Dolphin Tale

Dolphin Tale

A touching story for the whole family, this film is centered around an injured dolphin and a boy. Due to the dolphin's tale being trapped in a crab trap, the boy found it beached and made sure it was rescued. With a strong friendship with the boy and a prosthetic tail to replace the amputated tail, the dolphin, Winter, is able to touch more than one life in this moving story.

A recent 2011 film, "Dolphin Tale" is a film for the whole family. It includes some blood when the dolphin is trapped, but otherwise the film is clean and appropriate for everyone to see. There is no crude language, and young boys and girls can easily relate to the boy and girl who help Winter recover from losing it's tail. This film is based off a true story. Including that reason, I also love this film because of the lessons of friendship it teaches all of us. Good and strong friendships can help each of us overcome hard challenges. There is great character development and a bit of comedy also...watch out for the pelican ;). This film is rated PG for some mild thematic elements.

I would give this film a 5-star rating!

The imdb.com summary for this film is:

A story centered on the friendship between a boy and a dolphin whose tail was lost in a crab trap.

BYU Basketball Goes 3-3 in Conf. Games Part 2

The last two weeks has consisted of a 3-3 record for the BYU men's and women's basketball teams. This is the second post covering their conference games.

Men's Team (currently 15-7, Conf: 5-4)
The men's team had a 1-2 record for these last two weeks. Their first game of the three was at Pacific. A game where the team dominated, Haws, Collinsworth, Fischer, and Halford were all playmakers. Collinsworth got his fourth triple-double...which is the NCAA record in a season. With Halford starting the game off with a three-pointer, BYU maintained the lead during the whole game and never even let Pacific tie the score. The second game was a tough loss at Saint Mary's (currently the #2-ranked team in the conference). One thing that Saint Mary's did that hurt BYU was rebounding. Saint Mary's was much better at it, and it's something that BYU needs to find a way to improve on. BYU had some good runs in scoring with Haws, Collinsworth, and Fischer heavily contributing to them, but in the end they weren't able to steal the lead and lost by five. BYU has now only lost by a total 29 points in their six losses (an average of 4.8 points per loss). Their last game ended in a loss at San Diego. They did a decent job try to stay up with San Diego, and the lead switched a few times, but in the end BYU wasn't able to pull ahead and get the win. The head coach, Rose, brought up that the team needs to work on defense.

Hopefully they can improve on defense and offensive rebounding well enough so that they can have a long streak of wins in the coming weeks. The hope is that they can pull off an 8-game win streak leading up to the Gonzaga game in Washington at the end of their regular season. Anson Winder started again in the game against San Diego after an injury. And now Nate Austin, who was supposed to come back soon after a hamstring injury, re-injured his hamstring during practice this last week and will now be down for longer.

Women's Team (currently 15-5, Conf: 7-2)
The women's team also had a 2-1 record for these last two weeks. Their first game was versus Pacific in Provo. Eaton and Bailey contributed a combination of 63 points to the win. The head coach, Judkins, mentioned that it is hard "to guard both of them at the same time." Eaton had a career-high with 32 points, and Bailey with 31 points tied her career high. With ten minutes left in the game, BYU was leading by 32 points. After that all healthy players got some good playing time. The second game was a rough loss versus Saint Mary's. In the first half of the game, BYU performed well and finished it ahead 31-24. Then in the second half, as the coach, Judkins, said, BYU didn't do so well defensively and didn't make the shots they needed to. The first half had three ties and eight lead changes. In the first half, Saint Mary's had 11 turnovers compared to BYU's three. The last game was a win versus San Diego in Provo. The coach said that again they were strong defensively in the first half but then slacked during the second. Xoijan Harry helped in keeping BYU in the game during the second half. She ended the game with 5 field goals (1 three-pointer) and 4-4 on free throws.

One thing that they can improve on is staying strong defensively during the second half...carry over that strong defensive showing they have in the first. If they do so, they will be able to win games more comfortably.

Top 2 Players (TPlay)
Men's Team
@ Pacific on Thursday, January 15, 2015 (Won 93-80)  
[TPlay: Tyler Haws (26 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals); Kyle Collinsworth (17 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists, 1 block, 3 steals); Honorable Mention: Chase Fischer (18 points, 5-9 on three-pointers, 2 rebounds, 1 assist)]

@ Saint Mary's on Saturday, January 17, 2015 (Lost 77-82)
[TPlay: Tyler Haws (28 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals); Chase Fischer (19 points, 5 three-pointers, 5 rebounds, 2 assists)]

@ San Diego on Saturday, January 24, 2015 (Lost 74-77)
[TPlay: Tyler Haws (20 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 10-11 on free throws); Skyler Halford (12 points, 4-7 on total field goals, 2 three-pointers, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals); Honorable Mention: Kyle Collinsworth (13 points, 9 rebounds (8 defensive), 3 assists)]

Women's Team
vs. Pacific on Thursday, January 15, 2015 (Won 89-72)
[TPlay: Lexi Eaton (32 points, 5-6 on three-pointers, 11-18 on field goals, 5 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 blocks, 2 steals); Morgan Bailey (31 points, 60.0% on field goals, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks)]

vs. Saint Mary's on Saturday, January 17, 2015 (Lost 51-61)
[TPlay: Morgan Bailey (17 points, 3-5 on three-pointers, 10 rebounds (8 defensive), 2 assists); Lexi Eaton (17 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 1 steal); Honorable Mention: Alohi Robins-Hardy (5 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 blocks, 1 steal)]

vs. San Diego on Saturday, January 24, 2015 (Won 54-50)
[TPlay: Lexi Eaton (16 points, 6-9 on free throws, 6 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 assist); Xojian Harry (15 points, 5-7 on field goals, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block); Honorable Mention: Morgan Bailey (13 points, 8 defensive rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal)]

BYU BBall Teams Go 9-3 With Conf. Openers

I'm doing the BYU basketball posts differently now due to it taking longer than desired to do it the other way. I won't have the lists of stats from the games. I will just have at the end summaries of the scores and who I think the top 2 players for each game are in my opinion.

During the past three weeks, both men's and women's BYU basketball teams combined for an 9-3 record in their first 12 conference games.

Men's Team
The men's team had a record of 3-2 with losses to Gonzaga and Pepperdine. Two of their wins...Santa Clara and San Francisco...were huge wins. The Santa Clara game showcased skills of many players as no one player went over twenty points. Many players contributed from 1 to 4 points to as high as 14. The San Francisco game showcased a whoppin' 15 three-pointers. Chase Fischer, who broke a record in three-pointers in a single game earlier in the season, shot the most during this game with 6 of 9 made. The Cougars scored 99 points that game with Haws, Fischer, Collinsworth, Winder, and Toolson all contributing in a big way points-wise. Plus, Collinsworth had his 3rd triple-double...1 more will tie with the most in a season in the NCAA. The third win was against Portland where Haws, Fischer, Collinsworth, Winder, and Halford all contributed a lot to a 97-point game for BYU. The last win...tonight's game...was against Loyola Marymount. BYU had 13 three-pointers with Chase Fischer tallying up 5 of them.

The two losses came to a tough and very talented 1-loss #6-ranked Gonzaga team and a winning-record non-ranked team, Pepperdine. In the Gonzaga game, BYU had a tough time making there shots with a very talented team defending them, but two players, Haws and Winder were able to help keep them in the game with 9 and 7 free throw points, respectively. And Halford helped with 3 three-pointers out of 4 attempts. Kyle Collinsworth also had a triple-double in that game (his second one of the season). The Pepperdine game was tough. Pepperdine gained a good lead in the first half, and BYU couldn't ever fully recover. They kept it close but couldn't pull out the win. One highlight from the game though is that with Tyler Haws' 26 points, he is now #3 on BYU's all-time scoring list. Pepperdine made great plays and were able to steal the win. BYU lost to Gonzaga by 7 and Pepperdine by 6. As of now BYU has lost by 24 total combined points in all 5 losses this season.

Women's Team
The women's team finished these first three weeks of conference play with a record of 5-1 with their only loss coming against a Gonzaga team which at the time had the same record as BYU (8-4). It was a tough loss for BYU where Gonzaga was a defensive powerhouse when it needed to be in keeping BYU, who worked hard, from pulling the win. BYU lost 62-78.

Their other 5 wins brought on redemption after the loss to Gonzaga. There were some close games and others that were not so close. The Portland win was basically decided on who made the most free throws (BYU). The Santa Clara win was by 29 points (almost 30). BYU dominated in field goal percentage (BYU: 54.5%; Santa Clara: 26.0%) and also had more free throws than Santa Clara. The San Francisco win was also a close one where free throws made made the difference. For that game the lead changed 8 times and the score was tied 6 times. BYU beat Loyola Marymount due to dominating again in free throws (which seems to be common in their close wins). Finally with Pepperdine, BYU pulled out the win with nine three-pointers compared to Pepperdine's 2. Plus BYU had 23 free throws compared to Pepperdine's 10. The top players during these games were Lexi Eaton, Morgan Bailey, Kylie Maeda, Ashley Garfield, and Makenzi Morrison. Morrison during the Pepperdine game set a new record with 7 makes of 7 attempts on three-pointers.

Top 2 Players (TPlay)
Men's Team
vs. Gonzaga on Saturday, December 27, 2014 (Lost 80-87)
[TPlay: Tyler Haws (17 points, 100% on free throws, 4 defensive rebounds); Kyle Collinsworth (13 points, 10 rebounds (8 defensive), 10 assists, 1 steal)]

vs. Portland on Monday, December 29, 2014 (Won 97-88)
[TPlay: Tyler Haws (24 points, 5 rebounds (4 defensive), 6 assists, 2 steals); Kyle Collinsworth (21 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks)]

@ Santa Clara on Thursday, January 1, 2015 (Won 81-46)
[TPlay: Tyler Haws (14 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal); Kyle Collinsworth (8 points, 15 rebounds (11 defensive), 6 assists, 3 steals)]

@ San Francisco on Saturday, January 3, 2015 (Won 99-68)
[TPlay: Chase Fischer (20 points, 6 three-pointers, 2 assists, 1 steal); Tyler Haws (22 points, 3 three-pointers, 7 rebounds, 1 steal); Honorable Mention: Kyle Collinsworth (12 points, 12 defensive rebounds, 10 assists, 1 steal)]

vs. Pepperdine on Thursday, January 8, 2015 (Lost 61-67)
[TPlay: Tyler Haws (26 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 steal); Anson Winder (16 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals)]

vs. Loyola Marymount on Saturday, January 10, 2015 (Won 85-72)
[TPlay: Tyler Haws (26 points, 7 of 7 on free throws, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal); Chase Fischer (19 points, 5 three-pointers, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block, 1 steal); Honorable Mention: Kyle Collinsworth (13 points, 10 rebounds, 8 asists, 4 steals)]

Women's Team
@ Gonzaga on Saturday, December 27, 2014 (Lost 62-78)
[TPlay: Morgan Bailey (13 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block); Ashley Garfield (9 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists)]

@ Portland on Monday, December 29, 2014 (Won 83-79)
[TPlay: Morgan Bailey (31 points, 11 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal); Lexi Eaton (16 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists)]

vs. Santa Clara on Thursday, January 1, 2015 (Won 84-55)
[TPlay: Lexi Eaton (22 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block): Morgan Bailey (8 points, 14 rebounds (12 defensive), 7 assists, 1 block, 1 steal)]

vs. San Francisco on Saturday, January 3, 2015 (Won 65-62)
[TPlay: Morgan Bailey (26 points, 12 rebounds); Lexi Eaton (18 points, 3 three-pointers, 3 assists)

@ Loyola Marymount on Thursday, January 8, 2015 (Won 71-63)
[TPlay: Morgan Bailey (22 points, 14 defensive rebounds, 3 assists); Lexi Eaton (20 points, 3 three-pointers, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 3 steals)]

@ Pepperdine on Saturday, January 10, 2015 (Won 84-78)
[TPlay: Lexi Eaton (29 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 14 free throws); Makenzi Morrison (25 points, 7-7 on three-pointers, 3 assists, 1 block, 3 steals, 88.9% on total field goals)]