WHAT'S CAUSING ALL THIS?

A FUN NIGHT — Kilgore High School lost to Pine Tree Tuesday night in the playoffs, but there was plenty of excitement surrounding a program that is on the rise, sports editor Mitch Lucas writes. Above: the KHS bench cheers on the team. Right: Lesta Eaton serves. Below: the 2008 Lady Bulldogs. Very, very rarely is it good to be "happy just to be there."

I can guarantee you that, as of this morning, Sen. John McCain was not "happy just to be" the Republican nominee in the presidential campaign. The Dallas Cowboys, who haven't won a playoff game since January, 1997, were not "happy just to be there" last year when they lost their first playoff game in the second round to the New York Giants.

None of the teams that make the NBA Finals and lose go home having played a month of playoff games, and just happy to have been there.

But offhand, I can think of a few occasions when it would be true.

— When you get

home from the hospital

after a lengthy stay, or get back home after a long road trip, you're happy to be there.

LUCAS — If you're the next-to-last person standing in a spelling bee, you're happy to be there.

— If you haven't made the playoffs in 15 years, you're probably happy to be there.

Uncharacteristically of me, let me sound a little bit liberal here and say that I think it was OK for the Kilgore High School volleyball program to be happy to get into the playoffs this year.

People that are scoffing at me right now need to realize how far this program has traveled just in the length of time that I've been here since 2002. I can remember times along the way, and it's been a few years now, when the girls celebrated after getting their first win of the season in about midseason. I can remember Pine Tree — last night's playoff opponent, ironically — showing up to play Kilgore in varsity, when the two were district rivals, and being finished with the entire match in about 30 minutes.

And the days of Kilgore going winless in district play haven't been that long ago.

But this year, things were different. Last night, when I walked into the gym, I thought I'd stepped into a place where there was another pair of teams playing. Kilgore had, by far, more fans in the gym than Pine Tree, and they were loud. Granted, many of them were students, but the main thing was they were there to back the volleyball team.

Photos by Lester Murray And in the first game, Pine Tree fans looked genuinely concerned when their team came out sluggish in game one. When Kilgore was on the cusp of winning, it was as loud in that gymnasium as I've ever heard it in seven years. Coach Lacy Thompson was having to shout during time-outs in that game, just for the girls to hear her.

It was nice to hear.

Yes, Pine Tree rallied and won game one, seemingly realizing they were in a fight and had better shore up. The Lady Pirates won the next two, as well, and finished off Kilgore. But not so long ago, Kilgore-Pine Tree volleyball face-offs were a mere formality. The Lady Pirates could only realistically lose by not playing. Things have changed. Thompson has done an excellent job in her short time here, and got great effort from a group of seniors that just seemed to always have more effort to give. This year, there were a lot of goals accomplished. And that probably raises the bar for the 2009 season.

But for everyone who has laughed or made fun of Kilgore's volleyball program for the last several years, give the program credit now, not just for good coaching, but for hard work and smartly-utilized talent.

Congratulations, Lady Bulldogs, and keep working hard — it's paying off.