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.]

So the Fightin' Farmers from College Station - who, according to a front-page article in the Houston Chronicle, are now every bit as suburban, SAT-savvy, and middle class as their despised Teasip arch rivals, albeit still less apt to grow dreadlocks and major in things like Postmodern Film Theory - waltzed into DKR this morning and played Temple of Doom with Longhorn Nation, ripping out Bevo's heart, which still beat with hopes of at least taking the Big 12 South, and taking a juicy 12-7 bite. (So what if the Ags missed both extra points? That's why they call them "extra" points.) Barring a monumental fuckup by Oklahoma in today's Bedlam scrum, not at all out of the question considering the way Boone Pickens' boys manhandled Nebraska a few weeks back, the defending national champions will be spending their 2007 bowl season picking Cotton. As Adam Sandler once said, "Whoopity doo!" At least they'll be in the proper position: bent over. Adding insult to obviously-not-healed shoulder injury, Texas can't even count on possible revenge for LSU's 2000 Fair Park Filleting because of how the Tigers muddied the SEC waters with today's win over Arkansas. But today's game should lead to interesting offseason fishing trips for Colt McCoy and Burnet best buds Jordan Shipley and Stephen McGee. McCoy, suddenly evoking Major Applewhite's injury-prone side as well as his baby-faced sangfroid under pressure, should have plenty to talk about with UT's invisible wideout and A&M's big hero while he learns to cast his line with his left arm. Start with the bullshit offensive pass interference penalty that took a touchdown away from Limas Sweed just before halftime, continue with the Horns' run defense deciding that since it's Thanksgiving, they'd take a holiday from tackling (Rashad Bobino excepted), and finish up with supposed human tank Henry Melton's continuing inability to convert critical short-yardage situations. But, really, who cares? In case you hadn't noticed, and no one beyond the 281 area code probably has, one Division I-A Texas school has already sewn up a spot in its conference championship game, and in fact will host that game next Friday at Robertson Stadium. That's the University of Houston, y'all.. the reigning Major League Soccer champion Houston Dynamo gets most of the headlines these days, but they still play American football there too. And because poker players need a night off once in a while, ESPN2 is even televising this game, to decide the Conference USA champion, Friday, Dec. 1, 7pm. Go Coogs!

For news on the Astros and the signing of Carlos Lee ...

The Toros got their second season off to a rough start with a 101-77 loss to the Thunderbirds in Albuquerque that coach Dennis Johnson described as "way beyond a bad game" and "embarrassing." The Toros were felled by horrible free-throw shooting, turnover after turnover, and overall poor play. Even with their sloppiness, they managed to hang on through the third but couldn't keep up with the NBDL defending champions and were thoroughly blown out in the fourth.

The start of the game was delayed 45 minutes due to technical issues at the press table and in the fourth there was another delay due to a fluorescent light bulb falling from the ceiling and shattering in front of the Albuquerque press table. No one was hurt, luckily. The game finally came to its conclusion at 11:20pm central standard time with the Toros taking a 7am flight to Dallas and then catching a bus to Austin. They definitely need a raucous home crowd tonight to fight off the fatigue and the bad taste in their mouth from last night's cringeworthy defeat.

The Toros face the Fort Worth Flyers tonight at 7pm at the Austin Convention Center, 500 E. Cesar Chavez St. The game will also be broadcast on 1300 AM, the Zone. Included in the price of admission tonight is a little high school b-ball action with the Round Rock Dragons taking on Bowie High School previous to the Toros game. JV gets started at 3:30pm and varsity follows at 5. Three games for the price of one. Not bad.

Coming as I do from the mid-Atlantic, I’ve experienced no end of questions from people back home as to why exactly I would move to Texas. People from Maryland don’t move to Texas, they argue; they move into D.C. or up to New York or Philadelphia. Maybe, maybe, if opportunity calls, they go as far north as Boston, to suffer through endless winters and an overabundance of fleece vests. Or to California, the other coast, to try to make it in the pictures or join a cult. But anything in between the coasts? Why bother?

And especially Texas. Texas is unimaginable heat and cowboys and guns; cultural conservatives, the death penalty, and Tom DeLay. Texas is George W. Bush, for chrissakes. Why would you move there of all places? Why not just move to Tehran? Fair points all. Texas is hot as all hell, its summers lasting for what seems like endless centuries, its cockroaches the size of small dogs. There are too many guns in Texas, too many trucks that take up two spots in parking lots. And Texas is constantly passing legislation that makes it difficult to be gay or poor or Mexican. Moreover, Texans believe that the best way to keep high school kids from having unprotected sex is to teach them to get a good night’s sleep because you make better decisions when you’re well-rested. (I’ve always found the opposite to be true: If I didn’t get enough sleep the night before, chances are I won’t have the energy for sex, unprotected or not. Get me eight hours, though, and it’s all I think about.) And Texans revel in putting criminals to death on scanty evidence. Underage criminals. Mentally retarded criminals. Unjustly convicted criminals. (I’m getting depressed.) So why, the question remains, why Texas?

Because class 5A added another playoff team this year, bringing the grand total to four per district, last weekend's opening round was the busiest Texas high school football playoff weekend ever. Unfortunately, Austin schools didn't fare so well: AISD's Austin, McCallum, and LBJ racked up a big goose egg, going 0-for-3 (albeit in generally close games) against teams from San Antonio and the Conroe area. Only Westlake advanced, and barely, in a 42-40 squeaker over San Antonio Churchill. The Chaps earned a trip to the Alamodome Friday night to face San Antonio Jay, who thumped Corpus Christi Carroll 60-20. 8pm kick. And congratulations to the San Marcos Rattlers, who knocked out powerful Smithson Valley in Smithson Valley 35-34. For their troubles they get San Antonio Marshall noon Friday, also in the Alamodome. By the way, tickets for this year's 5A state championship games, which just happen to be in the Alamodome (nice that they're using it for something), are on sale now.

The Arizona Sundogs scored the rare team hat trick of picking up an even-strength, powerplay, and shorthanded goal all in the second period of their 4-2 victory over the Ice Bats Wednesday night. Austin's feeble powerplay squad was zero for eight including four opportunities to get back in the game with a PP goal in the third period. All Austin could muster after the first period was a meaningless score from Michael Tucciarone with 1:36 remaining in the game. Bats goalie Miguel Beaudry picked up the loss, surrendering four goals on 36 shots. After taking Turkey Day off, the Bats resume play Friday, Nov. 24 (8:35pm) and Saturday, Nov. 25 (8:05pm) on the road against the New Mexico Scorpions. Listen to Glen Norman's broadcast on 1530 AM. Their next home games are Friday, Dec. 1 vs. the Laredo Bucks and Saturday, Dec. 2 vs. the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees.

Sometimes I get the visions, but it's not what you think. No drugs are involved, and my visions require looking backward, not forward. Which brings us to an Aggie I once knew with a photographic memory. Nothing is more annoying than a sports fan who knows too much. There's no arguing with a guy who has the facts, and an Aggie with a bushel of facts is a dangerous thing.

So going into Friday's Aggie invasion of Memorial Stadium, here are my visions of facts:

– The Horns will win 52-14. This will not be a contest. Yes, the Texas secondary is more porous than a bag of chicken wings at a dog fight (whatever that means). But the Horns are pissed, and they aren't a team that should have lost to lowly Kansas State. That was merely one of those games meant to slap some sense into teams that rely too heavily on luck and inspiration. The Horns had neither against KSU.

On Nov. 21, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted (7-3) to make the majority of adult pot use and possession crimes the lowest priority for city police, reports the Marijuana Policy Project, which will make San Fran the largest city to, in essence, cease arresting pot users. On E-day, voters in three other Cali cities – Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and Santa Monica – passed similar “lowest priority” initiatives meaning that in total, six California cities (including Oakland and West Hollywood) with a combined population of roughly 1.4 million, have eliminated most criminal penalties associated with adult pot use.

Under San Fran’s new ordinance, policing adult pot crimes will now be considered the lowest priority – excluding pot-related offenses that occur in public, involve minors, a threat of violence, or driving under the influence, reports the MPP. In addition, the ordinance requires that letters be sent to both state and federal elected officials announcing the new ordinance and noting that the city is in favor of taxing and regulating marijuana use by adults.