Bandera.....

[BULLDOGFAN]

Well, as expected, this is going to be a long year. Bandera did not look good and has a lot of prblems to solve. Interceptions, fumbles, and penalties killed us. The skill positions are in sad shape with no consistency. Is definitely going to be a rebuilding year. One of the few returning lineman broke his leg. On and On...

I suppose we had it coming, but the laugh of the night, (other then seeing the Ya Ya's getting their primal dressings on for the midnight yell), was watching the Medina Valley kids coming out of the jungle screaming how they had beat the State Champions.

Sorry Buds buds but the Real State Champions beat ya last year. But enjoy it while you can.

[Bandera YaYa]

Yeah, they showed little respect, but go figure...we whipped them just as bad last year. I expected nothing less from them, to be honest.
That's OK. Hey, we didn' get to where we got last year by worrying about what others said about us, right? We do have alot to overcome this year, but I have faith that they will strive to do their best. Personally, "my" boys have gone on to college, so it's not the same for me!

Peace and YaYaa!!

[txrangers]

Your kids have graduated, but Bandera is still the returning state champions. I have to admit last years game was won not on offense, but by the Bandera Bulldog defense. Williamson had a great game plan against the Wing-T offense of MV.

On Friday night, Bandera looked lost and confused. It will take some time, but they will adjust to Grover's system. He has his work cut out for him this year.
One last comment, why are there no banners celebrating last years state championship team? Also, could you please do something with the facilities. Most 1-A programs have better stadiums and dressing rooms than Bandera.

You just won a state champoinship, reward the community and athletes by upgrading your facilities.

[Crow22]

Wait a second. You're saying the MV kids were disrespectful?? The MV kids did NOT act unsportsmanlike at all. As a matter of fact, YOU were the team with a kid being tossed out in the first quarter. Don't blame the MV kids for being excited with a win. Yes, Bandera lost a ton of kids but it doesn't take away from the MV kids who have worked their @ss off to become a competitive team. And I have to second txrangers. That is absolutely the most pitiful excuse for a football stadium that I've ever seen. I've been through Bandera 20 times at least since last year's state championship and I have YET to see ANYTHING that symbolizes it. I've seen ONE t-shirt saying "state champs". That's terrible. You guys who were on that team should be outraged. Does your town even CARE?? I'm sorry, but Bandera COULD be an AWESOME football town.......but its not.

[Bandera YaYa]

Well, would you like to give us a million dollars and we would be happy to update our facilities? With no money, no improvements I'm afraid. I like our stadium, but don't know about the locker rooms, sorry. I guess you were at the game. I thought your side of the field looked spirited!! I felt bad for Coach Grover, hope he isn't judged on the first game. I really think the boys are so intimidated by thinking they have to defend the championship, you know? Mind set is half of the struggle.
Anyways, time will tell. But I will continue to have faith, I know he is a good coach. Anyways, like I said, last year was it for me, my boys have moved on, but I'll continue to support the Bulldogs, but I don't think this year will be a repeat of last year...that fairtale had its grand ending!!

Good luck to your team....(glad they got rid of the pumpkin helmets....these are much classier! LOL)
Peace and YaYa!!

[txrangers]

AS for the Bandera fans my hats are off to them. After the game many fans congratulated the MV athletes and coaching staff on the big win.

How were the MV kids disrespectful? It has always been a big rivalry. And a win is a win.

[txrangers]

The last time that MV fielded the pumpkin helmets was in 1984 after their state championship run. Ya Ya that was only 20 something years ago.

[Crow22]

Well, we got rid of the orange helmets about 20 years ago but thanks anyway. I was told that Bandera had bought the racetrack and was supposed to build their stadium there. What happened? Seriously, the town should have banners, and shirts, and all kinds of crap saying "State Champions." Why do they not? I hate it for you guys. That was a special team and they should be celebrated.

[Bandera YaYa]

I think the MV kids did deserve to be excited...I don't have a problem with that at all!! But, yes, I did have some kids look directly at me and say some not too nice of things, no cussing or anything like that, just jeering and sneering. Yes I did. BUT, that didn't upset me at all....they were just excited and that happens..I expected some of that. I do not have bad feelings at all. Like I have said all weekend, ya'll won, you played well, you did it right. We did not....you know that! We do have a huge banner across Main St. that hangs most of the time..when it's not bumped off for some "cowboy" event or something less important! I agree with you 100% there. I think a monument should be erected! I think the whole town should be painted blue!! But there are too many people here with "cowboy" mentalities....ugh! For the tourists, you know? Double Ugh Ugh!!

Again, sorry about the stadium. But it's all we have for now. But I thought MV looked great!!

I had on my State Champ shirt, as did alot of us.
But I know what you mean.....the YaYa's were the No 1 fan base last year and our kids have graduated. Hopefully, another group will get the craziness started again for this team.

Now, about that donation..... :D

[BULLDOGFAN]

Well itis like this. Bandera is a ranching county with 70 percent of the land Ag-Exempt. Thirty percent of the people pay the bulk of the taxes for the schools. It is a sad situation. About 10 years ago Bandera tried to get a some bonds passed to build a new school and new athletic facilities. That was when the race track was bought which would have been an awesome easily accesable site. Unfortunately there was one very rich retired lawyer from Houston who had just moved to town and was pissed because he wanted the track as a Indian Casino. He financed amy naysayer that would fight against making the track the new shool.

Well thirteen years later and many defeated bond issues we still have nothing. The town is divided and we have sucky facilities. From what I hear there is new construction being done on a new field at the High School starting soon. Will be nicer but hellacios to get in and out of. our facilities suck and we know it, but for now it is all we have.

As to the banners, there was one up for some time on Main Street. I really don't know why, but Bandera has never really been flamboyant. You have to remember this team didn't have pep rallies and rode yellow school buses througout the playoffs last year. We won it, we earned it, and we moved on. It's just a simple school with good kids.

As to the Medina kids, I say enjoy it. It was fun, they won, and they can be jubilant...

[Bandera YaYa]

Oh yeah, you are wrong on that date about the pumpkin helmets...I have only been attending Bulldog games for the last 14 years, and see I did see pumpkin helments, in fact, I think i saw them in MV just 4-5 years ago!

[Crow22]

You might have seen the jr high teams wearing orange helmets but not the h.s. teams.

[Bandera YaYa]

Nope, it was the Varsity...My kids were in high school.....No?

[Crow22]

Nope.

[txrangers]

I have been at MV for 6 years and I talked to one of the oldtimers at lunch today and he said MV varsity has not worn the pumpkin helmets since 1984. I recently saw film of a certain coach back in 1989 and MV had Black helmets. Something to ponder.

Bandera has the potential to be the 3-AAA Smithson Valley of the area. But with subpar facilities and port-a-potties bandera will remain in the dark ages of the Old West.

Good Luck at your home game in the dome. Give Fred. Hell!

Isn't Ag exempt for county taxes only????????

[Bandera YaYa]

Well, I'll agree to disagree about the helments.
I didn't go any football games until the 90's, so I don't know how I saw them if they weren't there?
But maybe it was the JV...I just know I saw them.

Not having a grand stadium might be "pitiful" (thanks for your kind observation) but I'd rather our school be known for it's academic achievements. I never have been one to want to "keep up with the Jones". But I do agree it can be improved so as to be safer.

[Bandera YaYa]

I have something to say to Crowe. Don't sit where you are and assume that we do not love our State Champs. You have no idea what we did last year for them and because of them. You weren't at our banquet or our parade or our pep rally. You did not ride the ride with us to the Championship title. You were not with these boys during the summmer so you do not know how we treated them or you are not keeping up with them while they are away at college.....so please do not assume they should HATE the way they are being treated! Just go by your grand facilities and count yourself lucky.

[Chief Woodman]

Sounds like a bad situation for the community in the financing. You can't blame the 30% who are paying most of the taxes for not wanting to pay even more. Here is a longshot, but those with ag exemptions could give up the exemptions and pay the same in taxes as everyone else. I know they do not want to do that for economic reasons, but if that is what it takes, so be it. Other than that, sounds like both side are entrenched and the kids end up losing because of it. We sort of have the same division in Decatur. The percentages are reversed, but the mentalities are the same. Seems like everyone knows what the problem is, but no one wants to be the ones to pay for it.

[Bandera YaYa]

Hell would have to freeze over before anyone here would give up their exemptions!!!!! But thanks for understanding how it is!

[Crow22]

Listen Ya Ya....

I made the comment about your "pitiful" facilities ONLY after reading from YOUR POST about how our kids were beind disrespectful and that you "expected nothing else" when, in fact, OUR kids acted the way a team on the rise SHOULD act. None of them can be blamed for being excited that they beat Bandera after the drubbing you guys put on us last year. I would have NEVER said anything negative about Bandera had you not opened your mouth about something that wasn't true. Especially after your kids were the ones being tossed from the game.

Consider it settled.

[txrangers]

nOW I KNOW WHY wILLIAMSON TRULY RETIRED. AFTER READING THE LOCAL NEWSPAPER HE SAID THAT HE WOULD HAVE LIKED TO HAVE SEEN A FACILITY IMPROVEMENT. HOWEVER, THIS IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN AS LONG AS PEOPLE DO NOT REALIZE THAT ACADEMIC SUCCESS IS A DIRECT REFLECTION OF ATHLETIC SUCCESS. THERE IS A REASON WHY THE TOP KIDS ACADEMICALLY ARE ATHLETES YEAR AND YEAR OUT. DISCIPLINE AND SUCCESS GO A LONG WAY. WHAT THE BANDERA KIDS HAVE HAD TO OVERCOME (LACK OF QUALITY FACILITIES) IS A DIRECT REFLECTION ON WILLIAMSON AND HIS STAFF. BEST OF LUCK

OUT!

[BanderaQB2]

Hey YaYa/Rick....Just got done watching our highlight film from last year, gave me the chills and brought a tear or two to my eyes. What a run it really was. I keep having flashbacks and it makes me wanna do it all over again a thousand times. I use to get on here when I was a player and read past champions brag about being the best and I'd always roll my eyes and mumble it's in the past, shut up already, but since winning the state championship, I have a whole new outlook. I still wear my HS state ring to class every day. Nothing beats watching the glare from my ring blind students with Bellville and Marlin shirts. They have been giving me all kinds of glares, but I will continue to do it, b/c words can describe what a state championship feels like. I just wanted to thank our fans once again for making it such a great time for us, no matter what the jealous posters on here say, you guys were the best. As far as our facilities go, yeah I admit they need help, but changes are on the way. The road to state funded our athletic fund pretty nicely and Coach Grover will begin to upgrade our facilities, so the best is yet to come. As far as this year, sure we have growing pains, but our youngsters are going to be good again soon, so sit back and relax........

[txrangers]

NO ONE IS JEALOUS OF YOUR STATE CHAMPIONSHIP RUN, MAYBE ENVIOUS, BUT NOT JEALOUS. OUR HATS ARE OFF TO YA. IT WAS AN INCREDIBLE RUN. BUT, THINK ABOUT IT, WOULD'NT IT BE AWESOME IF THE OPPOSING TEAM DROVE INTO TOWN AND SAW POSTERS AND BANNERS AND BLUE AND WHITE ALL OVER TOWN COMMEMORATING THAT RUN TO STATE? TALK ABOUT INTIMIDATING!

[BULLDOGFAN]

Txranger, I guess you just kinda had to be there. The behind the scenes things that happened during the year were mindboggling. Bandera was so close to losing it all so many times it was unreal in hindsight how it all came to be. The depths that this team drug itself up from was incredible. This was not your typical State Champion.

We were not the normal powerhouse with the outrageous athletes that was destined for greatness , we didn't have the high tech facilities with state of the art conditioning or medical facilities, our coaching was primitive and hadn't changed in years, of the Senors on the team only a few had varsity experience.

It happened, it affected us, but we were just a couple of "Hicks" from a a little Cowboy town that had a Cinderella season. .

The best thing about that year was you players wearing that Bling Bling, and getting asked about it.

[Chief Woodman]

Top scholars are typically NOT athletes. More band folks are in the top 10% of most schools and historically performed better on the SAT than Athletes. There are of course isolated exceptions. Go to your school library and see the past yearbooks. Most of the top 2 grads are not athletes.

It is true in Decatur which is Exemplary Rated, is one of only 5 schools in the State to be listed as a "Mentor" program (1A through 5A)and a national Blue ribbon School. That is a list UNMATCHED by any other 3A school in the state to my knowledge.

[Bandera YaYa]

Crowe: I apologize for not saying what I wanted to say the right way. I never meant that ALL of the kids were disrespectful or Any of the fans. Just a few that spoke to me, while leaving the field, and these were students, not players. :)

txranger: You know Coach Willismson??????

To Whomever: Maybe we would not feel the way we do, if there had been ANY support for us during the playoffs and afterwards, you know?? But we won it all and all we heard was.."one hit wonder".."a fluke"..."bad call"...yeah, I wonder why we feel so defensive sometimes... :(
But life goes on....

QB2: Thanks for your kind words...no one will ever understand how it was for you and for us unless they were part of the ride! I happen to think it was a hell of a ride! Get 'em at Sam Houston!!

Peace and YaYa!!

<small>[ September 09, 2003, 06:59 PM: Message edited by: Bandera YaYa ]</small>

[Bulldogs35YaYa]

Excuse me Txranger, but you are way outa line...the bandera defense won the championship! My son was the runningback and they could not have been there without him or #2. Yes, we had a great defense but we had an awesome OF!!!!

[Bandera YaYa]

WEll, hello there YaYa....glad to see you decided to join us on here!! You tell them!!

[txrangers]

Offense wins Games!

DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS!

YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT BANDERA DOES NOT GET THE RECOGNITION THEY DESERVE FOR WINNING STATE. YOU BEAT AN EXCELLENT FOOTBALL TEAM IN RICE AND AN EVEN BETTER ONE IN MIDLAND GREENWOOD FOR THE STATE GAME.

AND YES SIR I KNOW MIKE, I HAVE HAD THE PRIVILEGE TO COACH AGAINST HIM FOR THE PAST 8 YEARS. HE RAN A GREAT PROGRAM AND I AM THRILLED THAT HE WENT OUT ON TOP!!!!!!!!!

WHAT IS AMAZING ABOUT THAT RUN TO STATE IS THAT YOU HAD TO STOP LLANO ON THE GOAL LINE TO MAKE IT TO THE PLAYOFFS.

CONGRATS!

<small>[ September 10, 2003, 02:32 PM: Message edited by: txrangers ]</small>

[txrangers]

LOOK AT THE TOP TEN PERCENT OF MOST SCHOOLS IN TEXAS AND YOU WILL FIND THAT ATHLETES ARE THE TOP OF THEIR CLASSES. LOOK AT THE YEAR BOOK YOURSELF.

[Bandera YaYa]

...AND STOP THEM WE DID!! But so many of our games were won by a thread. Yes, every game we played was tough, tough, tough....so many amazing teams with so many talented players....like we have all said on here...each and every win was a wonderful surprise...we never took anyone for granted and yes, we barely made it to the playoffs....but that just made winning the State title, all the more sweeter! I can't tell you how many times, after a win, that we just sat there in shock. So many. Sometimes it felt like we, in the stands, had turf under our nails! I'm sure it's great to be a powerhouse, with the whole world saying you're a shoe in, always on the top of the polls....but where we came from was OK with us. If we could win the State Championship, then every team out there should have hope....sometimes, the good do end up first!

Peace and YaYa!

[Bandera YaYa]

(Pssst! Bulldog35YaYa is a woman....one of the YaYa's ...don't want to insult her....just letting you know!! :D )

[txrangers]

THANKS, FOR THE HEADS UP MY APOLOGIES!

GOOD LUCK AGAINST FRED. FRIDAY.

[Bandera YaYa]

...see how we can all live in peace on here....thanks for the kind words...but I'm afraid it might be messy....I'm from Kerrville and Fbg was our biggest rival...back in the old days....so there is no love loss by me....BUT
(what a weird coincidence) Bandera and Fbg played the Friday after Sept 11, 2001..a very, very emotional time to say the least, and I wish everyone could have been there, we were in our blue uniforms and Fbg was in their red, and before the game both teams met on the field, stood side by side, a wave of red, white and blue, in a sea of tears, to show support for those who had lost so much that day...and now we will be playing again, on the exact date(we play Thrus,not Fri)... :( ...gives me chills.....

<small>[ September 10, 2003, 12:31 PM: Message edited by: Bandera YaYa ]</small>

[therealbulldogs]

Chief Woodman:
Top scholars are typically NOT athletes. More band folks are in the top 10% of most schools and historically performed better on the SAT than Athletes. There are of course isolated exceptions. Go to your school library and see the past yearbooks. Most of the top 2 grads are not athletes.

It is true in Decatur which is Exemplary Rated, is one of only 5 schools in the State to be listed as a "Mentor" program (1A through 5A)and a national Blue ribbon School. That is a list UNMATCHED by any other 3A school in the state to my knowledge.I graduated in '02 from Bandera and both our valedictorian and salutorian were athletes. When I graduated Bandera had been a mentor school for the past 5 years and the night of my graduation we were recognized as a blue ribbon school. Now if they still are, I don't know.