I have a secret.

I don’t consider it an earth-shattering secret. You may even find it not a big deal. Actually, you probably will feel that way—I understand.

Here it is: I grew up wanting to be a football kicker.

I wondered how a complete month’s separation of boys’ and girls’ basketball post-seasons would fly, but it works out nicely. Hats off to the IHSAA. Otherwise, in rare cases, some schools would be making schleps in two straight weeks to Indianapolis to watch their boys’ and girls’ teams play for state championship hardware.

Once again, the small brain inside this large skull of mine has so many thoughts floating around in a circle like a parade inside it that I just can’t lock into one.

So here comes as many as I can fit in today.

Last Monday night’s College Football Playoff (CFP) championship had 22 million viewers, not as low as the previous year’s 18.7 million viewers who witnessed Alabama’s convincing 52-24 win over Ohio State.

I was doing my homework last night for my next game broadcast when I heard the dogs at the north end of our neighborhood starting to bark.

The barking got louder and louder, and then our very own Zero started howling his alarm as he stared out our front window.

I yelled at him to stop, but he was serious about warning us all about…something.

I gave in and went to the window, and I realized what all the fuss was about—Santa was here.

I hope each of you are enjoying the Christmas and Kwanza seasons in whatever way it means for you to enjoy the spirit of the season. I want you to, while I think of it, add a handful of Christmas tunes I enjoy each year to your playlist. I’ll share them, and I promise to discuss sports, too.

Grace College is rolling out the red carpet Saturday for some of the best high school basketball teams in Indiana, and, this year, from north of the state line.