I was tasked with coming up with interesting facts about Benton head football coach Matt Tabor, one of the most visible coaches in Northwest Missouri. While I knew some fun stuff would come up, I didn't realize how much.

We included five items in Friday's edition but thought we would flush it out with some additional information here. Hope you enjoy this as much as I did asking people.

First I'll give you some more info on the items that made it to print.

-- Tabor and his twin brother Mike qualified for state tennis as a doubles team while at Benton. That transitioned to college where Matt played defensive back for Benedictine in addition to his tennis duties.

--Tabor said this short stint as a missionary helped lead him to his current profession of teaching and coaching. He spent time in the college ranks before becoming head coach at LeBlond, then assistant at Lafayette before returning to Benton this season.

-- I swear I remember hearing the story about the origin of Matt and twin brother Mike's nicknames a thousand times, but always tried to write it off as a tall tale, Paul Bunyan style. But everyone continued to confirm it this week which makes the story that much better.

But some say it really is a tall tale, and there's an alternate version of the naming process out there. You'd have to ask Poops or Dean to explain.

-- Tabor insists he's retired from singing at weddings, but not before comparing himself to Adam Sandler in "The Wedding Singer."

Now for the rest of the stories:

-- Longtime best friend Paul Woolard says Matt Tabor is the best at half-court and three-quarter-court basketball shots. Matt confirms that calling himself "The Best Basketball Player You've Never Seen."

-- Tabor earned all-state honors as a 5-foot-7 senior wide receiver for Benton, but that didn't mean he was the toughest Tabor in the household. According to Mike Tabor, they came home from practice one afternoon to find Don Jr., seven years their elder in full pads and a helmet. For the next hour-plus, Don Jr., took Matt into the backyard and used him as a tackling dummy, sending him flying into bushes and the garage.

Matt's savior that day? His mother, who came out to call them in for dinner and discovered the brutal exhibition.

-- Dean also reports that Matt eats a bag of microwave popcorn nearly every night, a tradition that started when he was about 8 years old.

-- Matt stepped on a nail as a child, and the injury became very infected, forcing him to undergo surgery. The procedure on his heel left him with a scar straight down the middle of the back part of his foot.

The result leaves his left heel resembling, um, one's hind end, if you know what I mean.

-- And finally, during his senior year Matt asked a sophomore at Benton named Maria on a date and invited her over to the Tabor household to watch a movie.

Mike joined them on their "date," slogging through "Son in Law" starring Pauly Shore. It must not have gone that well.

This past June, Mike and Maria married. Mike says it could've been because Maria tried to get her hands on Matt's popcorn that night.

You don't mess with Poops' popcorn.