High School

It’s been a week since Edinburg Football Player, Emmanuel Duron, put a blindsight hit on a referee after ejecting him from the game. However, the punishments of this incident are far from over. The school district itself decided to remove their team from the playoffs this year, which many viewed as extreme but the school later released that the UIL would have removed them anyways.

They were correct in this statement, and on Monday morning punishment from the UIL came during an executive meeting in Austin. Emmanuel Duron has been suspended from UIL activities for the remainder of his senior year (20-21), the head football coach has been placed on probation for the 2021-2022 season, and the Rio Grande Valley athletic department has also been placed on a two-year probation for the hit.

Is this too far? The punishment is given to the ISD to make a point that behavior of this kind will not be tolerated by the UIL. Being the first time an event like this has happened to this extreme, the UIL would like to make it the only time this happens. However, there is a psychological threshold for punishment, a thin line, where it goes from reprimanding behavior to fostering a hateful relationship. I believe the UIL crossed the line when they suspended the Rio Grande Valley Athletic Department for two years. In my personal opinion, I believe that there are behavioral issues within the football culture at Edinburg and they should be given time to sort those out, but what did the Volleyball team do? Tennis? Cheerleaders? This decision doesn’t sit right with me.

College

What started as a great season for SMU, has taken a turn for the worst. After cancelling what was to be their final regular season game against Houston on December 5^th due to contact tracing, they will also not be playing in a bowl game.

Last week the announcement came that the Mustangs would take on UTSA in the Frisco Bowl, SMU will have to withdrawal their participation in the bowl game due to COVID 19. This means that SMU will end the season with a respectable 7-3 record, and UTSA will instead play in the First Responder Bowl.

NFL

The Ravens had a nail-biting 47-42 win over Cleveland last night. They won the game without the defense ever stepping foot on the field, which was especially impressive! (sarcasm) What was more impressive was the fact that Raven’s Quarterback, Lamar Jackson, went out with “cramps” (we’ll get to that in a minute) and came back to the field with in the final two minutes to throw a 44-yard bomb of a touchdown pass. Unfortunately, the defense was nowhere to be found, and Baker Mayfield himself led the Browns to another touchdown. The Ravens had a 55-yard field goal and safety to seal the deal.

While the offensive “blowout” (this will be funny in a minute) was especially impressive, fans and nonfans are asking for verification on Lamar Jackson’s “cramps”. Why does this matter? Well, truthfully it doesn’t, but who doesn’t love a good Tuesday morning Troll!

The meme’s got so out of pocket that the quarterback himself decided to take to twitter to set the record straight.

Either way, he took care of business on and off the field last night which is what’s important.