The loss of Wayne

Sometimes these things hit out of the blue. In the crazy style of the Chicago Public school system, Curie High School's basketball team lost its sophomore star Wayne Blackshear yesterday to another fine South Side school, Morgan Park. What, one mite say, this sort of thing happens all the time in sports. But the transfer of the pro style of players jumping from team to team always seems really crazy @ this sort of level.

There is no question that recruiting goes on in high school, and for sure someone was telling Wayne that Morgan Park would be better for his interests. Sometimes it's great for kids to change schools - but often it is not. I can tell you I was coaching @ a really......urban school more than a decade ago, and we got a great sewwper as a transfer. He left this really grewat school to play soccer @ my .....real dumpy school. It was bad move for him (I was new to the program and called NO shots)Wayne was one of three very highly touted sophomores in the area - and Morgan Park is trying to get another of the trio from De La Salle to join him next year. Whether that happens or not we shall see - but the reality is is that Curie has lost not just one of it's best players this year - their best player, excuse me - it will hurt even more next year, when their state hopes rested heavily on this young man.

Great player? Very good, but as a soph, he was but one of the options on the team. Don't get me wrong - he was option after option after option - he ran the floor, pull up for an 18 footer, post up if there was a mismatch, rebound, hits his free throws - and, when they needed a shot created - it was Wayne.

But he wasn't the only player on the team. Hodges, Dorsey, and Enoch provide height and inside toughness. Travis, Smiter and Ford run the floor and go hard @ the basket. They are a good all around team - but even w/ Wayne they would not be a favourite to challenge for state. Now, however, they probably won't challenge even next year - when they would certainly have been one of the favourites.

However Im still to sit in the stands. I know this basketball team far better than I know any since the SuperBulls. And just like the shocking loss to Farragut of Ronnie Fields in Feb. 1996 - I'm very interested inhow they respond. On Sunday they played ranked Morton and overcame a 15 pitn deficit in the 4th - and this w/ Wayne suddenly not oin the team. However, the next day the team lost in the last seconds to Roberson - a team I think, three days before, Curie would have handily beat.

Next game? To-morrow, a make up of a frozenday postponement. We'll see.

The White Sox House

This or this?

from nephew.2

Bulls game, 10 January, 2009

This was our Bulls game:

this was the game as reported by tv:

this from adamkillforme

dcs selection show 2008

Here Come the Hawks!

The Hawks are back!

I went to my first Hawks game in three years on Sunday. They were a winner, beating the Flames 5-2 after losing two games to the Detroit Redwings.

My impressions? Things have changed a lot since three years ago. John McDonough, the President of the BH, has done a fantastic job to market this club to once again get fans - in this hockey town- excited, especially in four major ways. 1) Blackhawks games are now on TV. 2) Blackhawk Alumni such as Bobby Hull, Stan Makita, etc. are in attendance regularly to get 'old' fans to come to see the 'new generation Blackhawks.' (Even I a mere 20 year old girl, who knows nothing about these alumni and their past, but they have become a household, recognizable name to me, because they are constantly in the media). 3) The Winter Classic has been a success since its initiation in early July. (BH players such as Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews have sang the 7th inning stretch at Wrigley and the Hawks have been advertised in Wrigley in pretty much every one of the ten games I've went to... such as handing out schedules before the games).4) The BH now have a Fan Fest (like the Cubs Convention, Sox Fest).

...and obviously having a now winning club doesn't hurt.

Chicagoans are once again excited about hockey, because there is a great club on the ice, and you know what... we deserve it. We've had horrible few years of hockey with terrible management. J McD needed to do a lot to get back some of those fans that the past BH management lost. And honestly, I can say I am one of those "fans" that McDonough "brought in" and became interested in hockey.

When I was younger, hockey games were hardly on TV, because of the William Wirtz saga- blacking out the BH home games. Only a few away games were the only games on in my house, and generally I would never sit down and watch them with Ma and Pa, because I was not interested nor understood the game. My uncle would take me to one or two games a year or ever other year, and that was my one-two year fix...didn't watch any more games or wasn't really "begging for more."

Now with the new management, my brother and parents always have on the game, so I sit down and watch it with them as much as I can. I now understand what icing, offsides, slashing, etc. actually means. And as a soccer player for more than 15 years, all I can say is WOW... the formation, play set up, etc. portrays the same game as soccer, especially indoor soccer, except for obviously the ice and sticks. As a soccer player, and watching more of the Blackhawk games on TV, I've come to appreciate hockey a lot more and actually enjoy it more than ever.

Also, seeing the game on Sunday, I've come to appreciate the "sounds of the game." In all of the sporting events I've attended, no sport has cooler sounds than hockey- a skater's quick stop with the skate and seeing all the ice fly in the air, a puck hitting the stick or the board, a check into the board, etc. Even way above in section 309, 14 rows up could you hear those ever cool sounds.


The Winter Classic: For those of you who've read my first post ever on this blog, you can tell I'm a Cubs fan. So for me, watching the Winter Classic was exceptional. Although I know Soldier Field would have been a viable option for hosting the WC, because it sits about double the fans of Wrigley, but I think there is nothing like Wrigley for an event such as this: the rooftops, the neighborhood, the bars, the scoreboard, the bricks, the ivy. The WHOLE neighborhood was transformed into hockey-ville. Maybe its my Cubs bias, but there's nothing like Wrigley Field and it was the absolute best decision to hold the WC and showcase historic Wrigley Field's beauty and majesty with a outdoor hockey game in an icy cold, snowy January. I know many Sox fans didn't agree with the selection of the game at WF for two experiences I've had recently:

1) At my friend's house, her mom heckled me because I'm a Cubs fan (and because I always let it be known) but she screamed "the cubs suck and always will if they play in that hole...look at the BH, they can't even win there either."
2) A man sitting in front of me at the Hawks game was an obvious Sox fan. Between periods when the big screen showed clips/ pictures from the Classic, he would scream, "THAT'S WHAT YOU GET PLAYING AT THE WORLD'S LARGEST GAY BAR!" or "WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR" or "NO ONE CAN WIN IN THAT PLACE," chuckling, then subsequently high fiving his other mid forty-year-old-neck-bearded-fat-beer-belly-busting-friends.

Why can't we be friends? When leaving the United Center, a Sox fan started screaming "LET'S GO WHITE SOX" then a Cubs fan needs to show his place by fighting "LET'S GO CUBBIES." A third man, thank God (because I didn't want to hear this non-sense at a Blackhawks game, screamed "LETS GO BLACKHAWKS."

Man #3 is right. Go Hawks. Its hockey season. Unite Chicagoans. We actually have a winning club, and I'll be the first one to tell you... I'm jumpin' on this bandwagon while I can.

Cubs Update

Mark DeRosa of the Chicago Cubs was traded to the Cleveland Indians on New Years Eve for 3 minor league pitchers. Then the Cubs added Aaron Miles for a 2 year contract. He formerly played on the dreaded Cardinals Personally, I don't agree with the trade for a number of reasons. DeRosa is an extremely versatile player, a level headed and club house guy, a lucky #7, and a fan favorite among the ladies, because of his good looks.

But...

Baseball is a numbers game whether you look at the numbers as a bating average or salary. Mark DeRosa was going to make about $5 mil next year and they signed Miles to a much cheaper 2 year $4 mil contract. Maybe our economy is also hurting the Cubs and their payroll. Also, Miles had a .315 average last year with the hated Cards. Like DeRosa, he's also a versatile player and can play a few positions. Hopefully we're trading for a guy who plays like him, but just has a smaller salary. Maybe it will also regularly give little Mikey Fontenot a chance to play.

Although I absolutely do not like this trade, I have complete faith in Jim Hendry and know he has something else up his sleeve. Maybe he made this trade to make salary room for another big trade? Is he using the 3 minor league players as trade bait for Peavy? Milton Bradley? Who knows.

Only time will tell. As for now, I'm just sulking as how this was a sad end to 2008. I wish Mark DeRosa luck in the upcoming season and realize he will be reunited in Cleveland with another Cub favorite (and a pitcher who I grew up as a young girl watching ), Kerry Wood.

The Milton Bradley rumors:

I honestly don't know anything about Milton Bradley other than that he has a cool name and that he is a hot head...not someone the Cubs need in their club house. The Cubs need cool and collected players who are ready to wash away 100 years+ of misery...not someone who isn't level headed. From what I do know, he is a switch hitter. Something the Cubs absolutely need: a left handed bat. With the woes of Fukudome, the Cubs need a lefty with some pop to his bat and can also go yard.



Jason Marquis:

I think he is decent pitcher and an above average #5 pitcher.I think if his contract was smaller, he would be an above par pitcher to have in the rotation. Yet again, our slumping economy and the troubles of the Tribune company does not allow for his $10 mil contract. I've heard him in trade rumors for the Rox and Mets. The Rox want to trade Luis Vizcaino, the former W Sox, for Marquis. Although LV doesn't have good numbers with the Rox last year (1-2 5.29 ERA), he does have an 8-2 4.30 ERA with '07 Yankees.

The cold months of winter sometimes bring good news, other times bad news (like the trade of DeRo and loss of the free-agent Woody). As a die-hard Cub fan, I'm use to the worst of news and always optimistic for the future. If this Aaron Miles comes out and puts about DeRosa-esque stats, this will be a great signing and Hendry will yet again look like a genius and Mark DeRosa will be forgotten about forever. 'Till Spring all we can do is speculate about Hendry's decisions and for 100+ years again hope for a WS title.