Editorial: Join the fun at the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament

This year's Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament starts at 9 a.m. today at the Show Me Center.

It's a wide-open and unpredictable field this year. Jackson, the returning champ, is the top seed, but lost quite a bit of talent off last year's squad. There is no guarantee the Indians will repeat.

The top of this year's bracket is Cape Girardeau County-heavy. Jackson, which has won four of the last 11 tournaments -- the most over that period of time -- is followed by Cape Girardeau Central and Notre Dame as the top three teams in the tournament, according to seeds voted on by coaches.

The Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament is a wonderful tradition, a family friendly event that offers great entertainment and something to do after the Christmas Day rush is over. Although not sponsored by the newspaper then, the Christmas Tournament began in 1945 when Flat River defeated College High.

As always, our sports journalists will be very busy covering the event. If you go to semoball.com/Christmas14 you will be able to find all sorts of content, from live blogs, to a bracket contest, photo galleries, stories, scoreboard and webcasts.

We'd also like to remind everyone to display good sportsmanship at the games. Please refrain from taunting players and referees. But please enjoy the action.

This year's tournament promises to be highly competitive and will feature some outstanding basketball talent. We hope to see you at the Show Me Center.