Pete Carroll reaction

Everywhere you look, at least on most sports sites, one of the first things you see is the story about Pete Carroll and his departure from USC. It’s obvious that it is going to be a big deal, if no other reason than the high-profile he has created in his ten years there. But it seems to be a little overblown and not in the way I thought it would be.

Yes the story is about how Carroll is leaving USC for “greener pastures” in the NFL (ones he has grazed through in the past). But how about he just Calipari-ed USC? Is it just a coincidence that Carroll is leaving USC just as his program is probably going to be sanctioned? Or that the player in question (Joe McKnight) is turning pro? How about the kids he is leaving behind? The ones he recruited to play for the SCHOOL and promised that he would be there for their entire careers? Do they have a say? No. But in essence some of this, on their part, could have been avoided. Many players and some major recruits have said that they are going to consider other schools now because Carroll is leaving for the NFL. That means one thing: the kids sign to play for the coach and NOT THE SCHOOL. While that isn’t Carroll’s fault, that these kids are immature and believe everything he tells them, where is the story about the kid who was wanted by nobody, but walked on at USC and became a major player? Nowhere, b/c unlike alot of the other players in the system, he came to play for the SCHOOL b/c he had always loved the SCHOOL. But then again, as we all have said and will continue to say…Sports is a business…

the job hunt begins

As I said in my previous post, there are potential open positions at the Sun-Times.  But even though there may be those, I of course have started applying for jobs.

Now when I graduated from Missouri in 2008, the plan was for me to get a job right away and then if need be go to school.  Sadly, I couldn’t get a job and went with Plan B.  Now granted, Columbia has gotten me the Sun-Times gig and has taught me a new bunch of stuff, I often wonder what it would have been like if I had gotten a job right away, like the majority of my friends did.

So lately, I’ve started applying for jobs.  I thought that Columbia would be my last stop for schooling, but this is turning out to not be the case.  Some of the jobs I am applying for are GA spots at schools.  I would like to be a Sports Information Director at a university and they say the best way is to start out as an intern or a GA.  In the past week, I’ve applied to THREE jobs ALREADY!  One has been to be a GA in the Illinois State Sports Information office, while the others have been a mendia relations internship with the Cubs and a job to be a beat writer for a MLB team for mlb.com.  In the near future, I am going to be applying for the internship at Florida’s SID office, which I hear is one of the best internships b/c they teach you alot there.  We’ll see!

Turnover in the Preps section

Lately, there has been quite the amount of turnover in the Preps section of the Sun-Times.  The main Preps editor is moving on to do more general assignment/Northwestern beat writer stuff.  Along with him, one of the younger guys in charge is moving to become more involved with covering the Hawks.  All of this hopefully means more available jobs, b/c there are at least five of us that are dying to get one.  The only problem is that even the ppl leaving don’t know if there will be any open.  I sure hope so, because if there is anything that I wanna do it’s 1a. newspaper writing and 1b. sports information

age for ppl to be working at a newspaper

So I may have mentioned this before, I don’t remember, but we at the Sun-Times have a new member, a high schooler.  Now I know everyone says well you work in the high school section who cares…Well lemme tell you.  I do!  When I was a high schooler, there was no way that I would have gotten a spot to work at the Sun-Times.  I mean, hell, I couldn’t even get it while in college!  I think you need to be college age at the earliest, because this kid is so clueless it is frustrating.  What do you think?

bball season has STARTED!

Well ladies and gentleman, the basketball season has been upon us for a couple weeks now and no major surprises have occurred, well maybe a couple but nothing major.  I got to cover my first tournament game for the Sun-Times, so that was really cool.  I got to see Mount Carmel beat Zion-Benton in a game that was supposed to be the marque game of the Lane tournament but didn’t end up that way.  Both superstars Tracy Abrams and Lenzelle Smith, were out for their respective teams so it turned out to be a so-so game.  Oh well, it was a HUGE weekend for me, as I got to cover a tournament AND get a feature published in the paper. One which I was told was the talk of the State Finals!

yeaaa so now that fball season is over…

Well high school football season is over and I am sad to say it didn’t end as I had hoped it would.  Let me explain why.

For my Sports Reporting class, I was/still am? doing a human interest piece on a player at my alma mater, Loyola Academy.  His name is Quinn Kaiser and once I started doing the story, I started going to all of their games instead of just finding out the results while at work.  Now as usual, I had a vesting interest in how my Ramblers were doing, but this year even more so.  I felt as tho I was back at LA as a student and cheering them on as I did in the early portion of this decade (holy **** I’m old).

Everything was going great for the team until they met this juggernaut named Maine South in the semifinals.  Now in my office pool at work (sad yes, but remember I work in the PREPS section of  the Sun-Times!), I had the Hawks defeating my alma mater and to move on to win the state title (which they did), but I still wanted Loyola to win.  All week I had been claiming to everyone that it was going to be a really close game because MS had not seen a defense like Coach John Holecek’s to date; That what would decide the game would be how Loyola’s offense could hold up, because it wasn’t that powerful.  People looked at me as if I was crazy, but I ended up not being so crazy.

In a game that was better than alot of high school and college games I have covered in the past five, six years, the Loyola defense didn’t disappoint.  They held Matt Perez, the Player of the Year to a mere 70 yards rushing (he had over 300 the next week in the state title game) and made the game more exciting than probably anyone would have thought.  Now I, like probably most of the 10,000 ppl in attendance, thought the game was over when Maine South got the ball back with about three minutes left.  But the Loyola D wouldn’t have any of that.

The Loyola offense got the ball back with at their own 30 with one timeout and 35 seconds left in the game.  One completion and the receiver got out of bounds.  On the next play, the LA QB, Will Forsyth, rolled out and ran the ball for a first time, getting out of bounds in the process.  The Maine South clock though continued to run.  An extra 4 seconds ran off the clock altho he got out of bounds.  The refs put 2 seconds back on the clock.  Next play Forsyth does the same thing but this time the time keeper lets SIX seconds go off.  So last play 2.5 seconds left, LA at the MS 30. Forsyth lobs a pass into the end zone and it falls incomplete.  Loyola. Season. Over. MS. Win. State. Title. We never will know what would have happened if Loyola would have scored to make it 21-21, but one can only imagine…

Class 5A

This will be the last of the Classes, as most of the rest of them don’t include many Chicago teams.

In the Upper Bracket, the only teams I’m familiar with are Joliet Catholic and Cahokia.  This has been a so-so year for JCA, as their two losses are non-characteristic for them.  Cahokia is led by Jimmy Hunt and Patrick Ivy on the offensive side, and like 7A’s East St. Louis, feature alot of speed.

 

The Lower Bracket is full of Chicago teams.  Hillcrest and St. Francis look to be the top two teams there.  Senn is a good team but has not tested against very good competition.  They had let up no points thru the first five games of the season.

And now the picks…

Upper Bracket
#1 Springfield (Sacred Heart-Griffin) defeats #16 Carbondale (H.S.)
#9 Kankakee (Sr.) defeats #8 Chatham (Glenwood)
#4 Marion (H.S.) defeats #13 Decatur (MacArthur)
#5 Peoria (Richwoods) defeats #12 Springfield (H.S.)
#2 Washington defeats #15 Park Forest (Rich East)
#10 LaSalle (L.-Peru) defeats #7 Sterling (H.S.)
#3 Cahokia (H.S.) defeats #14 East Peoria
#6 Joliet (Catholic Academy) defeats #11 Troy (Triad)

Lower Bracket
#1 Country Club Hills (Hillcrest) defeats #16 West Chicago (Wheaton Academy)
#9 Sycamore (H.S.) defeats #8 Maple Park (Kaneland)
#4 Woodstock (Marian) defeats #13 Belvidere (H.S.)
#5 Wheaton (St. Francis) defeats #12 Lombard (Montini)
#15 Lake Villa (Lakes) defeats #2 Chicago (Senn)
#7 Woodstock (H.S.) defeats #10 Chicago (Orr)
#3 Glen Ellyn (Glenbard South) defeats #14 Rochelle
#6 Vernon Hills defeats #11 Chicago (Brooks)

Class 6A

As the classes get smaller, the more Downstate teams are invo;lved.  So in this preview and the next one, some of the picks may be based more off of knowledge or just pure guessing.

In the Upper Bracket, a shout-out needs to go out to Lincoln-Way North.  In just its second year of existence, the team rebounded from its initial 0-9 record to go 6-3 and ear a playoff birth.  Unfortunately, their stay will most likely be short-lived…but hey its a start!  In the Upper Bracket, the area’s best local teams are probably Lemont, Morgan Park and Providence.  Provi has been a beat all year.  After losing their first game against Lincoln-Way East, the Celtics have rolled to an 8-1 record, including an impressive sweep of the Catholic League Blue, which is considered to be the best conference in the state.  Morgan Park is just an awesome and Lemont has been playing really well this year.  Cary-Grove should roll through the Lower Bracket to a potential date with Hubbard.  That would be a fun matchup.  Now the picks…

Upper Bracket
#1 Danville (H.S.) defeats #16 Oak Lawn (Community)
#9 Oak Lawn (Richards) defeats #8 Rock Island (H.S.)
#4 Lemont (H.S.) defeats #13 Frankfort (Lincoln-Way North)

#5 Chicago (Morgan Park) defeats #12 Quincy (Sr.)

#2 New Lenox (Providence Catholic) defeats #15 Chicago (Harlan)
#7 Bloomington (H.S.) defeats #10 Oswego (H.S.)
#3 Crete (C.-Monee) defeats #14 Chicago (Julian)
#6 Oak Forest defeats #11 Normal (Community)

Lower Bracket
#16 Arlington Heights (St. Viator) (5-4) at #1 Cary (C.-Grove) (9-0), Sat. 1:00 p.m.
#9 Highland Park defeats #8 Chicago (Mather)
#4 Crystal Lake (Central) defeats #13 Bensenville (Fenton)
#12 Deerfield defeats #5 Chicago (De La Salle)
#2 Aurora (Marmion Academy) defeats #15 Huntley
#10 Crystal Lake (Prairie Ridge) defeats #7 Chicago (King)
#3 Chicago (Robeson) (7-2) defeats #14 Belvidere (North)
#6 Chicago (Hubbard) defeats #11 Riverside (R.-Brookfield)

Class 7A

Now to class 7a.

This Class can be just as exciting with teams like St. Rita, East St. Loius, WW South and Geneva amongst many others.  For St. Rita the key is the return of running back Jahwon Akui, who has been out of commission for the past three or four weeks with a high ankle sprain.  The Mustangs have struggled in his absence, but with him back at full strength, the state should watch out for St. Rita.  WW South and Geneva look bound for a clash of the titans in the second round.  Both teams boast high powered offenses, so it if both teams move on past this week’s games, whoever has the best defense should win.  My pick for the entire class, however, is East St. Louis,  True, they lost numerous starters from last year but with the speed them employ every year it is very very hard to ever count them out.

Glenbard West, the winner of Prospect/Carmel and Rolling Meadows look to be the favorites from the area in the lower bracket.  Prospect is another team that has a high-octane offense led by QB Miles Osei, but unfortunately for them, their defense has been nowhere to be seen.  The matchup with Carmel, who has an impressive defense, should be a good one.  The Mustangs of Rolling Meadows will look to move on past Lake Zurich.

Now on to this week’s picks…

Upper Bracket

#8 Chicago Heights (Marian)  defeats #1 Chicago (Bogan)
#4 Chicago (St. Rita) (7-2) defeats #5 Plainfield (North)
#2 Wheaton (W. Warrenville South) defeats #7 Burbank (St. Laurence)
#3 Geneva defeats #6 Palos Heights (Shepard)

#1 Frankfort (Lincoln-Way East) defeats #8 Belleville (West)
#4 New Lenox (Lincoln-Way Central) defeats #5 O’Fallon (H.S.)
#2 East St. Louis (Sr.) defeats #7 Bradley (B.-Bourbonnais)
#3 Minooka defeats #6 Edwardsville (H.S.)

Lower Bracket
#1 Glen Ellyn (Glenbard West) defeats #16 Rockford (Guilford)
#8 St. Charles (East) defeats #9 Rockton (Hononegah)
#13 Elk Grove Village (E.G.) defeats #4 Machesney Park (Harlem)
#5 South Elgin defeats #12 St. Charles (North)
#2 Rockford (Boylan) #15 Wheaton (North)
#10 Mt. Prospect (Prospect) defeats #7 Mundelein (Carmel)
#3 Crystal Lake (South) defeats #14 Northbrook (Glenbrook North)
#6 Rolling Meadows defeats #11 Lake Zurich

Hmm…High school sports ey?

So you want to know about the high school sports world huh?  Well, right now all that’s been happening is the state playoffs.  Football and volleyball start this week, while some of the more lesser known sports have already been in or completed their playoff runs.  For most sports nuts, not just high school ones, the playoffs/tournament time are the best times of the season b/c they create the most excitement.  You could have a team come out of nowhere and win a championship over the team that was thought to be the “favorite.”  I’ll break down the classes in football real quick.

8A: This is the class where the biggest schools, enrollment-wise, reside.  At work today, we decided to pick our brackets (yes we are nerds like that) for the state tournament and I chose the proverbial favorite in this class, Maine South.  They have been in the top state all year and come into the playoffs 9-0 after steamrolling their competition.  On their side of the bracket, I have them facing off with my alma mater, Loyola, in the semifinals before playing Hinsdale Central in the finals.

My Ramblers, altho they have a stout defense and are led by a former NFL player, will have a hard time trying to contain Tyler Benz, Matt Perez and the rest of the explosive offense Maine South employs.  The system the Hawks run is ridiculous.  They can lose a three-year starting QB like they did this year, and still not lose a step!  Despite the fact Loyola has given up only 67 points all year, it will be hard, but I see it as a close game, so who knows…

On their other side, where Hinsdale Central will come from, I see the biggest challenge for them possibly being Fremd.  After starting the season 1-2, the Red Devils of HC have reeled off six consecutive wins behind the strong arm of quarterback John Whitelaw.  Fremd out of Palatine should be their biggest opposition, as the Vikings have piled up some impressive numbers leading to a 9-0 record.  My picks for this week…

Upper Bracket
#1 Palatine (Fremd) defeats #16 Naperville (North)
#9 Roselle (Lake Park)  defeats #8 Belleville (East)
#4 Chicago (Marist) defeats #13 Schaumburg (H.S.)
#5 Naperville (Central) defeats #12 Lockport (Twp.)
#2 Bolingbrook defeats #15 LaGrange (Lyons)
#7 Downers Grove (South) defeats #10 Aurora (Waubonsie Valley)
#3 Carol Stream (Glenbard North) defeats #14 Tinley Park (Andrew)
#6 Hinsdale (Central) defeats #11 Orland Park (Sandburg)

Lower Bracket
#1 Park Ridge (Maine South) defeats #16 Oak Park (O.P.-River Forest)
#9 Franklin Park-Northlake (Leyden) defeats #8 Palatine (H.S.)
#4 Chicago (Taft) defeats #13 Hillside (Proviso West)
#5 Glenview (Glenbrook South) defeats #12 Niles (Notre Dame)
#2 Lincolnshire (Stevenson) defeats #15 Winnetka (New Trier)
#10 Chicago (Mt. Carmel) defeats #7 Chicago (Simeon)
#3 Wilmette (Loyola Academy) defeats #14 Chicago (St. Patrick)
#6 Gurnee (Warren) defeats #11 Chicago (Curie)