So here it is, your first official player of the week for 2006.

So, there may be some comments made about a certain committee having some sort of favourable position towards a certain Coyote's Claw team.

First off, let the committee say that choices are made strictly based upon performance, and only in extreme cases due to favouritism. Please remember that the committee is composed of a group of professional writers who hold themselves to the highest standards of objectivity.

Now that we've quelled your fears, let's get back to the topic at hand.

After talking of not worrying about points when it comes to picking these things, the committee found it a little hard to ignore Ball's 30-point night in that well-documented last-second loss to a much-improved Junior, sorry, High Performance Junior Men's squad.

A player who can work with his back to the basket or comfortably catch and fire from outside, our guess is Ball was stroking it pretty well in his first game back after a Christmas break which is unkind to the body fat percentage ratio of most YKBA players over the age of 18.

Yes, we hear all you HEMPers crying foul at Johnny Pootoolik's 42 being overlooked. But let's remember he was playing with a short bench against a Northwestel team which was missing its two best players who cross half to play defense on a regular basis.

Ball was also sucking up the extra minutes gained from a lack of subs, but scored playing alongside gunners China Chan and the C-train. Way to share the glory, boys