04/25/24
February 08, 2007
Hoops of Nazareth: The only thing keeping one small Texas town alive is its girls basketball team. The Swiftettes finished their season Tuesday night with a 25-4 record, 8-0 in district. They'll begin their quest for their 18th state title when the area playoffs begin Feb. 15.
posted by STUNNER to basketball at 02:48 PM - 8 comments
Great story. Thanks.
posted by hawkguy at 06:05 PM on February 08, 2007
Mmm. Beautiful writing.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 07:41 PM on February 08, 2007
The author's depiction of Nazareth is true of many of the small communities throughout the Panhandle of Texas, and is spot on. Harder working, more God fearing, more closely knit people you would be hard pressed to meet, although I'm sure that that is the case in much of what is left of rural America. We could all take a lesson from them.
posted by mjkredliner at 03:42 PM on February 09, 2007
That was a solid story, and it really tuggesd at the heartstrings. But, to be fair, there was one little piece of info that was not entirely accurate. Kirtland Central High School in Kirtland, New Mexico has 17 girls' basketball state titles as well, so Nazareth is only tied for the most titles. http://www.nmact.org/files/Girls_Basketball_Records.pdf I worked as a reporter at the local newspaper during one of the team's runs of consecutive state titles. Those girls are dominant and, just like in Nazareth, basketball is a way of life for a lot of the girls. When the Kirtland Lady Broncos win, they win a lot. During some of their title runs, the girls have won eight straight, four straight and three straight state titles during different spans. That's 15 of the 17 titles in spurts. BTW, the last two did also come back-to-back. When Kirtland plays rivals Shiprock, you can expect a sold-out gym. It was so crazy back when I was there that the gym would be packed to the rafters 3 and 4 hours before game time. People had to get there early just to get a seat. After a quick Google search, I see the Lady Broncos are 18-4 this season and angling for #18 just as the Swiftettes are doing. Good luck to both teams.
posted by Cameron Frye at 03:54 PM on February 09, 2007
Hey Cameron, I was lucky enough to see a couple of Gene Tasker coached Hobbs Eagle teams play in tournaments here in Midland, Texas, and was unfortunate enough to live in Albuquerque for 3 years in the late 90's, so I can attest to the fever that surrounds the Kirtland team. The New Mexico State Tournament is great, the biggest thing on TV for sure the weekend of the finals.
posted by mjkredliner at 04:20 PM on February 09, 2007
Duh, I meant Ralph Tasker.
posted by mjkredliner at 08:19 PM on February 09, 2007
This was a great story this is what sports is all about not the crybaby pro athletes!
posted by niufan99 at 05:02 AM on February 10, 2007
Great story, STUNNER.