HOLIDAY WISHES

In which two Evil Empires are united in cloying cuteness for all eternity:

Courtesy of my Comic Con buddy, James!

In all seriousness, in case you haven't heard, there is a merger afoot. Some shareholders have balked and launched legal missiles. Others no doubt are just waiting for their opportunity to vote it up or down . . . on New Year's Eve.

Perhaps we are nearing the dawn of a new era!

BULLARD TRIUMPHANT

On Friday, a 54-year quest ended for the Knights.

No, they didn't find the Holy Grail. But the Bullard High School football team did succeed in nailing down the Division I valley championship in football. And that is a very good thing not just for our school, but as some folk recognize, for Fresno Unified in general:

Athletes are generally above-average students, a fact that goes against the image of 'jocks' that many of us carry in our personal stereotype folder.

I've known some athletes who were not good students, and we have all heard or seen instances in which the rules are sometimes bent for the popular, the pretty and the precociously talented. But that doesn't actually describe most high school athletes, who are not necessarily more popular, pretty or pampered. Typically, in order to play, they have to perform---not just on the playing field, but in the classroom.

Athletes must adhere to a demanding schedule of practice, travel and competition in addition to all the other obligations of students. In general, it takes awhile for most students to be able to find the necessary balance to do that and maintain a decent GPA. A thletes who shine as freshmen are typically above-average in the life skills department out of necessity.

Anyway, I am proud to be associated with the team, its hard-working coaching staff, and the school. I hope that it will lead to our school once again attracting more players away from the border with Clovis and Central Unified, and inspire us to success not only on the field, or in the classroom, but in life. A kid who achieves the balance necessary to be a true student-athlete has done something you can't assess with a Scantron, but which is arguably more important for their future than a lot of the content in the state standards.