I wrote about what the players would remember, what frozen moments, what epiphanies their memories wrote during these days they would never forget. The Doniphan Cardinals, who play ball just down the highway, also went to the finals in 1999, only to lose to West Point Central Catholic 59-48. Last year, Central Catholic completed its championship journey with a smothering defense that choked the life out of its opponents and Jeremy Wissing raining three-pointers from everywhere but the concession stand. I wrote about how I was getting used to all those gold medals being brought back to Central Nebraska. But there were other stories too.
Bad manners go well beyond high school games.
The elderly gentleman to my right and a row up Wednesday night would have fit in with either crowd. The state tournaments are filled with plenty of other stories too. Some are funny, from good-natured ribbing of the refs to signs aplenty designed to catch the television cameras in the finals. And the trend toward school consolidation has created a plethora of combined names, acronyms and new schools that floor the uninformed journalist like a double pick on the low post. This year's stories, like any other year, are up to the hoop gods, a break here or there and that 15-footer.