I'm going to miss my friend Ed Dimas
Jeremy Heath

Ed Dimas was one of the first friends I gained when I moved here in early August.

Dimas, who for several years did freelancephotography work for the Dispatch Record, stopped by the office during my first week on the job. He introduced himself, gave me his phone number and told me, "If you have any problems with anybody at all, let me know. I'll take care of it."

Ed was cool like that.

After that, Ed would either call me or stop by the office once a week. He usually wanted help in gaining a sideline credential for University of Mary Hardin-Baylor or Trinity University football games, as Ed kept track of former Badger players and often sacrificed his Saturdays to shoot photos of players such as UMHB's Kristen and Kirsten Leverett or Trinity's Chris Coleman.

Other times, he would just call to tell me he enjoyed the work I was doing and that my sports section looked good. No hidden agenda. No requests. Just being thoughtful.

Ed was cool like that. On Christmas Day, Ed left us. He was 56. He was my friend. I'm going to miss him. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like that. People thought Ed was cool like that.

*

How strange was the play on the sideline of Thursday night's Holiday Bowl?

The University of Texas was up 21-0 against Arizona State, and a fumble recovery appeared to give the Longhorns good field position and a chance to go up by more. But the replay showed UT head coach Mack Brown's stepson, Chris Jessee, took a step onto the field and might have made contact with the football before the recovery. Officials ruled it unsportsmanlike conduct and gave ASU the ball at the Texas 7. The Sun Devils scored on the next play to pull within 21-7.

Luckily for Jessee, the Longhorns dominated the fourth quarter and won 52-34. Had the Sun Devils rallied and taken the victory, Jessee probably would have been vilified by Texas fans.

Jessee's actions are little more than a punch line now. He'll go down in Texas lore as nothing more than the answer to a goofy trivia question.

Personally, I don't care who the guy is or what he was doing on the sidelines. He never should have been on the field of play.

If anything, I hope the play will force the NCAA to take a look at how officials and security personnel enforce the sidelines. Unless a timeout has been called, there should not be anyone other than players or officials on the field of play at any time. Many of these athletes have too much of their potential earning power tied up in their football futures to have someone get too excited, step on the field and cause them to injure themselves.

Besides, I didn't sit through a dozen terribly disturbing and uncomfortable Flomax commercials to watch ESPN scrutinize some numbskull.

I was tuned in to see how the Big 12 matches up against the Pac-10. While one game doesn't decide conference-versus-conference dominance, the Longhorns certainly represented Big 12 country well. Well, at least the players did.

*

District 25-4A football is looking pretty darn good after Lake Travis' 36-34 win against Dallas Highland Park in the Division II state championship game.

I'll bet Badger Field is packed when the Cavaliers roll in here next season (assuming Lake Travis will remain in Class 4A during the upcoming University Interscholastic League district-by-district re-alignment). Not only will local fans get to see how next year's Badgers fare against a defending state champion, it also will be the last chance many of those fans get to see Lake Travis quarterback Garrett Gilbert in person.

After that, they'll still have plenty of opportunities to watch him play on TV. Barring injury, this young man will take plenty of snaps on Saturdays -- and Sundays.

He's that good and then some.

Jeremy Heath is the Dispatch Record's sports editor. He can be reached via e-mail at jheath@lampasas.com.