Like many sports memories, my most vivid recollections of the Christmas Tournament are from my childhood.

Long before I could drive a car, I would join friends at Houck Field House to watch basketball. Before the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams, we had our own front row seats to all-day action. We'd get there early and stay late. Was there a better basketball atmosphere than the one at Houck?

Contained inside the tournament programs were .99 cent coupons for Big Macs from McDonalds. It was lunch, dinner and a late-night snack.

My junior year in high school, I went from fan to participant. Standing 5-10 and weighing every bit of 150 pounds with my uniform and shoes on, I occasionally jumped center for the Chaffee Red Devils. We were an intimidating bunch.

All those years of getting up early to watch basketball paid off. Paired with Cape Central, we opened the tournament in 1982. No, we were not the number-one seed.

The gym was cold and the crowd sparse, but the people who paid to get there early got their money's worth. I'd be lying if I said I remembered the final score, but I do recall it was a close game.

Perhaps it was an early warning sign for the Tigers. Cape Central didn't win the tournament that year. Charleston did.

A few things have changed since I attended my first Christmas Tournament.

The games are no longer at Houck. The Southeast Missourian is no longer an afternoon newspaper. And a thing called the Internet has changed our lives.

This will be the 62nd annual tournament and the first one featuring coverage from semoball.com. The web site, which combines coverage from the sports pages in Cape, Sikeston, Poplar Bluff, Dexter and Kennett, launched in September.

But our goal at semoball.com is to do more than just replicate what you get from your favorite daily paper. We'll be on hand with pictures, video highlights and interviews with coaches.

Read the Southeast Missourian every morning for in-depth game recaps and quotes. Log on to semoball.com for updates throughout the day. We'll be giving our opinions. We look forward to hearing yours.

Here's to great games, huge crowds, and interesting online conversations at semoball.com. Like the Christmas Tournament itself, we hope it's the start of a great holiday tradition.