Getting Prepped

One of the best parts of this job is seeing kids you covered stay involved and get into coaching (and then them seeing a much fatter and grayer version of me). Had the opportunities recently to see or catch up with a lot of familiar faces from the past...

A lot of people outside the Mid-Suburban League were probably shocked to see Fremd win by 10 points at Schaumburg in boys basketball. But in recent years, the team that has given the Saxons as much trouble as anyone has been the Vikings. And it hasn't mattered if the game was at Schaumburg, which is a really tough place to win, or Fremd.

And if there were a "best team in the state with a 5-9 record" it would be Fremd. The Vikings started 0-7 but the schedule included Waukegan, Warren, Hoffman Estates, Conant, Jacobs and Prospect. They lost again to Hoffman and to Neuqua Valley at Elgin.

The economic troubles have affected everyone - especially those in our business. We've hardly been immune here with budget cuts, shrinking staffs, etc... but the news Thursday about Pioneer Press was shocking and sad.

After next Thursday, 12 Pioneer papers will go by the wayside. Most of them are in the Northwest suburban coverage area and could have an effect on a number of people I've known through the years. That means a number of schools and communities will lose a significant amount of high school coverage they've been used to for years.

After a typically busy and fun holiday hoops season and a little down time, it's time to get back at it...

Schaumburg's Cully Payne has become the basketball equivalent of Mariano Rivera, Bobby Jenks or Dennis Eckersley - at the end of the game he's the guy you want with the ball. And more important, he's the guy who wants the ball.
He might have a first half that is nothing awe-inspring, but the later and closer the game gets the better Payne seems to get. He was at it again in Tuesday night's Mid-Suburban League crossover against Prospect - making big shots or big passes down the stretch as the Saxons rebounded from their only loss to Warren in the title game at Pontiac.

While a few Christmas tournaments started Saturday - things really get rolling Monday and include starts at Elgin and Wheeling for the boys. Looking forward to hitting Wheeling on Monday and Tuesday (not just for the hospitality room, either). Will be interesting to see how St. Viator rebounds from a tough loss to cross-town rival Hersey on Saturday night against the host Wildcats on Monday afternoon. If the Lions win it sets up a really intriguing matchup against ESCC rival Notre Dame, which won both meetings last year handily. Another one that could be very interesting in the second round would be Stevenson trying to slow down North Chicago.

One of the first basketball games I covered for the Daily Herald about 16 years ago was a Prospect boys game, which had to be moved to Forest View because of a fire in the Prospect field house. A Prospect player was staggering, stumbling and fumbling a ball that finally squirted out of bounds toward the Prospect bench.
On that sideline, a tall and somewhat gruff looking guy jumped up and yelled "It's the ORANGE thing!!!"
That was Glen Elms, who as a reporter you came to appreciate not only for his knowledge of the game but his honesty about those who played it. He wasn't going to snowball you if his team wasn't good or sandbag if his team was good.

Games like the Prospect-Buffalo Grove boys game last night usually spark this debate - 13-9 at halftime and 21-17 after three - which would have been low-scoring football games this season. Prospect boys AD Tom Martindale joked it was more like last spring's MSL baseball...

Anyway, back to the shot clock, which surely people were thinking about while passing the time watching BG eat up chunks of time playing pass and catch. I'm not a proponent of it at the high school level. I still believe there are other ways to force a faster game without adding another administrative element to it that could be tougher than people realize.

If you're looking for some hoops Saturday night, why not do it with a trek down memory lane at Christian Liberty's Grace Gym, the old home of Arlington HS, as Buffalo Grove and Palatine play at 7:30 in the Bob Frisk Sleighbell Classic. It's a tribute to Bob's career and commitment to high school sports that is nearing the end of an incredible 50-year run.
Kudos to the Arlington grads Matt Shaughnessy and Kip North, who is now the boys AD at Buffalo Grove, for putting this idea in motion. Same to Christian Liberty AD Steve Rowland and the school for opening their doors for what promises to be a magic night at a place that for years was the centerpiece for HS basketball in the northwest burbs.

We end up doing a lot of tribute pieces in this business - particularly for coaches with long and distinguished careers as they retire.
But none was more meaningful than the farewell to Bob Frisk that is running Friday (Dec. 5), the same day he writes his final column as he finishes 50 phenomenal years at the Daily Herald.
Hopefully it gave a little insight into how much Bob cared about high school sports from the day he started here and how much he will continue to care about it for years to come. As Bob's longtime friend and Elk Grove softball coach Ken Grams put it about the Daily Herald: "That's what keeps high school sports alive. I'm convinced of it and Bob's the face of it all."

Well, here goes nothing - because of course these are strictly for fun and recreational purposes only...

Those who have seen my predictions through the years know they're frequently good for a few laughs and not much else. But we're here to entertain and make you chuckle a bit, so here goes with the Elite Eight that will emerge from Champaign holding title trophies this weekend.

CLASS 8A - Maine South vs. Hinsdale Central