the score

Through some fortuitous coincidences I was able to sit down with the directors of ESPN Film’s Benji, Coodie and Chike – creators of Creative Control and directors of Kanye West’s “Through the Wire” – as well as PR professional Jay Jay Nesheim of ESPN Films. Read More | Comment »

After whetting our appetite the past few weeks, ESPN finally delivered a documentary in their latest batch of 30 for 30’s that will go in the pantheon of great ESPN films such as June 17, 1994; The Two Escobars; and Once Brothers. Coodie and Chike's Benji. Read More | Comment »

In case you didn't know from the pre-SXSW traffic insanity on Red River, the UIL Boys High School Basketball Tournament, aka the State Championship series, is all over the Frank Erwin Center this week. As usual, the backstory is the story, namely the hard work and mutual support of one inner-city Houston team, the Yates Lions. Read More | Comment »

Brownsville father-and-son legislators Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. and Rep. Eddie Lucio III have filed bills that would bar the University Interscholastic League – the governing body for public school academic, athletic, and musical competitions in Texas – from holding "regional or statewide" competitions in the same location in consecutive years. If successful, that would be a huge blow to the Austin economy: Nearly all of the UIL's state championship competitions are held in the Austin area every year. (The UIL is a department of the University of Texas and headquartered here in Austin.) According to the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau, the events bring tens of thousands of people and tens of millions of dollars to town annually. Newsdesk/The Score has yet to speak to the Lucios, but presumably their bills are meant to help other parts of the state get a piece of that pie. The identical bills – House Bill 68 and Senate Bill 101 – do contain provisions that would allow consecutive hosting if suitable alternate locations for the events cannot be found. More on this in next week's print edition. Read More | 2 Comments »

Thorndale is one win away from claiming Central Texas' first boys' basketball state championship since 1965. Led by Austin Falke's 20 points, the Bulldogs routed New Deal 63-39 in their state semifinal this morning. Thorndale advances to play Martin's Mill, which bounced Clyde-Eula 34-25, in the Class A Division I final 8:30am Saturday at the Erwin Center. The next area team to take the court is Connally, which draws 2005 and 2006 4A champion (and heavy favorite) Dallas South Oak Cliff in a 4A semifinal 8:30pm tonight. Go Cougars! Read More | Comment »

Congratulations to Rockwall, Fort Worth Dunbar, Canyon, Poth, Nazareth, and Lindsay, your 2007 UIL girl's basketball state champions. This weekend it's the boys' turn, as their state tournament gets underway at the crack of dawn tomorrow with the Martin's Mill-Clyde Eula Class A Division I semifinal, 8:30am at the Erwin Center. Local teams in action this weekend are Class A Division I rep Thorndale squaring off against Panhandlers New Deal at 10am tomorrow, Connally vs. defending 4A state champs Dallas South Oak Cliff at 8:30pm tomorrow, and 2A's Jarrell drawing Shallowater 8:30am Friday. Single-game tickets are $12 a pop, and all-tournament passes are available for $90 (lower level) and $80 (upper level). Tickets available from the Texas Box Office. The complete schedule follows. Read More | Comment »

Austin's thriftier sports fans know two of the best bargains all year are the annual UIL high school basketball tournaments at the Erwin Center. Next weekend belongs to the boys, but the girls' tilt got under way early this morning and concludes Saturday night. Right now class 3A's Texarkana's Liberty-Eylau and Crockett are squaring off East Texas style. Action continues with Canyon and Llano, joining 4A's Marble Falls as the only Central Texas squads in the tourney, at 3:30pm and a 4A double bill of Dickinson-Frisco (go Gators!) and Fort Worth Dunbar-Marble Falls at 7 and 8:30pm. 5A, where one game between an all-undefeated Cy-Fair-Rockwall final, 2A, and Class A's Division II crank it up tomorrow starting with Poth-Hughes Springs at 8:30am. Tickets are $12 for two-game double dips [sessions], available at 477-6060 and www.texasboxoffice.com. For the full schedule ... Read More | Comment »

The Bowie high school Bulldogs mowed down the visiting Round Rock Dragons 59-42 Saturday night at the Convention Center as a prelude to the Toros NBDL home opener. Jeremy Green from Bowie had a Tracy McGrady-esque game – hitting from outside, penetrating, impressively blocking shots; he did it all. I'd give you his line but I don't have a box score and I'm going by the PA announcer as far as names go. So, maybe his name is spelled Greene. It really doesn't matter. He's an exceptional player.

Bowie confidently moved the ball and hit their shots while the Dragons never found their game and eventually reverted to the three-pointer – unsuccessfully. Other players of note: Bowie's big man Patrick Moore and the Dragons John Henson and No. 52 Dax something or other.

[Update: Green scored 17 for the Bulldogs whose offense was more well-rounded than the Dragons with Henson scoring a game-high 24 for Round Rock and Dax Kill contributing 4.] Read More | Comment »