course, but still not quite sure of what she's getting herself into. The team's coaches told her Saturday they envision using the former ETBU slugger at defensive tackle and/or center. Al was impressive enough in her tryout that she was already named team captain as well, she said.
"I don't know what all that means really other than I will have a big 'C' on my jersey," Al said with a chuckle.
The Saberkats will begin playing in the NWFA next spring. Al is currently an assistant softball coach at Waskom High School near Marshall.
Best of luck to this former Lady Tiger who certainly made an impact in a lot of areas here at ETBU during her days as a student-athlete. Al was a dynamite softball player, particularly with a bat in her hands; she was a good student, being named to the ASC's All-Academic team; and she was very active in campus groups such as the BSM.
Now apparently she'll get the chance to blaze new trails on the football field.
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