Burney Claus

If Burney was Santa Clause, these are the gifts he would give out to some of the OC's finest on this glorious '09 Christmas holiday season:

 

To North Farmington's Kyle Vinales and Birmingham Seaholm's Richaud Pack, I would give a couple truckloads of Ice to cool down from their blazing hot starts with

To longtime Troy boys basketball head coach Gary Fralick, I would give another four freshman just like rising-phenom, James Young – Wow! This kid is a talent and a half!!!

To longtime Clarkston boys basketball head coach Dan Fife, I would give another few transfers like 6-5 junior Marcus Hardy (an emerging inside-outside threat when he gets more comfortable in the Wolves offensive system)

To Southfield's Carlton Brundidge, I would give just a few more dimes so he could go from putting up double-doubles every night to putting up triple-doubles every night

To Auburn Hills Avondale boys basketball head coach Tim Webb, I would deliver back  former hot-shooting star forward De Marquis Johnson to the Yellow Jackets roster so he could add the 6-5 junior who moved with his parents to Arizona to his already scary-good mix of perimeter players, including standout guards Ray Tillman, Tony Harris, and Tre Webb.

To Waterford Our Lady of The Lakes' junior girls hoop mogul Lauren Robak, I would give a healthy return to the hardwood in January – Your amazing antics on the court are greatly missed, just ask your dad…….lol

To head coach Mike Avery and his Southfield-Lathrup boys hoop squad, I would give an easier schedule to open the 2009/2010 season with and a win to kick-off the New Year

To Cameron Fields (West Bloomfield), Niko Palazeti (Novi Detroit Catholic Central), and Tyler Scarlett (Clarkston), I would give D1 football scholarship – all three of these underrated and underappreciated (at least in recruiting circles) football studs deserve a shot to play at the next level

To Birmingham Seaholm's Shawn Conway, I would give a deadly-accurate quarterback to play with for his senior season on the gridiron next fall – this kid is the genuine article on the football field, not to mention the basketball court, and is undervalued because most of his surrounding Maples teammates have trouble competing at anywhere near his level of play

To Seaholm football coach Chris Fahr, I would give a trip the post-season in 2010 – Fahr, his program, and their outstanding fan-base deserve it after two straight years of choppy waters on the field.