All evening at Gregory Gym, it seemed like Texas was hanging on to the cliff by their fingernails. In game 4, the fingers finally got tired: At the NCAA regional on the UT campus at Gregory Gym, the Stanford Cardinal ended the Longhorns' season three games to one, by scores of 30-28, 34-32, 31-33, and 30-24.

Nonetheless, the Longhorns were impressive. Outside hitter Jen Christian was a rock – it seemed like every time she went up for a kill, that ball hit the floor, and 19 times it did. Ashley Engle was right behind her with 18 kills, and Destinee Hooker had 16. Good lord, Hooker is intimidating – she hits the ball with such power. If I ever faced her and saw her jumping up and aiming at me, I'd wet my pants.

Just a few years ago, the Horns didn't even make the playoffs. Last year they got knocked out in the second round. This year they made the Elite Eight. Nice turnaround, ladies – I'm already looking forward to next season.

While it will certainly be tough to get through the next three games, the Texas Longhorns tonight looked like a team that can at least dream of a volleyball national championship and not be kidding itself. In what should have been an even Sweet Sixteen matchup tonight at Gregory Gym between No. 10 Wisconsin and No. 7 Texas, the Longhorns were utterly dominant, settling the match in a quick three games: 30-19, 30-22, and 30-12.

While 2K7 sports an impressive soundtrack lorded over by Dan the Automator and the difficult-at-first yet eventually rewarding Shot Stick Pro gameplay style, the poor graphics and the difficult learning curve leave 2K7 with a little work to do (although they are definitely gaining some ground) before they surpass NBA Live as my basketball game of choice.

It's not even Christmas yet, and Santa Claus has already been good to San Marcos, giving the Rattlers victories over Smithson Valley, San Antonio Marshall, and Harlingen South after a 5-5 regular season to put them in the 5A Division II state quarterfinals. This week Saint Nick has been extra generous and given San Marcos a home game – more or less – against MacArthur from the north side of San Antonio. 7:30pm tonight in Bobcat Stadium, the Rattlers will try to do what 25-5A champ Austin High couldn't do in the first round. But the Brahmas will be ready: not only is MacArthur coming off an emotional 35-34 win over McAllen Memorial, but the school had "Hunt Down the Rattlers" day yesterday, with students encouraged to wear camouflage.

Tonight's other playoff game, a 3A quarterfinal down in San Antone, is a little further south, but Wimberley probably doesn't mind; the Alamodome might be their lucky field after last week's 55-33 win over one of Texas' top 3A teams all season, Cuero. Trailing at halftime, the Texans stormed back with one of the best halves of football in a long time to send the Gobblers back to the turkey patch. Hondo whipped Orange Grove last week, 40-3. UT student radio station KVRX 91.7 FM will give Decemberists and the Knife a rest and carry the game live.

Tomorrow Westlake gets the afternoon under way at noon with their 5A Division I quarterfinal against San Antonio Reagan at the Alamodome. As usual, the Chaps followed a sometimes shaky regular season with playoff poise, and rolled to a 45-19 win over Los Fresnos last week. However, they're facing a hostile crowd and a Rattler team that hung 72 points on Laredo United in their regional semifinal victory. Tune into 1530 AM KZNX to listen. The 4pm Alamodome nightcap is a rematch from 26-4A, as the Hays Rebels, who convinced their coaches to shave their heads (not that they had a whole lot of hair to begin with), try to avenge their 21-7 Oct. 27 loss to the eventual district champ Buffs.

Finally the WWE admits they are "sports entertainment," but both the sport and entertainment aspects of this game are sorely lacking. All the superstars are rendered well as they pummel a path to their signature finishing moves. The overly complicated controls are frustrating and the limited soundtrack and loading times made me want to put myself in a sleeper hold. All in all the game plays like one long advertisement for the WWE: all posture and no play.

Not that anyone ever accused the Houston suburbs of being an oasis of understanding, but for fuck's sake, c'mon:

"KATY, Texas - A plan to build a mosque in this Houston suburb has triggered a neighborhood dispute, with community members warning the place will become a terrorist hotbed and one man threatening to hold pig races on Fridays just to offend the Muslims."

Yup, because there's no target more high value than Katy, Texas.

And you thought arresting pot smokers – or, closer to home, using confidential informants of questionable credibility as the sole evidence to convict dozens of people for minor crack possession (as in Tulia or in Edna, Texas) – in the name of the (never-ending) War on Drugs was bad? Well, you ain’t seen nothing yet: According to a report in London’s Guardian, fed-paid narco informant Guillermo Ramirez – a.k.a. Lalo – was given more than $220,000 by agents from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (among other agencies) to infiltrate a Mexican drug cartel in Juarez. Worse, they actually listened in while CI Lalo participated in numerous cartel-ordered murders.

To top it all off, when details of the scandal finally made it up to Washington, D.C. – through Western District of Texas U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, and on to then Attorney General John Ashcroft, and DEA head Karen Tandy – the official reaction was merely a threat to fire a colleague, El Paso DEA Special Agent-in-Charge Sandy Gonzalez, if he refused to quit talking about the details of the feds’ deadly relationship with Lalo. Read and be disgusted.

After getting off to a shaky start the Bats have netted five straight and look for number six this Friday in Laredo versus the Bucks. Laredo is atop the Bats' Southwest Division and the entire Southern Conference but with Austin's run of five consecutive victories they are a mere four points behind the Bucks making Friday's road game an important early-season matchup. You can listen to all road games on ESPN 1530AM. Austin returns home Saturday at 7:30pm to face the Corpus Christi Rayz who are tied with the Bats with 20 points. Saturday's game will also benefit the APD's Blue Santa Program and there will also be a postgame jersey auction to benefit Ice Bats Children's Charities.

Austin's star right winger John McNabb is tied for 10th in the CHL with 22 points and is tied for fifth in the league with 12 goals. Newcomer John Ronan is off to a great start with six points in six games. Miguel Beaudry was named the CHL Goalie of the Week and had his first shutout of the season. His record for the season stands at 5-3-4 with a 3.02 GAA.

After weeks on end of paint-drying bureaucratic tedium and yawn-inducing dispatches from The Zoning Zone so boring Jeff Jack himself wouldn't touch them if they involved a drive-thru porn and liquor emporium opening in the base of a 600-foot point tower on West Lynn Street, could next week's City Council meeting – the last of the year – finally provide any modicum of intrigue or excitement? Looks that way.

Thank God (or Wal-Mart) – it's the Christmas Miracle!