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By GARY STALLARD/Contributing writer Feb 21, 2020 I still remember the day they brought home my baby brother Jack. I remember because I was mad. I already had a brother. I wanted a puppy. As my baby brother, it became his appointed duty to follow me around. He was the classic tag-along: If I headed out the door, my parents made sure he went with me. I don’t think they had any idea just how much trouble he, our brother Randy and I could generate. From the time Jack was old enough to pick up a bat, he was playing baseball with my friends and me. Jack, Randy and I had already played a million-billion games of catch, and we’d knocked dings in the house with our batting practice. I knew the kid could play. When I picked him for my team in those pickup games, my older friends would snicker, thinking I only picked him because he was my brother. When it was Jack’s turn to hit, the other kids would move in, expecting him to bunt or hit a baby ball. Little brother don’t bunt. It was my turn to snicker when he’d smoke a line drive past their faces. I’m convinced facing older competition gave Jack an unfair advantage when he started Little League, which he dominated. He’d been playing against older guys for years. What chance did anyone his age have? Same with football. I’d pick Jack for my team, and the other kids thought he was a gimme. I still remember playing quarterback in one of our pickup games and tossing Jack a screen pass. A friend of mine — a pretty big kid — came after Jack, smiling condescendingly, expecting the little boy to go down easily. I’ll never forget Jack lowering his head and absolutely trucking the guy on his way to a long gain. Basketball? Jack never had much vertical leap, but when he was on my team, he didn’t need it. I’d kick a pass out to him, and he’d knock down his shot. Later, as he grew bigger, he learned to set picks to give me room to score. We were such a deadly two-on-two duo that years later (we were grown men then), we encountered a couple of much younger guys at a public basketball court. They challenged us to a game — I swear I could see them smirking — and my baby brother and I flat schooled them. Jack set one screen on a guy, and it’s still set more than 30 years later. As his older brother, I’d love to lie and say I was responsible in my duty to provide an example for my younger sibling. Nope. I’ll just say that on one regrettable (sort of) occasion, Jack had to serve as my designated driver after a day trip to the lake. Yes, we were playing hooky. I’d signed him out of school with a fake doctor’s letter. Jack was 12. Then we grew up (sort of) and life took us in different directions. I went off to the Marine Corps, and Jack entered college. He found his calling in journalism — the absolute perfect career for guys like us. We were full of #### for free for all those years. Now somebody was gonna pay us to be full of ####? Jack comes by his tale-telling honestly. Our old man could spin a yarn like nobody’s business. He’d tell us to sit down for another one of his war stories, and we’d reply we’d already heard it. “Not this version,” Dad would say. “I just made this one up.” Did Little Brother work his way up the ranks of sportswriters? Heck, no. Little Brother don’t bunt. He spent a short time as a reporter before taking on the sports editor job at The Lufkin Daily News. That’s a big danged jump, especially for a 21-year-old. For several years, he did most of the sports stuff himself. He’d go in early to lay out his pages for what he knew was on the day’s schedule, then he’d go out and cover the games himself. A few years into Jack’s new career, the Marine Corps gave me an option. I was tasked with taking over a recruiting station, and Lufkin was one of the options. I’d never heard of the place except for knowing my baby brother worked there. One phone call with Jack convinced me it was my turn to tag along behind my brother. It would take an entire novel of epic proportions to relate all our misadventures, especially when I ended up moving in with Jack. Instead, I’ll try to keep all this family-friendly. We enjoyed our bachelor life together, then Little Brother messed up. He met Rachel. My other brothers and I didn’t see it working out. Why would anyone as pretty and awesome as Rachel want to latch onto a sports writer? Had she not noticed the weird hours those guys work? But while we were gathered to watch a football game at my mom’s house, we got a big clue. A Cowboys’ playoff game and the score was tied at the half. At halftime, Rachel asked Jack if he would go for a walk. They left, and we felt sure he’d be back within minutes. It was a playoff game. The score was tied. Nobody leaves a tie game. We didn’t see them for the rest of the day. I looked at my other brothers, and we all nodded knowingly Stick a fork in Little Brother. He’s done. Not long afterward, Little Brother proposed. Did he profess his love in a small, intimate gesture? Heck, no. Little Brother don’t bunt. He dropped to a knee at the Astrodome during a high school football playoff game, and his proposal scrolled across the scoreboard: “Rachel, Will You Marry Me?” It’s been more than 30 years since Jack became a sports writer. He’s covered every single kind of sport imaginable, and he made sure girls’ sports received just as much coverage as the guys’ sports. His dedication to publicizing all of them would be admirable enough. He could have bunted his way along just doing the bare minimum. But then he screwed up. My little brother suffered the same issue about which anyone working with young people can testify. He got attached to the kids. He went way out of his way to try and make sure every kid received recognition. If little Bubba got a single in a high school game, Jack tried to find a way to write it into his stories. He once managed to sneak a local kid’s name into an Astros box score. Tomorrow, Little Brother is going to receive the 2020 Distinguished Service Award from the East Texas Coaches Association. He’s not just getting some cool certificates or other small gestures. No, sir. Little Brother don’t bunt. He’s going to be inducted into the association’s Hall of Honor. How about that? My little brother, a Hall of Famer. Shoot. I’ve known that for years. Gary Stallard is a regular contributor to the Opinion page of The Lufkin Daily News. His email address is [email protected].

She’s right - everyone else is wrong. Get her out of there. Goofy Left Wing Loon. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/sotomayor-issues-blistering-dissent-says-republican-appointed-justices-have-bias-toward-trump-administration

Every team in the district will be losing several senior contributors withe exception of Timpson. IMO the development of the younger kids through off season will be key for sure. Project all yall want to but most of these teams will be a work in progress up until district, Joaquin will have a group of sophmores that have excelled at every level in their journey. How well our lines develop will determine our overall success. Way too early to be getting fired up about whose right or wrong

I suppose they think that only Republicans can be described as Nazi's which is the furthest thing from the truth. It was a simple analogy on how Sanders rolled over the other nominees. I suppose they wanted him to call Bernie the modern day David even though he doesn't practice any religion. He is still Jewish by birth, and probably why George Soros hasn't donated to his campaign.

I can understand why they were so busy during the BHO years, because there was a lot of manure being spread around.

If you're gonna beat Carthage....you better do it in September. Seems to be the mantra.

Another one bites the dust. Coronavirus is a minor cold compared to arkanicide. https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/02/23/obama-dhs-whistleblower-found-dead-gunshot-wound-chest/ Oops didnt realize there was an existing thread on this topic. Mods feel free to delete.

So basically every college president should be fired when a sexual assault occurs on a college campus? No need to go on with this debate. There are zero facts stating that “he knew of the assaults and didn’t report them”. Again, public opinion at its best. I would hope my daughter would report it to me and I guarantee you nothing would have been able to go “unreported”. Good debate with different views of a bad situation.

I will send you a PM

Nutjobs trying to out nutjob each other for the rabid anti-Trump viewership ratings .... this stuff has people like Larry and Screamer licking their tv screens when these people are spewing their ridiculous nonsense ....

Sounds to me like Chrissy’s portfolio has done so well, he’s starting to like Trump...

Congrats to Coach Sitton. I played high school ball against him. He was a phenomenal athlete.

Even a cursory search will expose the anti-Trump bias of Brennan, Clapper, and Comey and will prove my point. Whether you want to know it, or ignore it, is your privilege. To be a Democrat today, one must adhere to the last two of Orwell’s edicts. Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength. The Dem Party depends on it.

Meh... it's overrated. Every morning it's nothing but a hassle for me:

Here's the Pine Tree Pirates 2020 Football Schedule... 8/27...@ Liberty-Eylau 9/4...@ Lindale 9/11...vs. Kilgore 9/18...BYE 9/25...@ Marshall * 10/2...vs. Nacogdoches* 10/9...vs. Jacksonville* 10/16...@ Texas High* 10/23...vs. Whitehouse* 10/30...@ Mt. Pleasant* 11/6...vs. Hallsville* *...Denotes 9-5A D-II District games. Also...the Liberty-Eylau game will be the "KYKX Game of the Week" in Texarkana on Thursday August 27,2020. Jacksonville is HC. I'll give my predictions sometime this Spring. R.J.

Don’t mind me, just checking the baseball threads to make sure nobody is lifting weights.

Coach Sitton is not related to anyone in Rusk. He is from East Texas. This is nothing more than Smoaky drama. I’ve witnessed first hand what the experts on Smoaky know about a situation with my son. Most people on here don’t know anything and are more than willing to make stuff up. Congrats to Coach Sitton and to Rusk ISD for hiring a coach of his ability and character.

I refuse to have too much sex!!!!! I cant stand the argument against the current playoff system. The pretenders go away very fast . With the amount of 4 seed vs 1 seed upsets you can not argue that it waters it down. Even arguing the 2-8 teams don't belong, gets proven wrong every season. I would rather have 5 1-9 teams get in vs even 1 9-1 team being left out!! Playoffs are fun for the communities and the schools whether they lose early or not!!!! Hell some of our teams can't the make playoffs with 4 teams going maybe we need to expand to 6!!!

I personally don't like trump and never will, if it were any other Republican I'd vote all day for them

He was the leader of the team. Multiple sexual assaults took place under his watch. He didn't report them. Not a good look. I'm not sure how you could defend that. Let's say you had a daughter that was one of the victims. I'm sure you would look at it from a different perspective.