I hope everyone out there in the School House Zach community and the high school sports world had a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season. I'm writing from Illinois, where there's snow on the ground everywhere, not just in the mountains (well, OK, there are no mountains).

I just wanted to drop a line to say that, as expected, things have been slow-going on the blog the last week or two because of the all-area crush and the holiday season. If you haven't gotten a chance, check out The Californian's All-Area teams that have been unveiled this week, culminating with the football team and Derek Carr's Player of the Year selection on Sunday. Love the choices? Hate em? Who was the biggest snub? Let your feelings be known below.

And basketball fans, we haven't forgotten. Myself and copy editor/designer/Kern County basketball guru Ron Stapp actually had a podcast ready last week to post before I left town, but some techinical problems have prevented that from happening. As soon as I can, I'll post it. It'll be a little outdated (it's from the middle of the Garces Holiday Hoops Festival, and Liberty ended a wonderful week by beating the Rams on Saturday for the championship), but there's some good information from Ron and from my observations on some of the better hoops teams in Kern, so I still think it's relevant.

Anyway, things will be back to normal by this weekend. Until then, enjoy the New Year.