Game 33: Galesburg @ Quincy (Boy's Basketball)

Game 33
Galesburg @ Quincy (Boy's Basketball)
12/3/10

Before I left the house Friday morning, I noticed something hanging on my living room wall. It was a motivational quote from Vince Lombardi. Why did I read it today, I don't know. It was one of those motivational quotes that was framed and given to me at the end of the year by my boss a few years ago. Some people hang pictures of family, trees or flowers, or dogs playing poker. I hang work stuff.



The quote is this: "The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will." At first it didn't really seem to fit, but as I drove to work, I related that quote to my line of work. It made sense.

My favorite quote is from a President of the United States, which I just find odd. The odd part being that it's a quote from Calvin Coolidge. Is he known for anything? I'm sure he is, but I'm not going to look it up. The Coolidge quote is: "Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race." When the days begin to run together, and I feel that I am wasting all of my time and money on a dead-end cause....this is the quote that I turn to.

In actuality, I used to discount motivational quotes. It wasn't until entering the world of Twitter, that I started to really grasp the various quotes. I have to credit Illini West girl's basketball coach Zach Keene. He recites many quotes on his Twitter page, www.twitter.com/coachkeene.

Speaking of motivational quotes, when I read Galesburg coach Evan Massey's blog today (http://masseybasketball.blogspot.com/), he had a link to Don Meyer's website, http://www.northern.edu/Coach_Meyer/index.aspx, with more motivational quotes, etc. It was just one of those motivational quote kind of days!

Jimmie Carr and I met in Macomb at 4:00 at Casey's on the edge of Macomb. This would save a few minutes when we arrived back in town, so he could just hit the highway, and not drive through town.

We arrived at the Quincy gym, and I was excited for the night, because it would be my first ever trip to the QHS gym, and taking in their great introductions that I have heard to much about. It certainly didn't disappoint. I took some video, and should have a link later in the weekend.

The gym at Quincy is great, certainly making my list of favorite gyms. Certainly not on my list of favorite broadcast locations! For the magnificent size of the gym, four radio stations are crammed into one pretty small location. Jimmie and I shared one row of the broadcast booth with WQCY's broadcast crew of Tim Kinscherf and Matt Longo (Quincy boy's soccer coach). The next level consisted of the WGEM crew and the WGIL crew (Brad Bennewitz and Jim Lee).

Kinscherf is a great guy, as we have exchanged emails back and forth over the last few years with the Galesburg/Quincy games. We also worked together in sharing space when I worked in Macomb, and the Bombers would play Quincy Notre Dame. We had a good conversation with Longo, talking about the various fundraisers his soccer team puts on to buy various things, including jerseys (with their names on the back) that the kids keep. Some great fundraisers, including a raffle for a $1,000 Wal-Mart gift card. He said that this year the winner will have a choice between Wal-Mart, Cabella's, and Bass Pro Shops.

After setting up the equipment, I talked with coach Reynolds about the Silver Streaks. He said that Brandon Thompson had been hurt this week, and was very limited in practice this week. He would still start, but might not be 100%. A change was made in the starting lineup, with Trimaine Carson back in the first five for Ryan Carl. With Carl's time being limited lately, the sophomore would play in the preliminary game to get more minutes.

Quincy jumped out to a 13-10 lead after the first quarter. The second quarter ended with the Streaks coming up empty-handed on two posessions with a two-point lead. Quincy would get a rebound and run the floor to tie the game at the buzzer, 24-24 at halftime.

The visitors jumped out to a 35-30 lead heading into the fourth quarter, and extended that lead throughout the final frame, winning 56-42. Ryan "Bucket" McElmurry was key in the Streaks win to open Western Big 6 play. He finished 13-13 from the free throw line, and scored a game-high 17 points. He was named our First Glass "Breakout Player of the Game."

Quotables: During our postgame show, Jimmie was interviewing Mike Reynolds. As Quincy coach Sean Taylor made his way to talk with the Quincy radio stations, he jokingly made a comment to Reynolds, saying "You just kicked my *#$ and now you won't let me through." Normally, I wouldn't make mention of it, but it did go out over our airwaves, so why not.

Pronunciations. I always guess pronunciations of tough last names, and I was wrong on sophomore Quincy Blue Devil Martin Kvitle, pronounced, Kuh-vit-lee. My guess was Kuh-vittle.

The Pace: I mis-typed in my previous blog. Game 32 last year occurred on December 19th last year. Game 33 was on December 21st. That game was Galesburg/Canton in girl's basketball, in which Evan Massey won his 700th game.

Postgame Meal: Instead of stopping off for fast food, I picked up a frozen pizza. I went with a rising crust spinach and mushroom.

Game 33 Miles: 172