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Tuesday NBA— Warriors at Kings, 7 p.m., CSN Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl — So. Miss vs. Louisville, 5 p.m., ESPN NCAA Hoops — UNLVvs. Kansas State, 6 p.m., ESPN2 Women’s Hoops — Florida State vs. Connecticut, 4 p.m., ESPN2 NHL— Devils at Capitals, 4:30 p.m., VERSUS Exhibition Tennis — Nadal vs Federer, 11:30 a.m., ESPN2 Sports 1B Tuesday December 21, 2010 20 years later Spartans nab 2nd The Holiday Classic cele- brated its 20th anniversary this past weekend with the 21st playing of Red Bluff Union High School's annual basket- ball tournament. Wait, that sentence doesn't seem right... There were a few mistaken references to this year's Clas- sic being the 20th, which is an easy mistake to make since the tournament began in 1990 and now it's 2010. See, the math on this one Rich isn’t simple subtraction. Once someone counts out the years on their fingers and toes they'll eventually run out of digits and realize ordinal numbers can be tricky. It's fine, we all make mistakes. I made a bonehead of one in the text of the Clas- Greene sic preview when I referred to former Red Bluff Spartan and current Lake Oswego coach Mark Shoff as Mark Goff. Goffs and goofs aside, 20 years might not seem that long when compared to other traditions, but this is a pretty remarkable feat our little jewel of a basketball tournament to have accomplished. The Holiday Classic has now safely reached the point where the student-athletes playing in it weren't even born when it started. There's certainly been a lot of change in the bas- ketball world since 1990. That was a year before a quintet of recruits showed up at the University of Michigan. Before the Fab Five, any player wearing black socks or shorts that fell below the knee would have been asked if their gym bag had been stolen. Back in 1990 people wondered if Michael Jordan was really that good, since he had never won an NBA title. His first would come a year later. Defiantly a lot has changed in basketball since the Classic started, both in aesthetics and the gener- al history of the game. But while things change, they always seem to stay relatively the same. Wait, that sentence doesn't seem right... Back in 1990 school officials weren't worried about students wearing Sierra Nevada Brewing Company sweatshirts. No, they were too busy trying to ban Simpsons t- shirts. Bartmania was sweeping the nation and the rebellious yellow-skinned boy's use of the words damn and hell were just a bit too much to take back then. Principals and teachers also hated his attitude that school and homework sucked. Back in 1990 rising deficits, mandatory over spending and a stale economy caused the sitting president to compromise with the opposite party's congressional leaders over the tax rate. This caused quite an uproar. Even his own base was upset after reading his lips. Predicting the future never makes you look good, but 20 years from now I'm going to go ahead and bet the youngest generation will still be upsetting their parents with their clothing choices and tax- payers will continue to grumble. The same future projections might even lead you to believe that 20 years from now a super talented basketball player without a title, let's call him LeBron in this scenario, might by then have eight titles and be shelling underwear alongside an actor with a history of legal troubles. There’s a good chance a few players who just got done competing at this year’s Classic, will be back 20 years from now — as coaches. And we might as well assume 20 years from now Jerry Brown will once again be running for some kind of elected office despite being 92. A few safer bets to make about what will be going on 20 years from now is that the local com- munity will still set aside a few hours of holiday shopping one weekend in December and venture out to watch one of the finest prep basketball tour- naments in the North State. After being told the tournament began in 1990, someone will err in calling the 41st Classic the 40th Classic. And of course a sports editor will Goff up the spelling of someone's name. ******************** One of the best Holiday Classic traditions is the school naming an All-Attitude team instead of an All-Tournament team. Making this team doesn’t require any basketball skills or even being a basketball player for that mat- ter. However everyone on the list makes the tourna- ment a special treat for sports fans and deserves recognition on this page. The 2010 Mickey Bitsko All-Attitude Team Red Bluff Boosters Club, Kaitlann Weber (Red Bluff girls), Dan King (Years of Red Bluff High photos), Jovon Cunningham (Enterprise boys), Megan Bowen (West Valley girls), Brittany Garrett (Corning girls), Cori Schatz (Red Bluff girls), Randy Gilzean (Pleasant Valley boys coach), Rachel Park (shot video of all games), Jordan Henry (Shasta girls), Zack Pierce (Red Bluff High maintenance), Megan Bielecki (Shasta girls), Ian Hill (Red Bluff boys), Josh Harvid (South Medford boys), Jasmine McKay (Paradise girls), Kevin Williams (Helix boys), Jack Anderson (Lake Oswego boys), Kevin Thibeault (South Medford boys), Richard Cherveny (announcer), Amanda Godwin (Enterprise girls), Emily Loogman (Etna girls), Ben Piper (Paradise boys), LaLa Forrest- Cawker (Central Valley girls), Theo Hill (Marshall boys) and Dylan Burington (Pleasant Valley boys). MCT photo Brett Favre is sacked during the second quarter of Monday’s game. Chicago 40 Minnesota 14 MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Brett Favre was bundled up in a heavy gray coat by the time Devin Hester sped through the snow with his record-setting return. Favre’s surprise start ended with another injury, perhaps putting him out for good, and the game ended with an NFC North title for the Chicago Bears. Hester set the NFL record with his 14th kick return touchdown, running back a punt 64 yards for a score shortly after halftime to help the Bears fly past the Minnesota Vikings 40- 14 on a frosty, hard-hit- ting Monday night. Jay Cutler threw three touchdown passes for the Bears (10-4), who last won this divi- sion during their 2006 Super Bowl season. Hester caught one of those scoring tosses and also took back the sec- ond-half kickoff 79 yards to set up a field goal a few minutes before his game-break- ing punt return made it 27-7. That was Hester’s 14th career return touchdown, kickoff or punt, breaking Brian Mitchell’s previous mark. Favre finished 5 for 7 for 63 yards, and the Vikings (5-9) fell apart in front of their proud alumni in town for the franchise’s 50th- anniversary celebration featuring all kinds of blasts from the past. With the Metrodome unusable because of a roof collapse, the game got moved to the Uni- versity of Minnesota. TCF Bank Stadium was about 80 percent full, with snowballs flying from the seats — some- times hitting players — and plenty of frolicking in the flakes. Former Vikings coach Bud Grant jogged around the field at half- time in a short-sleeve purple shirt, getting car- ried off by some of his former players after an inspired ceremony. Favre wasn’t even supposed to play. His sprained throwing shoulder hurt too much for him to practice this week, and his NFL- See BEARS, page 2B WRESTLING Healdsburg Tournament DN Staff Report The experience level might have been below recent Red Bluff teams, but the result was the same. For the fourth year in a row the Red Bluff Spartans took second place at the Healdsburg Duals Tournament. Veterans Kyle Case (145), Dillon Reid (171) and Bryce Eggert (189) all went 5-0 at the tournament to help lift a Red Bluff team that featured seven Spartans making their first trip to a dual meet tournament. Red Bluff’s lone loss came to even- tual champion Central (Fresno) 48-28 in the championship pool. The Spartans defeated Ikiah 57-24 to place second in the tournament. Red Bluff reached the champi- onship pool by going undefeated through their first three matches. The Spartans defeated Martinez 58- 21, came from behind to beat Mont- gomery (Santa Rosa) 47-30 and han- dled Washington (Fremont) 64-6. “Injuries, ineligibility and previous commitments forced us to put together one of the most inexperienced group of Courtesy photo from Bill Eggert The Red Bluff Spartans placed second at the Healdsburg Tournament over the weekend. athletes we have put on the mat in many years. Most of of them were wrestling up a weight from were they will eventually end up,” coach Dave Rottenberg said. “That being said our expectations did not change one bit. We wanted the most we could get out of what we had at the time.” The butterflies eventually faded for the newcomers and Red Bluff’s upper weights helped with the comeback against Montgomery after trailing 24-6 top start the dual. Kyle Crisel (125), Tyler Demerath (140), Josh O’Coy (215) and Jeff Skaggs (285) went 4-1 at the tourna- ment. Bears rout Vikings, Favre leaves injured Tehama Tracker BOYS HOOPS Georgia Razniak Tournament The Cardinals took third place at the Georgia Razniak Tournament in Colusa. Corning defeated host Colusa in the third place game 61-43 after jumping out to a 23-7 first quarter lead. Cameron Nye had 19 points in the win. The first quarter was quite different than in their loss the day before when the Cardinals were outscored 14-5 in the opening period and fell to Orland 60-49. Nye led Corning with 13 points in the defeat and Tyler McIntyre added 11. Nye’s best all-around game may have come in a 54-51 win over Durham in the tournament opener. The Corning senior had 18 points, 10 rebounds, six steals and seven assists. Ryan Holland added 14 and Anthony Monroe had 10. GIRLS HOOPS Providence Christian Christmas Classic The Lady Warriors lost to host Providence Christ- ian 59-49 in the title game at the Christmas Classic in Orland. Diana Van Ert was named to the All-Tourna- ment team and finished with 22 points and eight steals. Morgan Hampton- Glines, another All-Tour- nament selection, had 13 points and five steals. Maggie Keller added 12 points and eight rebounds in a game where leads switched back and forth.