Today's Sports

Conifer girls basketball head coach Jon Marston knows that you need to play good defense to win at any level and he has preached that to his team.

The Lobos certainly showed they were listening on Jan. 8 as they improved to 11-0 on the season by beating bitter rival Evergreen 54-43 on the Cougars’ home court.

“That’s our main focus, defense, especially man-to-man,” Marston said. “I told the girls before the game, it comes down to defense. Who plays the best defense is whose going to win the game, and that’s any game.”

Last Sunday, Dec. 20, was the annual Christmas Bird Count. We couldn’t have asked for better weather. It was clear, sunny, warm (34 degrees when we started), and it warmed more as the day progressed.

There was no wind at ground level, which made it seem even warmer, but the two lenticular clouds in the north told us there were very high winds aloft. I expected the weather to change, but except for a thin overcast in the late afternoon, it remained much the same all day.

It’s kind of fitting that the “Get Back” was the top song the last time Evergreen made the playoffs in football.

For the record, it was November of 2004, rapper Ludacris was top of the charts and the Cougars had extended their season by one week before getting pasted 47-2 by Niwot.

Getting back to the playoffs in 2010 might have gotten a little easier thanks to a reshuffled leauge, know for the next two years as the Class 3A Metro South League.

Looking out the window, I still see snow on the ground, and we will have snow for at least three more months. However, this past Monday, Dec. 20, was the changing point, and yesterday was the beginning of the change, the winter solstice, or the first day of winter.

That’s the day my husband, Bill, used to call the best day of the year because it meant that from that day forward every day became a bit longer, and this meant spring was on its way. The best time of the year.