WHAT'S CAUSING ALL THIS?

MITCH LUCAS Scattershooting on a Saturday...

 The Big Day: Remember on Steve Martin's movie "The Jerk," the scene where he shouts, "Oh, boy! The new phone books are here! The new phone books are here!"?

That's kind of the way I am about the NFLDraft. I'm probably the only person that actually tapes the draft, so I can go back and watch what I missed. I'm an NFLjunkie, I'm afraid, and yes, I know those guys make too much money - all pro athletes do. But all the deals and intrigue, so many futures on the line - it's just cool. It's fun to watch.

Plus, I always have to see what my team, the San Francisco 49ers, will do to completely mess up their football fortunes for the next five or six years, or so. At press time, as the draft was about to begin, the Houston Texans were selecting North Carolina State defensive end Mario Williams first, sending the whole top of the draft order into a Reggie Bush frenzy. I guess it's waaaaayy to much to hope for that my 49ers could trade up to second (from sixth) and select Bush, huh?

 Look out - it's horn-tooting time: By the way, I'm such a draft junkie that if you look back to last year, you'll find that I correctly picked the first two draftees by the Dallas Cowboys (Demarcus Ware and Marcus Spears).

This year, I'll go out on a limb and say that the Cowboys will either go offensive line with that No. 18 pick (USC's Winston Justice, if he's still there - don't count on it, though) or defensive back, say Tennessee's Jason Allen.

 Softball drama: I didn't get to go to the softball playoff game Friday night in Lufkin (at Hudson) between Kilgore and Montgomery. Sometimes we have to make difficult decisions - you do that in every line of

work, sooner or later - and my hands were just tied by a myriad of different things that kept me from going. Honestly, I was also afraid that I would drive down for the 8 p.m. start, it would get rained out or super-delayed, then I would have to get back to do our Sunday paper on Saturday a.m.

I know that's convoluted, but when you're a one-man sports staff, sometimes you have to make decisions you don't like. I wanted to be there, but there were just so many factors to take into account.

So I took a gamble. I gambled that Kasey Polk and her Kilgore Lady Bulldogs would go down to Lufkin and win the onegame playoff.

They did it, and in dramatic fashion, too - Montgomery had the bases loaded with no outs, and KHS forced a flyout, then turned a double play, to seal the win.

Wish I could have been there, girls. I plan on being there for Game 1 of the Kilgore-Little

Cypress-Mauriceville series, which is scheduled for Friday night at 6 p.m. at Lufkin High School. Again, congratulations, and we're all rooting for you to do well against LC-M, too.

 Diamond Dogs do it again: It's hard to imagine Kilgore High School's baseball team playing any better.

Last season, the Bulldogs wrapped up a district title, but ran into a buzzsaw in Woodville named Brenham.

This year, Kilgore looks like the buzzsaw. Coach Tim Harkrider's crew has lost just once since district play started - they're 21-5 overall, and finished

13-1 in district. They have a first-round bye, host Lindale Tuesday night in a playoff warm-up, and will face either Nederland or Dayton in the area playoffs soon.

Kilgore's lineup at the plate has been lights-out lately, and they definitely turned Henderson's lights out on Friday night.

 Track results: I heard some unofficial track results Friday from the Class 4A Region III Track & Field Championships at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville involving Kilgore High School, but as I said, they were unofficial, and I'm always hesitant to put anything in the paper without knowing an absolute.

Check Tuesday's paper - I hope to have complete results from the KHS track team in the sports section then.

 One more thing: I always give coach Mike Vallery and his football team their space each spring as they go through spring practice.

I was out there a little last week as they started, and I'll go back from time to time. I might even drop a report or two here and there. But I'll have a complete wrapup in late May when spring concludes.

Have a great week.