The Quest 2: 150

The Quest: A Backseat Inventory

2011-03-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

There used to be a floor

Backseat Inventory
(3/11/11)

It's a good thing that The Quest 2: 150 calls an S.U.V. "home" most of the basketball season. If this quest were achieved by using a mid-sized car, it may have burst with empty coffee cups, granola bar wrappers, and fast food waste. On a day off, here's a backseat inventory.

The inventory below is only a partial list. Back in November and December, I may have kept up on cleaning out my vehicle....but not much since. In addition, my broadcast partner Jimmie Carr would regularly make the mistake of opening the backseat passenger door to get the equipment. This would commonly result in a piece or two of trash scattering into the parking lot. I attempted to pick as much up as I could. (littering is a big pet peeve of mine). Without further ado, here's what I found (note, this is just the trash - believe it or not there is room for equipment and other non-trash items).

Granola Bar Wrappers - 73. This is because my typical breakfast consists of a gas station coffee and one or two of the quarter granola bars. Many of these were of the chocolate chip and oats variety, however there were a few almond and strawberry flavors.

Subway - 14. I am actually surprised there weren't more Subway wrappers than this. By far, Subway was the most common choice of meals on the road this basketball season.

McDonald's - 13. Despite trying my best to avoid the golden arches, sometimes I give in. It's certainly not surprising that these two joints had by far the most "empties" in my backseat.

Gum Packages - 9. If I counted the singular gum wrappers, I'd be counting into May. Most of the empty gum packs were Orbit, but a couple Stride and even one of the new Wrigley Doublemint packages.

Ayerco Coffee Cups - 6. The only saving grace that there wasn't a Mt. Ayerco Coffee in my Ford Explorer is the fact that normally I am not finished with my coffee by the time I get to work.

Culver's - 5. This was kind of a surprise, that Culvers ranks 3rd on the most fast food waste in my vehicle. It didn't seem like I stopped here that often, but I do remember a couple of late season stops (Morton & Peoria).

Steak 'n Shake - 2. Another fast food joint that I expected more trash out of, as I made a few stops here after Galesburg games. I don't think I stopped at any Steak 'n Shakes outside of town, though.

Taco Bell - 2. After my stop at the Moline Taco Bell, I decided on a slight Taco Bell boycott because I absolutely despise many of their locations drive-thru speak. "Hey, how's it goin?" is a common greeting in the drive-thru. When time allows, I like to be a jerk and answer their question and nothing more until they ask for my order. I just find this practice to be very unprofessional.

Kitchen Cooked Potato Chips - 2. These must have been from my gas station "dinners." I don't eat potato chips....but I eat Kitchen Cooked.

Beef Jerkey - 2. Again, this may have accompanied the Kitchen Cooked to make my postgame "meal."

T-shirts - 2. Two undershirts, I have no idea why I had two t-shirts on the floor (yup..I found the floor) of my backseat.

Water Bottles - 2. There should have been more than 2, not sure where the ghost bottles went. Many times I recycle the water bottles and use them at work with our Culligan water.

Chinese Carry-out - 2. Just the menus, not the actual wrappers. One of these was from the great blizzard when I stayed in the Monmouth Super 8. Not sure where the second one was from. Chen's Garden was the blizzard night, the other menu was from New China. This may have just been placed in my windshield, because I don't recall eating at New China during the season.

5-Hour Energy - 2. A pomegranate and orange flavor. One of these was used on the trip back from Benton. The overnight 5-hour drive in a blizzard. Certainly the most memorable road trip of the journey!

Media Passes - 2. A 2009-10 IHSA general media pass and a 2010 IHSA Official pass when I broadcasted the state finals for the IHSA Network last June.

Popeye's - 1. This was from last weekend, on Friday after the Class 3A girl's basketball semifinals. I found it difficult to eat mashed potatos while driving in rush hour traffic.

Arby's - 1. Not sure where I had Arby's this season, must have been early on in the year.

Trail Mix - 1. Thought there might have been a few of these, this was a common gas station snack before a game.

Hostess Lemon Pie - 1. This was pretty darn good, it was my pregame snack for one of the girl's basketball sectional games in Metamora, picked up at the Redbird Mini Mart.

Little Debbie Apple Cinnamon Danish - 1. Sometimes I would mix up the breakfast and go with something other than granola bars, but as you saw with the amount of granola bar wrappers, that didn't happen often.

Powedered Donettes - 1. Again, like the danish from above.

Classic Italian Sub - 1. This was picked up at the Galesburg Mobil after the Blue Island Eisenhower/Galesburg boy's basketball game, as I drove home for a family reunion. As Macomb football coach Kelly Sears would say, "a gas station sandwich."

Chex Mix - 1. Another snack I would opt for, though I'm not as much of a Chex Mix fan as I am of the Gardetto's...which oddly enough, there were no wrappers for in my car.

Pepsi - 1. One can of Pepsi. I don't drink pop that often, occasionally a bottle from our Coke machine at the office, so I'm not sure where a can came from.

Powerade - 1. Tropical punch flavored. The Save-A-Lot has bottles of Powerade on sale for $0.88 a lot.

Sports Page - 1. The Peoria Journal-Star sports page from Saturday January 29th. 2011 for any smart ***es out there, LOL!

Carlos Zambrano cookie wrapper - 1. B-PC/A baseball coach Dave Arnold picked up some Carlos Zambrano cookies when he was at the Cubs Convention in January. The cookie came in handy during a long Saturday of basketball in Galesburg. This was "lunch" following the Galesburg/Morton girl's basketball game played at Knox College.

***Who knew cleaning could bring back so many memories of a great season!!!

Game 153: Moline vs. Normal Community (Boy's Basketball)

2011-03-09T22:37:00.000-08:00

Moline Maroons

Game 153
Moline vs. Normal Community (Boy's Basketball)
IHSA Class 3A Sectionals (@ Wharton Fieldhouse)
(3/9/11)

The end of the road. There was a 50% chance that this would be my final broadcast of the 2010-11 season. With a Moline win tonight, I would head back up to Wharton Fieldhouse on Friday for the Sectional championship. If not, it would be time to focus on spring sports.

You know you're early to the game when you arrive to an empty gym....and the lights aren't even on yet. That was the case tonight, a few minutes before 5:00 for the 7:30 game between the Moline Maroons and the Normal Community Ironmen.

Dax (or Dex) was there to greet me before the game. He is the man that sweeps the floor before the game and at halftime. He's a popular guy around Wharton. He told me he convinced one of the track and field guys to come to the game tonight.

After unloading most of the equipment, a few more guys came into the gym, and we had a lively discussion talking about open enrollment schools (always a hot topic!), and much of our conversation surrounded stories of East St. Louis. East St. Louis will play in the Sectional championship on Friday night. I am bad with names, but the group consisted of Tom (?), an older gentleman that might have been a teacher (judging by what he was holding), and the two "ref agitators." They are Moline fans that were referee-striped shirts that read, "ref agitator" in red across the front, and sit in the front row on the baseline.

Normal Community Ironmen

The WJBC radio guys arrived, and appeared to be having some equipment issues with their wireless equipment. By this time, my broadcast partner for the night, Bill Horrell helped them out in trying to find a land line. I believe they opted to go the cell phone route. We shared some information on each team. Despite covering Galesburg throughout the season, I have watched around a half dozen Maroons games. Moline played in the Galesburg Thanksgiving Tournament, the two games against the Silver Streaks, and I also watched them play Peoria Central in the Peoria/Quad Cities Shootout.

The press section was packed, with the print media in the front row that included Andrew Peterson of the Quad City Times, Jim Benson of the Bloomington Pantagraph, and Marc Nesseler and Steve Tappa of the Moline Dispatch. In fact, "Taps" had his own reserved seat. Nesseler wrote in the paper today the records of the Maroons when various writers covered the team. The Maroons were 9-1 when Steve Tappa covered them. One of the workers at Wharton wrote "Reserved for Steve Tappa" with a star and taped it on the table. Bill and I were in the 2nd row, along with Moline athletic director Todd Rosenthal, and the WJBC broadcast crew was in the last row behind us.

A pair of Maroons advanced in the three-point shootout, Grey Giovanine and Connor Welvaert. Each knocked down 8 three's.

Here is video from the teams entering Wharton Fieldhouse.

Game Time
Normal Community jumped out to an early 8-0 lead, behind three-pointers by Anthony Beane and Chase Robbins. Moline countered with a 5-0 run. The Ironmen led 17-10 at the end of the 1st quarter.

Another 5-0 run to start the 2nd quarter pulled the Maroons to within two points, trailing 17-15. Normal Community started to pull away, but Moline kept it close and it was 24-18 at halftime. Beane finished the first half with 8 points, all coming in the 1st quarter. He finished the game with 12 points. The Ironmen finished with 4 three-pointers in the first half.

Normal Community was wearing their visitor uniforms, which are bright orange...similar to what a hunter would wear.

The Ironmen took advantage of the allowed uptick in physical play during the 3rd and 4th quarter, and outscored Moline 19-8 to take a 43-26 lead heading into the 4th quarter. It was all Ironmen in the final frame, cruising to a 60-40 win.

Anthony Goodar (6'3" Sr.) scored a team-high 17 points for the victorious Ironmen. He was seen talking with Carl Sandburg College head coach Ryan Twaddle after the game.

Moline's Anthony Lindauer knocked down 6 three-pointers and finished with a game-high 19 points. He struggled at the free throw line, going just 1-5. The entire Maroons group struggled with their shooting, as the team shot 14-38 from the field.

Playing in their final game in a Moline Maroons uniform were Grey Giovanine, Kyle Lewis, and Josh Johnson.

I talked with both head coaches after the game, Dave Witzig of Normal Community and Ryan Webber of Moline. Those interviews can be heard on the Thursday edition of Sportsline, which airs from 12:20 to 1:00 on 1590 WAIK (www.1590waik.com). Each show is archived on the website, on the sports page. Other guests on Thursday's show will be Carl Sandburg College softball coach Todd Winkler (from Pensacola, Florida) and new Monmouth-Roseville baseball coach Chris Schwarz. On Friday's show, a preview of the Class 1A/2A state finals with many of the head coaches.

New Eats?
Before the game I took an extra drive around with my timeliness. As I was cruising down Avenue of the Cities (always 23rd to me), I noticed Uncle Pete's Gyros. I've never seen this place before, and Bill Horrell told me that it just moved to that location. Bill said that the gyros are much better at Uncle Pete's than Dr. Gyro's, my favorite joint in Rock Island. I had a footlong cold cut combo from Subway on my way to the Quad Cities, so I wasn't hungry. I'll have to keep this in mind when covering baseball/softball this spring!

Things I Thought on the Drive Home
153 broadcasts are in the books for the 2010-11 season. It's bittersweet, as it feels like a giant weight lifted off of my shoulders, however it was extremely fun being in a gym every night, and sometimes in upwards of 14 hours in one day. The traveling (around 11,000 miles), and meeting new people from every corner of the state. Before I close the book...err blog on the Quest 2: 150, I'll have to recap with a final numbers rundown, what I find in the backseat, and looking back at all of the fast food meals (I may not want to know this). Here are some things I thought while driving home from a basketball game for the final time this season.

1) I always see a cop in Viola. I make a lot of trips on Route 67 to the games in the Quad Cities, and there is almost always a cop in Viola sitting, or driving through the town.

2) "Fat Bottomed Girls" is a funny song. Everytime I hear the Queen classic, it puts a smile on my face. It's just a funny song. "Fat bottomed girls make this rockin' world go round."

3) I am craving a jalapeno burger from Crappy's in Galesburg. It's odd that the burger makes me want to rip out my tongue and throw it in the freezer, and drink gallons of (beverage of choice). I went through a stage where I hated spicy foods, after loving spicy foods as a kid. On the non-spicy side, I called Slim Jims, "spicy sticks." I also only slightly opened my cans of Mt. Dew and sucked out the pop. I was a weird kid.

4) Did I leave my underwear on the bathroom floor? The realtor showed my house today (fingers crossed, sell sell sell), and my biggest fear is that I will leave something out. Tonight, it was underwear in the bathroom (I didn't, by the way), and whether or not the house smelled like fish (I cooked fish last night, and it did smell a little fishy when I got home).

Beau 4 Bobblehead!

5) Basketball season flies by as fast as summer. It doesn't seem like 4 months of basketball have gone by already, but it has. I guess the good thing about this, is that it means spring sports are right around the corner, meaning warmer weather and another round of different sports!

And with that, the final game blog entry. Stay tuned, as I will have a recap of the Quest 2: 150 with a numbers report. Also, I am involved in the Peoria Chiefs Media Madness Bobblehead contest. I am playing for the Special Olympics - Area 4 (Knox, Warren, Henderson, McDonough, Mercer, Fulton, and Rock Island counties). Voting begins next week. Check out www.beau4bobblehead.com, and here is the direct link to the bracket: LINK. The winner gets $500 for their charity, so let's help out Special Olympics and Vote 4 Beau!

Game 153 Miles: 170

Game 152: Bolingbrook vs. Zion-Benton (Girl's Basketball)

2011-03-07T18:43:00.000-08:00

Class 4A State Championship
Zion-Benton & Bolingbrook Warmups

Game 152
Bolingbrook vs. Zion-Benton (Girl's Basketball)
Class 4A State Championship
(3/5/11)

The final game of the night, the last high school girl's basketball game of the 2010-11 season. Really? You're kidding, right?! This can't be the end of the season, already!!!

I had tried to schedule a Bolingbrook game during the regular season, but was unable to find any dates that correlated with my schedule. The Raiders feature UCONN-bound junior Morgan Tuck and Tennessee-bound senior Ariel Massengale. That in itself makes Bolingbrook a national All-Star team!!!

Speaking of national, the Raiders are ranked 5th in the nation by USA Today, and Tennessee head coach Pat Summit came to watch the Friday night semifinal game between Bolingbrook and Whitney Young.

Along with the UCONN and Tennessse-bound Raiders, senior Taylor Tuck (Morgan's older sister, a senior) is headed to Illinois, Cabriana Capers (6'1" Jr.) is being recruited by Wisconsin, Falon Edwards is headed to Southern Illinois.

Zion-Benton is making their first ever state finals appearance in program history. Their nickname, the Zee-Bees, is based on the Seabees, given to the Naval Construction Battalions. The school's proximity to the Great Lakes Military Base led to it's military tie to the nickname.

Bolingbrook Starters
Nia Moore (6'3" Jr.)
Ariel Massengale (5'7" Sr.)
Falon Edwards (5'8" Sr.)
Kierra Ray (5'9" Jr.)
Morgan Tuck (6'2" Jr.)

Zion-Benton Starters
Octavia Crump (5'11" Jr.)
Helena Rodriguez (5'6" Sr.)
Samantha Rodriguez (5'8" Fr.)
Juanita Robinson (5'11" Sr.)
Morgan Garrett (5'10" Sr.)

Morgan Tuck & Bolingbrook Raiders

Bolingbrook's Morgan Tuck (6'2" Jr.) was dominating in this game, scoring 10 points and boosted the Raiders to a 16-7 first quarter lead. She was everything and more I expected. It was fun watching her play. She is the most exciting girl's basketball player I have seen in person. The scary thing is that she is still just a junior! She will be the next great one from Illinois. Keep an eye out for her in 2012-2013 when she's suiting up for Gino Auriemma. Morgan finished with 36 points, coming up just shy of the all-time record for points in a state tournament game, which is 41 points. Tina Hutchinson of East St. Louis Lincoln had that scoring output against Marshall in a 1983 Quarterfinal game. The record in a state championship game is 39 points, scored by Anna Jones of Flanagan in the 2009 Class 1A title game. Tuck's 36 points does set a Class 4A state championship record, breaking her teammate Ariel Massengale's 22-point effort in the 2007-08 game against Whitney Young.

Bolingbrook Raises 3rd Consecutive Trophy

Morgan's older sister, Taylor, the Illini-bound guard, hurt her ankle at the end of the Whitney Young game on Friday night and was unable to go. However, head coach Anthony Smith inserted her into the lineup to shoot a one-and-bonus free throw in the 4th quarter. She missed the shot, but logged a minute in her final high school basketball game.

By halftime, Bolingbrook led 37-11, and the route was on. The final score was 72-42, and the Raiders won their 3rd consecutive state championship. No other player on Bolingbrook's roster scored double digits, but 8 other players recorded points.

Zion-Benton Fan Section

Juanita Robinson was the lone scorer in double digits for the Zee-Bees, finishing with 14 points. Zion-Benton brought the largest crowd, by far, to the Class 3A/4A state finals. To watch the Zee-Bees at the end of the game, was a great reminder of why I enjoy covering high school athletics so much. Down by 30 points, Z-B head coach Tanya Johnson was cheering on her team as if they were up by 30 points. During one instance down the stretch, Morgan Franklin missed a free throw (pretty badley), and she laughed and raised her arms to the Zion-Benton fans. This drew an "AIRBALL" chant...from her own fans! She laughed. It was a great thing to watch. The Zee-Bees accepted their medals as if they just won the state championship. Zion-Benton will always be champions in my book, by their showing this weekend! Kudos to the Zee-Bees!

After packing up and heading out, I made a stop at an IN-convenience store. In gassing up, I was going to pay inside because I was going to pick up some trail mix and a bottle of water. Over the intercom, "Pump 3 is ready, prepay or credit card only." Okay, I have no idea how much gas it's going to take, so I'll go credit card, and have two seperate transactions. After filling up, the receipt didn't print. Then, as I set my goods on the counter (with a glass window between us), I had to find the bar codes on each item to be scanned. Apparently, it's the small things that become extremely annoying after a long day in the gym, LOL.

Driving home, the one thing that stuck out as I recalled the journey to 150 broadcasts, was the fact that I was not sick at all during this long basketball season. Not even a sore throat, no cold, certainly no flu. To most, that may sound common, but for me, it's a pretty rare occurrence. This is my 9th or 10th year of broadcasting, and I have had a bad cold, bronchitis, or strep throat every one of those seasons, and sometimes I would get sick in upwards of three times in a basketball season. Last year, I came down with bronchitis during the Saturday of the Thanksgiving Tournament. It caused me to miss a doubleheader of broadcasts the following Monday. I did not get sick again during the 2009-10 season. Someone told me with the schedule I keep, my diet, and lack of sleep was just asking for bouts of illness. Somehow I survived, and this paragraph is probably bad karma!

Game 152 Miles: 115

Game 151: Maine South vs. Whitney Young (Girl's Basketball)

2011-03-07T17:28:00.000-08:00

Maine South Celebrates 3rd Place

Game 151
Maine South vs. Whitney Young (Girl's Basketball)
Class 4A Third Place
(3/5/11)

Between the Class 3A and 4A sessions, I had pondered going out to get a bite to eat in Bloomington/Normal, however I did not cover the 4A games on Friday night, and wasn't as prepared as I would like to be, so I hung out at Redbird Arena doing my homework.

Dave Bernhard from the IHSA Network arrived and we had a conversation about the weekend's games. He asked me if I was tired after doing 150 games, and without hesitation I said; "No!" He looked a bit surprised by my response!

Dave and I also discussed the boy's basketball post season, and I mentioned that it would be pretty tough for Peoria Notre Dame to get through their Sectional at the new Bradley University arena. Bernhard is a Bradley alum, and we talked about the new arena, and he said he had not seen it yet. Notre Dame will play (Peoria) Central on Tuesday in the semifinals, and if they won, would probably meet Rock Island in the championship game. In my humble opinion, I think Rock Island advances out of the Peoria Sectional. I've seen both teams a few times this year, and that's just my feeling. By the way, Notre Dame beat Rock Island earlier this season.

Matt Troha of the IHSA came over and talked before the 3rd place game between Maine South and Whitney Young. He shared some stories from the weekend. The state finals always produce some interesting, but non-blog worthy stories!

Whitney Young was the overwhelming favorite in the Class 4A 3rd place game, bringing with them a #9 national ranking by USA Today. The struggle would be to forget about their loss the night before to the #5 ranked team in the nation, Bolingbrook, in the semifinals in overtime (50-49).

It seemed as though that would be a bigger hurdle than most would have thought. Maine South took an early lead, 11-6. However, the Dolphins stormed back outscoring the Maine South Hawks 18-6 in the 2nd quarter to lead, 24-17 at halftime.

Whitney Young Dolphins (USA Today #9)

In the 3rd quarter, Whitney Young continued their run, leading 39-26 heading into the 4th quarter, and looking to win the 3rd place trophy by double digits, something most fans in attendance expected to happen. It didn't!

Maine South roared back, taking advantage of Whitney Young turnovers, missed free throws, and a pair of technical fouls. The first technical foul was called on Whitney Young head coach Corry Irvin for arguing calls, while the second "T" came after the Dolphins called a timeout, when they didn't have any left....ala Chris Webber (Michigan vs. North Carolina), in the 1993 NCAA National Championship game.

The Hawks had big baskets in the 4th quarter by Mackenzie Duffy....times three. She knocked down three three-pointers in the final eight minutes, to go along with Michelle Maher's three, and Jacqui Grant's 8 points. Maine South outscored Whitney Young 28-14 in the 4th quarter, to shock Whitney Young, 54-53.

Chanise Jenkins, a senior headed to DePaul, scored a game-high 21 points for Whitney Young. Michelle Maher (5'9" Jr.) scored a team-high 18 points for Maine South, while sophomore teammate Jacqui Grant added 12 points.

Did you know? Maine South's Alicia Gutierrez is a 2016 Olympics hopeful in boxing??? Or that her first name is actually pronounced, Uh-Lee-See-uh, not Uh-lee-Shuh?

Game 151 Miles: 0

Game 150: Montini vs. Hillcrest (Girl's Basketball - State Championship)

2011-03-07T16:57:00.000-08:00

Montini Lady Broncos: State Champs

Game 150
Montini vs. Hillcrest (Girl's Basketball)
Class 3A State Championship
(3/5/11)

Here it is. The promised land! The quest has culminated at Redbird Arena, and the 150th game will come in a state championship game. How about that perfect (wink, wink) planning....

No, it certainly wasn't planned this way. In all honesty, had things worked out as planned, the 150th game would have taken place at least a week earlier. Due to some tournaments running late, and an unfortunate scheduling snafu in DeKalb right before Christmas, I missed out on a few broadcasts.

Honestly, there really isn't that much scheduling set in stone for the Quest. The reason for this is because of my full time job, and my coverage of the Galesburg Silver Streaks (boys and girls) on WAIK. The rest of the broadcast schedule is filled in around these schedules.

My friend George Castle (author of several Chicago Cubs books) had sent me a congratulatory note last week about nearly reaching the goal, and mentioned that he hoped I could do 200 one day. I said I could do 250 in a season if time and money were not an obstacle...of course just about anyone could taking into account those factors!

The 150th game began just like any other, and it felt like any other broadcast....like I wanted it to. The most memorable part of reaching a goal, is the journey, not the culmination. How would I celebrate the 150th broadcast? By sticking around Redbird Arena, preparing for and broadcasting two more basketball games. How else would one celebrate?!?!

Just like I told my GHS broadcast partner Jimmie Carr, the Montini Lady Broncos won the Class 3A state championship. I have gotten to know coach Jason Nichols over the past couple seasons covering his team in the Sterling Tournament, just before Christmas. The initial reason I went to that tournament a couple years ago, was to watch Michala Johnson, who is now a freshman at UCONN. Her younger sister, Malayna, is a 6'4" sophomore on this Lady Broncos team. Coach Nichols is one of the most up-front coaches I've ever met. When working in the media, it takes a while to get to know and become trustworthy to some coaches. Since I am based down state, I don't have many relationships developed with the Chicago-area coaches, and the media in the big city is, obviously, much different than western Illinois.

That's why I was so surprised at how candid Nichols was with me last year. He was up front and honest, a straight shooter. He either trusted me with some information he shared....or he just didn't care! At any rate, watching the two head coaches in this state championship might be just as entertaining as the game itself. John Maniatis at Hillcrest is certainly one-of-a-kind, wearing a shirt and tie and yelling out words of inspiration to his team during warmups, taking off his tie after the game and swinging it in the air after a victory, etc. At times, Jason Nichols almost reminds you of the Matt Foley character on Saturday Night Live made famous by Chris Farley.

Hillcrest didn't score until the 2:36 mark, with Montini jumping out to another fast start (they outscored Springfield 19-0 to start the semifinals). After the 1st quarter, the Lady Broncos led 16-8. Montini outscored Hillcrest 15-7 in the 2nd quarter to lead 31-15 at halftime.

Kiki Wilson had another nice game for Montini, capping off the third quarter with a buzzer-beating three-pointer. She finished with 9 points. The Lady Broncos knocked down 11 three-pointers in the 67-45 win. Montini lost just won game this season, a 79-63 set back to the eventual Class 4A state champion Bolingbrook Raiders. Montini hit 10 three-pointers in that game.

Notre Dame-bound Whitney Holloway scored a game-high 19 points, while North Carolina-bound Whitney Adams finished with 16 points. Samirah Ali scored 15 points for Hillcrest, who took 2nd place for the 2nd consecutive year (both losses to Montini in the championship game).

Hillcrest will return four of their five starters (Yolanda De La Torre is the lone senior). All of Hillcrest's reserves will return as well. In fact, the Lady Hawks bring back 14 of their 15 players on the roster, accounting for 69 points/game of their 79 points/game average.

Montini graduates three Division-One guards (Whitney Adams, Whitney Holloway, and Kiki Wilson), along with dynamic point guard Kasey Reaber, but the Lady Broncos just reload with a pair of 6'4" sophomores that are getting high division-one interest. Montini graduates four of their five starters, but those are also the only four seniors on their roster.

The 150th game came and went, and between sessions I had a brief moment to reflect on the season, and the journey to this goal.

In all actuality, I was pretty confident about reaching the goal for 15 of the 16 weeks of the season. Unlike the 2009-10 season, when I was overly confident of my goal for 100 broadcasts, I entered the first week of the season with an almost dread.

By day three of the 2010-11 season, I drove from work to Lewistown for the Fulton County Tournament, and really was questioning my decision, and wondering if it could be possible. To broadcast 150 games, it would have to be an average of over 8 broadcasts/week. Even broadcasting 16 games the first week of the season, I looked at the big picture. There would be several weeks during the season where I wouldn't get to 8 broadcasts. Add that to the fact that at the end of the season, there may be a shot at broadcasting just 8 games. There would be no room for error, which had me worried. If I encountered one bout of sickness, it could knock me out of contention fairly easily.

Another factor was that my house is for sale. What happens if in December, someone wants to buy my house? Sure, it's great because I can make the move where my home game is actually at home, and not a 50-minute drive (Galesburg), but how in the world would I find time to make a move possible without jeopardizing The Quest?

These thoughts were spinning through my head just days into the Quest. Honestly, I was worried. There would be no greater tragedy for my professional livelihood than to set out on a goal, and not come through. It would be disappointing and embarrassing.

After week one, my thoughts settled, and I began telling myself that only I can control my destiny. If this is meant to happen, it will, and I WILL make it happen, by working harder than I ever thought possible. Just like a basketball team focuses on the task (opponent) at hand, I would focus on the broadcast(s) for that day on hand, then by week, and just overload my schedule to the brink of stress overload.

Was it easy? Heck no! Was it stressful? At times. Was it fun? Absolutely!!!

Game 150 Miles: 0

Game 149: (Chicago) Marshall vs. Springfield (Girl's Basketball)

2011-03-06T12:11:00.000-08:00

Marshall Warmups (IHSA Network filming)

Game 149
(Chicago) Marshall vs. Springfield (Girl's Basketball)
IHSA Class 3A Third Place
(3/5/11)

It certainly wasn't the start to the day that I was looking for. Apparently, I didn't set my alarm clock at the hotel correctly. Fortunately, I woke up around the same time (actually about 20 minutes earlier) that I had "set" the clock. Then, I went 0-3 in my quest to find breakfast....

On the plus side, the Baymont Inn & Suites gets my vote for the "BBB" Award, Best Bang for your Buck. I stay in cheap hotels. The only thing I look for is a bed (without bed bugs) and a shower (clean). Most hotels in the price range I stay ($50-$60) are your run of the mill Super 8, Red Roof Inn, etc. Some are clean and have everything I'm needing, some are not so clean and just not the greatest stays. I will point out that this season the Worst Hotel of the Year goes to the Benton Super 8. It was not very clean, and the clerk at the desk when I checked out was rude (not friendly and talking on her cell phone the entire time she checked me out).

Baymont Inn & Suites in Bloomington is certainly the best of the year. It was extremely clean, the cleanest hotel I stayed at all year. When I walked in, there was the breakfast bar next to the lobby, with a very nice sit-down area to eat breakfast in the morning, or hang out any other time. The room was furnished with a TV (with cable box, which is rare at the cheap hotels) inside an oak case, there was a large oak case that had an ironing board (apparently that's what you use to get the wrinkles out of shirts....who knew???), and it also had a microwave and fridge. The fridge came in handy to keep a couple post-broadcast beverages cold. On top of that, the comforter on the bed was as comfortable as they come, and the bathroom had a tri-mirror. Not that I use the mirror, outside of making funny faces when I brush my teeth (is that normal, or just weird?).

Comfortable bed...with TV pillow

For every positive, there is a negative....and that came after I checked out and went on my search for a quick drive-thru breakfast. McDonald's is the old stand-by, but I had some extra time to find something different. I haven't eaten at a Denny's since I was a kid, so I headed down Veteran's Parkway to Denny's. I thought they had a drive-thru....I was wrong. 0-1. Hardee's was across the street. I hate Hardees, but give them credit for having a dynamite breakfast. There was no breakfast on the menu. I asked the voice on the other side of the drive-thru speaker if they had breakfast. Unsure if she understood my question, she responded, "we don't have anymore biscuits." Okay, 0-2 apparently. Little did I know, there was probably no breakfast menu at Hardee's, because it was at that crucial time....10:30. Ahhhh!!!! I feel like Adam Sandler in Big Daddy all over again. This thought didn't come to mind until I pulled into the McDonald's on College Avenue. I looked at my clock, pulling up to the drive-thru. It was 10:40. Nothing like a double cheeseburger for breakfast! 0-3. Here's a note to McDonald's.....SERVE BREAKFAST UNTIL 11!!!! Who wants to eat a Big Mac at 10:30 in the morning? That morning double cheeseburger will be my last fast food item I order for a long period of time. The shirts are getting smaller, the pants are fitting tighter....it's time to cut the glut!

The first game of the day was the Class 3A third place game between the Marshall Commandos and the Springfield Senators. It was a closer game than I had anticipated, and the crowd was absolutely atrocious! Springfield jumped out to a 14-11 lead after the 1st quarter, behind three three-pointers by Zahna Medley. She finished the game with 24 points, a game-high.

The Senators posted a shutout in the 2nd quarter, outscoring Marshall 12-0, and took a 26-11 lead into halftime. Galesburg head coach Evan Massey came down during halftime. One of his seniors, Jessica Howard was being honored during halftime as an IBCA First Team All-Stater. Evan snapped a few pictures, and said a few Galesburg fans and coaches had made the trip down to see Jessica get honored. Only three girls were on the floor from the IBCA First Team, and one of those girls was Zahna Medley, her team playing in this game. Her team stayed on the floor to give her a loud ovation. It was pretty disappointing that Bolingbrook or Whitney Young did not bring their team, and have their players come out...since they were both in town and playing later in the day.

Springfield put up 20 more points in the 3rd quarter, and had a 46-27 lead heading into the 4th quarter. Marshall made a nice run in the final eight minutes, but fell short 53-43. Keshawnee Alley scored 18 points to lead Marshall.

Springfield medal ceremony

The Senators should be a top ten preseason team in Class 3A again, graduating only two starters (Kasi Korza and Amber Cason). Zahna Medley is an amazing guard, and has been receiving Division-one interest since she was a freshman. I really like Ashton Williams, and she could develop into a really fine player, she's a sophomore. Sophomore Meghan Fetter (6'0") played really well down low, and Kelsey Hulcher (Jr.) provides nice guard play. Sloane Chapman (5'6" So. Guard) knocked down some big shots, and the Senators also had three tall freshman see a little bit of time, Anika Webster (5'10"), Mel Blemhorst (6'0"), and Kateri Stone (5'11").

This was Marshall's 25th state finals appearance, and their 19th state trophy.

Marshall State Final Trophies
1st Place: 9
2nd Place: 3
3rd Place: 5
4th Place: 2

Name(s) of the Game: Marshall's Apiphany (Uh-piff-uh-nee) Woods and Marshall's Yowana (Yo-Wanna) Posey.

Game 149 Miles: 5

150!!!

2011-03-05T23:34:00.000-08:00

The Quest 2: 150 has been reached!!!

Two weeks before the high school basketball season ends, the Quest 2: 150 has been reached. The 150th broadcast concluded at 3:45 Saturday afternoon, March 5th at Redbird Arena. Montini beat Hillcrest for the Class 3A state championship in girl's basketball.

A full report from the four games on Saturday will come in blog form on Sunday. In addition, a recap of the numbers through 152 broadcasts.

When I was packing up after the Class 4A state championship, Dave Bernhard of the IHSA Network asked, "Are you gonna call it a season now?" I said absolutely not, I'm good for another week! There will be at least one more broadcast next week, details to come.

Game 148: Galesburg vs. Peoria Notre Dame (Boy's Basketball)

2011-03-05T06:53:00.000-08:00

Regional Championship at Richwoods HS

Game 148
Galesburg vs. Peoria Notre Dame (Boy's Basketball)
Class 3A Regional Championship (@ Richwoods)
(3/4/11)

Following my drive-thru trip to Popeye's, I was on the road. It was between 4:00 and 5:00 on a Friday, so the traffic was a little tricky getting out of Bloomington. Even the interstate from Bloomington to Peoria was pretty jammed up.

I pulled up behind Jimmie Carr at the stoplight across the street from Richwoods High School. He pulled into the gas station, getting his lottery ticket. It was raining, but very warm (for early March). When I left in the morning to Bloomington, I walked out with my coat on. I quickly realized there was no need for a coat today. When I drove through Peoria, I had considered putting the coat on, but saw one of the banks reading 58 degrees.

There was not a soul in the gym at Richwoods, and I felt that I was running a little later than normal, it was about 5:45. Jimmie was the second one to arrive, and just a few minutes later the WGIL guys, Brad Bennewitz and Jim Lee came in. They had eaten at Five Guys Burgers, a joint I have yet to try, but they said it was really good...a little pricy, but very good. Jimmie had gone to Chili's.

Speaking of eating out, there is an unwritten rule of being a "road warrior," that you do not eat at a restaurant that you have back home. This was a topic of discussion before the game on Twitter, as Todd Rudolph of the Galesburg Register-Mail had tweeted he went to Buffalo Wild Wings. His cohort at the Register-Mail tweeted back that he broke the rules of traveling the road by eating somewhere that was back home, adding #boring. Rudolf defended his decision, saying it was based on time. Don O'Brien of the Quincy Herald-Whig was also in on this Twitter talk. Speaking of dining, and Twitter, Dennis Jacobs was one of the first Silver Streaks fans to arrive, and he came up and talked with us for a few minutes. He had tweeted to me in reply to my Popeye's selection, that he and his wife had dined at Avanti's.

Here's where I would rank my top five restaurants on the road, but it would be pretty boring since I don't have much time to do the sit-down places. I like to arrive at the gym early and get things prepared, so if I eat before a game it's in the car. After the game, I speed home to blog and update the website, so it's a meal on the go again.

Another fan who came up and talked was Eric Lieber. Speaking of dining, he runs Hungry Hobo in Galesburg. We talked about the Class 3A/4A state finals. His daughter is Silver Streak Jessica Lieber.

As I scanned the crowd, I noticed Ryan Ricketts on the other end of the bleachers. He had asked me to burn a copy of the Richwoods/Galesburg football game for him, it was Senior Night and the Silver Streaks lost by just a touchdown to the highly ranked Knights. It seemed like every week I would forget about getting him the copy, until I was on the road to a game. Finally, two weeks ago, I put a couple blank CD's in my laptop bag, so I could burn them at the gym. With plenty of time, I popped the CD's out for him, although I did have to do a little editing because each cut was over 80 minutes allowed on CD. It was also fitting because my guest announcer for the game was Silver Streaks basketball coach Mike Reynolds.

Jimmie went down to interview Peoria Notre Dame head coach Eddie Matthews, but came back and said that coach Reynolds was in a hurry. I walked down to the other end of the upper section at Richwoods where our broadcast location was, and conducted the pregame with Reynolds. In an odd twist, Matthews came over and sat behind us just after I started the interview. In Jimmie's pregame with Matthews, he mentioned he had never seen a coach listen to another coaches interview, and he replied it was a time management issue. After the interviews, Reynolds commented on Matthews' red shirt. Eddie said it was Brimfield red, his alma mater. Reynolds said, it should be Orion red, they beat Brimfield. Reynolds is an Orion alum, and the Chargers beat Brimfield in the Sectional semifinals earlier this week.

I had a strange feeling this morning, that Galesburg was going to pull off a monumental upset. I mentioned it on Facebook, in response to one of Todd Rudolf's Twitter feeds. Nick Vlahos of the Peoria Journal-Star commented on Todd's tweet that the line is -21.5, but anything can happen. I replied back that I had a funny, funny feeling that the talk around the state on Saturday morning would be the enormous upset after Galesburg defeats Notre Dame. I texted the same thing to Jimmie in the morning, on my way to Bloomington. I really felt that Galesburg would win by a basket. Boy, was I wrong!

Galesburg hung tough, and actually took a five-point lead in the 2nd quarter (25-20), but Notre Dame took advantage of some Silver Streaks turnovers, and capitalized. It was in this run that Max Bielfeldt also took over, scoring 11 points in the quarter alone. The biggest basket of the first half for Notre Dame, and maybe the game, came in the final seconds. Off of a Streaks turnovers, holding for the last shot in a 36-30 game, Notre Dame's David Molinari hit a three in the left corner just before the buzzer sounded, giving the Irish a 39-30 halftime lead.

The Streaks couldn't keep up in the second half, and Notre Dame outscored Galesburg 22-11 in the 3rd quarter, and went on to cruise to a 17-10 4th quarter advantage. Notre Dame improved to 28-0 with a 78-51 win. Bielfeldt finished with a game-high 28 points. Molinari had 13 points, and Cody Gilfillan added 10 points. Dalton Davis led Galesburg with 15 points. Chad Thompson scored 14 points, and Ryan McElmurry added 11 points.

All five starters graduate for Galesburg, and they had a heck of a season, finishing 25-7, and won three tournaments, the Galesburg Thanksgiving Tournament, Charleston Holiday Tournament, and Galesburg King Tournament. It's always tough to see a class go like this. Emotions were certainly running high after playing their last basketball game in a Silver Streaks uniform.

While we were packing up, Eddie Matthews came up, and asked where I was at in the Quest. He said, "Ahh...I can see why you can do all these games, there's no ring on your finger!" He has a great point! Now that would be something to talk about....a married man broadcasting 150 games in a season. Matthews asked us where we were headed next, as far as broadcasting. For me, it was back to Bloomington/Normal for the girl's basketball state finals, with next week up in the air. Brad and Jim are done for the season. Both of them said it was good working together throughout the season.

On my way back to Bloomington, I thought about next week. Over the last several days, I had considered just calling it a broadcast season after the girl's state finals. This is more due to the fact that gas prices are ranging between $3.49 and $3.59, and the nearest games next week are in Moline and Peoria. Since I broadcast for free, it's quite costly! After the Galesburg loss, I thought it would certainly put an "end" to the broadcast season, and my focus would turn to basketball. When I considered my basketball options for next week, the hunger for more basketball took over. I will be in contact with the hosts of next week's Sectionals and could add three more broadcasts to the year. I have already been in touch with Moline athletic director Todd Rosenthal, about the Class 4A Sectional at Wharton Field House. Since the Moline Maroons are playing there, I will most likely broadcast their game(s). It all depends if any outlet will broadcast next week's Peoria Sectional at Bradley University's new Coliseum. If not, I will head over on Tuesday night for the Notre Dame/Central game.

Game 148 Miles: 80

Game 147: Hillcrest vs. (Chicago) Marshall (Girl's Basketball)

2011-03-04T22:24:00.000-08:00

Hillcrest coach John Maniati during warmups

Game 147
Hillcrest vs. (Chicago) Marshall (Girl's Basketball)
Class 3A Semifinals
(3/4/11)

Marshall is the only team of the final four in Class 3A that I am not very familiar with. Of course, I am very familiar with the program, led by Dorothy Gaters and her 947 career wins and making her 25th appearance in the IHSA State Finals, but they have flown a little under the radar (or at least mine) this season.

I saw Hillcrest on Monday in the Supersectional at Pontiac. One thing I was mystified about was the antics of head coach John Maniatis. He helps the team warm up by passing his players the ball in warmups while shouting out words of inspiration. Among the things he yelled out (in suit and tie) were, "DO YOUR JOB," and "FOCUS."

The Lady Hawks certainly brought a loud and boisterous crowd. They were in the section nearest me. One of my favorite chants of the year seems simple, but it's unique in person. The student section shouts out, "HEEEEEEL-CREST, HEEEEL-CREST...." They do it with style!

There was a life size Kermit the Frog in attendance for this game, sitting in Section G, behind one the baskets near the top row.

Just like they did in the Supersectional on Monday, Hillcrest jumped out to an early lead, 9-0 midway through the 1st quarter. Marshall bounced back, and it was 16-12 after one quarter. The Commandos are without leading scorer Shantiera Miller (on crutches). Even with Miller on the roster, they have just 10 girls listed...now just 9.

Hillcrest took a 28-19 lead into halftime. The IBCA All-State teams were brought out during the 1st half. Here is the IBCA Class 3A/4A 1st Team All-State

Ariel Massengale (Bolingbrook Sr.)
Morgan Tuck (Bolingbrook Jr.)
Jewell Lloyd (Niles West Jr.)
Mariah Smith (Richwoods Sr.)
Emmonnie Henderson (Edwardsville So.)
Linnae Harper (Whitney Young So.)
Kat Yelle (Geneva Sr.)
Katie Meador (Salem Jr.)
Zahna Medley (Springfield Jr.)
Whitney Holloway (Montini Sr.)
Melissa Dixon (Johnsburg Sr.)
Megan Rogowski (Hersey Sr.)
Brooke Schulte (Breese Mater Dei Jr.)
Chanise Jenkins (Whitney Young Sr.)
Jessica Howard (Galesburg Sr.)

Other players in this weekend's state finals that earned IBCA All-State honors are; Kasi Korza (Springfield - 3rd team), Marquiesha Coleman (Marshall - 3rd team), Kianna Johnson (Whitney Young - 3rd team), Octavio Crump (Zion-Benton - 3rd team), Taylor Tuck (Bolingbrook - 3rd team), Juanita Robinson (Zion-Benton - 3rd team), Whitney Adams (Montini - 3rd team), Yolanda De La Torre (Hillcrest - 4th team), Shannise Heady (Hillcrest - 4th team), Michelle Maher (Maine South - 4th team), Kiki Wilson (Montini - Special Mention), Shantierra Miller (Marshall - Special Mention), Keshawnee Alley (Marshall - Special Mention), Cabrianna Capers (Bolingbrook - Special Mention), Alexis Lloyd (Whitney Young - Special Mention).

Marshall kept it close midway through the 3rd quarter, and it was a 30-27 game with 4:45 to play in the 3rd. That's when the wheels fell off for Marshall. The Commandos committed turnovers on 5 consecutive possessions, with the last resulting in a technical foul being assessed on Brianna Walker, upset with a jump ball call. Hillcrest went on a run, and outscored Marshall 37-24 in the 2nd half on their way to a 65-43 win.

During one timeout, Hillcrest came back on the floor before the horn sounded, and were told to go back into the huddle. Coach Maniati looked puzzled by this fact. It also happened in the Springfield/Montini game.

Samirah Ali led Hillcrest with 18 points, while Jasmine Sanders added 15 points, and Karlisa Harris pitched in 14 points. Hillcrest committed 17 turnovers, but forced 26 turnovers. Marshall was led by Marquiesha Coleman's 15 points and Keshawnee Alley's 14 points. Hillcrest 6'3" sophomore Lorielle Little finished with 4 blocks in 7 minutes of action.

With the win, Hillcrest will face Montini for a state championship for the 2nd year in a row. Two of the four classes will have exact repeats in the state title games (Quincy Notre Dame vs. Bloomington Central Catholic in Class 2A).

After the game, I quickly packed up and headed out. My first stop was to Baymont Inn & Suites, my home for the weekend. I checked in and dropped off my bag before seeking yet another fast food joint for the old lunch/dinner combo.

Basically, I was just looking for a drive-thru close to the hotel, on my way to Peoria for the next broadcast. Since I failed to make the turn onto Veteran's Parkway, I ended up next to Popeye's. This was perfect, because I rarely have Popeye's. I opted for the 3-piece chicken tenders value meal, which came with a biscuit (putting KFC biscuits to shame!), and I went with the mashed potatos and gravy for my side (not a good choice for eating while driving). This was the perfect option, because most fast food meals don't fill you up, per se. This certainly did. It was like a 3-course meal for $6.57. I was pleased, and off to Peoria for a Class 3A Regional title tilt between the Galesburg Silver Streaks and the Peoria Notre Dame Irish....

Game 147 Miles: 3 (Redbird Arena to hotel)

Game 146: Springfield vs. Montini (Girl's Basketball)

2011-03-04T21:55:00.000-08:00

Packed and ready for the weekend

Game 146
Springfield vs. Montini (Girl's Basketball)
Class 3A Semifinals (@ Redbird Arena)
3/4/11

Giving myself two hours, I wanted to be on the road out of Macomb at 9:00 a.m. on Friday morning, heading over to Bloomington. Since I did most of my prep work and filled out all of the day's scorebooks on Thursday night, I had little to get done in the morning before leaving.

Thank goodness for Garmin! When I first moved to Macomb, I looked at a state map to get to Bloomington. I took Route 136 across the state, and missed my turn in Havana. I drove almost to Springfield before realizing I was headed in the wrong direction. This was several years ago when my cell phone was slightly smaller than the "Zack Morris phone" from Saved by the Bell, and cell phone towers were almost non-existent in rural places like, Mason County.

Due to the lack of any cell reception, I had to use a pay phone at the Casey's in San Jose....once I finally got back to Route 136. I had no idea how to use a pay phone, and the clerk looked at me like I was asking her what year it was. She was dumbfounded that I didn't know how to use a pay phone. In my defense, the only time I used a pay phone was when I was a kid and growing up in a small town, there wasn't much to do...so we would hang out at the Community Center/park, and make prank phone calls. Weren't those days great?! You could make prank phone calls, and the person on the other end had no idea where the call was coming from! Caller I.D. has taken all of the fun out of prank calls.

Anyway, with Garmin, I just head to Peoria and jump on I-474 in Bartonville, and cruise over on I-74 to Bloomington. It's a good drive, it's almost two hours, but it doesn't seem like it.

I arrived at Redbird Arena around 10:45 and checked in with Matt Troha and picked up my media packet and found my seat. A great spot on press row, just a few feet from half court.

With plenty of time, I set up the equipment and finished the rest of the prep, which consisted of getting starters and calculating some stats. The game started as cold as you can get for the Springfield Senators, getting shut out in the first quarter. It was Montini on top 17-0 after eight minutes.

The Lady Broncos extended that lead to 19-0, before Springfield scored early in the 2nd quarter. From that point on, the Senators battled back, and it was a 29-17 game at halftime. This game featured three of the five first team Associated Press All-Staters. Whitney Adams (North Carolina) and Whitney Holloway (Notre Dame) represent Montini, while Zahna Medley (junior receiving countless D-1 offers) represents Springfield.

Both teams scored 10 points in the 3rd quarter, with Montini taking a 39-27 lead into the 4th quarter. Springfield chipped into that lead, and came to within 6 points, trailing 44-38 midway through the 4th quarter, however Montini was able to make free throws down the stretch. The Broncos were 14-16 from the free throw line in the 4th quarter, and 20-24 at the line for the game.

In the first half, Montini was in foul trouble, picking up 6 quick fouls to Springfield's 1. It evened out, and Montini had 9 fouls in the first half to Springfield's 5. It was much different with Springfield fouling late, and the Senators finished with 15 fouls in the 2nd half, to Montini's 8.

Montini outscored Springfield 16-12 in the 4th quarter, and the Lady Broncos advance to the Class 3A state championship game for the 2nd year in a row, winning 55-39. Kiki Wilson scored 18 points for Montini, and Whitney Holloway added 15 points. Zahna Medley scored 13 points to lead Springfield, and Sloane Chapman finished with 10 points.

Six of the ten starts were seniors. The only underclassmen were Montini junior Tianna Brown, and a trio of Senators, Zahna Medley (Jr.), Kelsey Hulcher (Jr.), and Ashton Williams (So.). Just because Montini starts four seniors doesn't mean they won't reload. The Lady Broncos feature a pair of 6'4" sophomores in Malayna Johnson (3 points, 4 rebounds) and Diamond Thompson. Both are receiving a lot of interest from Division-1 programs. Johnson is the younger sister of Michala Johnson, who is averaging about 5 minutes/game at UCONN.

Game 146 Miles: 115

Game 145: Galesburg vs. Richwoods (Boy's Basketball)

2011-03-03T18:58:00.000-08:00

Richwoods High School

Game 145
Galesburg vs. Richwoods (Boy's Basketball)
Class 3A Regionals (@ Richwoods)
(3/2/11)

The 145th game of the Quest was scheduled in Peoria. Now that we are in complete postseason mode, the travel is getting further, and time is getting shorter, hence a longer wait between blog entries.

I have never broadcasted a basketball game at Richwoods High School, but did broadcast the Class 5A Semifinal football playoff game that Richwoods hosted against Sacred Heart-Griffin. That game would probably go down as one of my favorite broadcasts of all-time.

Speaking of favorite all-time broadcasts, this is a question that is asked of me on countless occasions, and it's really hard to answer on the spot. Over the years, I have kept a running count of my favorites, and here are a few in no particular order (note: I am sure I'm missing a few)

1) United vs. Cobden Class 1A State Softball Championship (2009). By far, my favorite broadcast of all-time. Can you deny a state championship that goes 19 innings, and a pitcher (United's Katie Bertelsen) strikes out 34...yes 34, batters. Far and away my top game to broadcast.

2) Richwoods vs. Sacred Heart-Griffin Class 5A Semifinal Playoffs (2009). The host Knights were a big underdog to Ken Leonard's crew from Springfield, but Richwoods held a coming-out party for freshman running back Kendrick Foster.

3) Bushnell-Prairie City vs. North Fulton boy's basketball (2003-04). This game not only went to overtime, double overtime....nor triple overtime, but FOUR overtimes. A fun game to broadcast, my buddy Quincy Bejster was on color commentary. He is now working for Larry Bostwick down in the Jacksonville area.

4) Knoxville @ Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley Class 2A 2nd round football playoffs (2004). GCMS ran the "ghost man" play early in the game, the same play that would beat them in the end of this shootout. It was little used sophomore Robbie Hinkle (now a senior at Monmouth College, where he is starring in baseball), who scored the game-winning touchdown.

5) Orion @ Macomb boy's basketball (2005-06). It was a regular season matchup, but the teams went back-and-forth....and back again. There were some serious post game fireworks after this heated battle. Macomb went on to the Class A state finals in Peoria.

6) December 28th, 2010 (Galesburg Girl's Basketball). It was a pair of games, in which the Silver Streaks broke their own state record in an 8:00 a.m. game against Paris....then just hours later tied that same record against Rantoul at the Charleston Holiday Tournament. Galesburg went on to set the NATIONAL record for three-pointers made in a single season.

At the end of the season, I will recap the 2010-11 Quest 2: 150 broadcast season, and list off a number of my favorites.

The last time Jimmie had broadcasted a game at Richwoods, he said he was on the floor, next to the scorer's table. Athletic Director Daniel Camp had emailed me back and said we would be in the southwest balcony. Once we arrived at the gym, Jimmie said it had changed quite a bit since the last time we was there.

One of the assistant coaches came up and talked with us. Coach Jenkins said he has a son that is going to school at Knox. Josh Jenkins was a red shirt for the Prairie Fire this season, he is a Woodruff graduate, from the final class at the now deactivated school. He said he was going to send him a text to listen to our broadcast. He has another son on the Knights, Dillon Jenkins, a junior. They are no relation to another Jenkins in the Richwoods starting lineup, Will.

The programs weren't set out yet, so we exchanged rosters and copied them down. We had a nice perch in the corner of the balcony, and Jenkins said the door downstairs would be locked, so there wouldn't be too much through-traffic.

The view from above

One of the biggest struggles on the road before a broadcast is finding a place to hang our WAIK banner. The balcony had bars across, and if I hung the banner over the balcony, it would obstruct my view. If I hung the banner from the lower railing, it would be obstructed by fans in the back row of the lower section. In the end, I decided on hanging it on the wall at the very top. It worked quite nicely.

Assistant coach Troy Noble and his wife were in the gym before the rest of the team. They had come to Peoria earlier in the day, but he said he did NOT get dragged to the mall. The biggest question of the night was who the Silver Streaks would send out in the three-point shootout. Noble made mention of it, and I interrupted so I could take a guess. Jimmie and I talked about this on the way over to Peoria.

My four guesses were; Ryan Carl, Stefan Simic, Chad Johnson, and Zachary Wilke. I was 2-4, as Carl and Johnson were correct. However, the other two shooters were Austin Gernant and Trimaine Carson. I don't think Carson has attempted a three-pointer all season. He won a shootout against Wilke in practice, in fact he knocked down six of ten in the corners (impressive!). Both Carl and Gernant advanced to Friday's shootout, hitting eight apiece.

Former Galesburg radio man Jon Raymond was in the gym, and sat behind us. He works in radio in Peoria now. I don't know Jon too well, but we have been in the same fantasy football league for several years. In fact, we used to do a live draft at Crappy's, but have gone online the last few years.

Girl's basketball coach Evan Massey stopped up to the broadcast table, and was telling me about a big Galesburg victory over a very strong Richwoods team in 1976, a squad that featured Richwoods girl's basketball player Mariah Smith's dad, Mark Smith. That game came a year after a 55-point blowout loss over Galesburg at Richwoods.

Galesburg took an early lead 11-10. The Silver Streaks had a pair of plays of the game in the first half. The first play came late in the 1st quarter on an ally-oop two-handed slam dunk by Chad Thompson. The second play of the game was bigger in the scheme of the game and momentum. In a 25-23 game, Richwoods had the ball in the final 30 seconds. With 10 seconds remaining, Brandon Thompson picked the pocket of a Knights guard, and took it in and scored with just a few ticks of the clock, and Galesburg went into the break leading 27-23.

Richwoods went on a short run in the second half, but Dalton Davis hit a couple big outside shots to keep the Streaks in it. Richwoods led by one point at the end of the 3rd quarter, but Galesburg went on an 18-0 run that carried over from the final minute of the 3rd quarter throughout most of the 4th quarter. The Streaks outscored the Knights 16-2 in the 4th quarter to win, 61-45.

Brandon Thompson finished with a game-high 31 points, and was our easy winner for the First Glass Breakout Player of the Game. No other Silver Streak scored in double figures. Nate Desjardins scored 15 points to lead Richwoods. Preston Wells scored 13 points, despite scoring his team's first 11 points.

After the game, coach Mike Reynolds talked in the post game show about the win over a good Richwoods team, and how some people wouldn't give Richwoods credit as a good team. This comment was made to various negative commenters on the Galesburg Register-Mail website, where they comment below game stories and do not give credit to the basketball teams. It's funny that these people with nothing better to do, than criticize 16 and 17 year old kids, make excuses for a basketball program that has collectively (boy's and girl's) won 53 games, and have a 53-14 record.

Knuttel Pronunciation
When I broadcast the Richwoods football game in the fall of 2009, I am pretty sure the pronunciation on Tim Knuttel was (Kuh-noo-tull). Before the game, coach Jenkins said that he calls him (Nut-tull), and I believe I heard the P.A. announcer pronounce it, (Kuh-nut-tull).

Game 145 Miles: 220

The Quest is Featured in Sports Illustrated's Hot Clicks!

2011-03-03T15:54:00.000-08:00

The Quest 2: 150 is mentioned in Sports Illustrated's P.M. Hot Clicks for Thursday (3/3/11). It's a blurb right below the picture of the fairly (note: heavy sarcasm on the word fairly) attractive photo of model Lucy Pinder. LINK

The Quest on TV and the 150th Broadcast Scheduled

2011-03-02T21:43:00.000-08:00

Broadcast #145 took place tonight at Richwoods High School in Peoria. A game blog will follow on Thursday evening. The Quest 2: 150 was featured this week on WGEM-TV, and the 150th broadcast has been set.

A big thanks to Ben Marth and Matt Krocheski who ran a story on WGEM-TV in Quincy on The Quest 2: 150. I spoke with Matt at the Class 1A/2A girl's basketball state finals last weekend.

With the Galesburg victory over Richwoods on Wednesday night in the Regional semifinals, it will make the Class 3A girl's basketball state championship game on Saturday the 150th broadcast. Here is this week's remaining broadcast schedule...

Game 146: Montini vs. Springfield (Class 3A Girl's Basketball Semifinals)
Game 147: (Chicago) Marshall vs. Hillcrest (Class 3A Girl's Basketball Semifinals)
Game 148: Galesburg vs. Peoria Notre Dame (Class 3A Regional Championship)
Game 149: Class 3A 3rd Place Game
Game 150: Class 3A State Championship
Game 151: Class 4A 3rd Place Game
Game 152: Class 4A State Championship

Game 144: Galesburg vs. Hillcrest (Girl's Basketball)

2011-03-01T18:36:00.000-08:00

Galesburg crowd at Pontiac Supersectional

Game 144
Galesburg vs. Hillcrest
Class 3A Supersectional (@ Pontiac)
(2/28/11)

Never would have I guessed that I would be broadcasting a Class 3A Supersectional for the Galesburg Silver Streaks at the start of the season. That's what has made this run so magical for Galesburg girl's basketball. On a Monday night in February, the odds were stacked against the Streaks, but they persevered...

I had left my Garmin in our radio station vehicle over the weekend, which turned out to be a good thing because it usually guides me down the wrong exit in Bloomington/Normal. Using just my memory and the Interstate signs heading to Redbird Arena for the Class 1A/2A state finals on Saturday, I reached my destination without a hitch. Normally, my Garmin screws me up if the satellite is lagging on how far I am from the exit, and I take the wrong exit. Human: 1, Technology: 0.

Since getting the Garmin unit a few years ago, I have not had to rely on the Mapquest directions, which used to be horribly wrong. I remember when I made the move to Macomb several years ago, Mapquest said it was a 2:30 hour drive, when in reality it's about 1 hour, 40 minutes. Fast forward eight years, maybe Mapquest had improved it's time estimates.

Mapquest improved, but not too much. The distance between Galesburg and Pontiac was pegged about 45 minutes longer than the actual trip. Jimmie Carr and I left town a few minutes after 2:00, putting us in Pontiac shortly after 4:00, even with a stop in Morton for gas.

We drove around Pontiac and checked out the downtown, before heading out to the high school just before 5:00. Of course, the doors were locked and the gym was nearly empty. It looked like wrestling practice had just wrapped up in one of the gym's balconies.

There were two tables on the nearest balcony to the main gym doors, so I placed the equipment there. One of the Pontiac officials was in the gym, and I asked if he was Ryan Pearson, the athletic director. He was not, he introduced himself as Nate Nollen. I knew Nate, the former Seneca assistant coach under Doug Evans. He is a Macomb native, now an assistant at Pontiac. We reminisced of the 2005-06 Class A state finals, when his Irish beat IVC for a state championship. I was covering the Macomb Bombers in their run to Carver Arena, in which they fell in the Quarterfinals to the Dick Corn-led Pinckneyville Panthers.

The WAIK banner hung proudly over the balcony at Pontiac High School. I brought home banners with, the "home" and "away" banner. The away banner is a little smaller, because you never know if there will be room to hang one. The "home" banner is much larger, and brighter and newer, and has our website address and "Home of Silver Streaks Sports" printed on it.

Only about 15-20 minutes elapsed before the Galesburg Silver Streaks team arrived. The WGIL radio crew of Tom Meredith and Eric Gibson were right behind. Originally, Pontiac had both of us at our broadcast booth, but to keep the signals seperate, they set up a table in the opposite balcony for them.

The athletic director, Ryan Pearson, arrived in the gym. Pearson suffered a broken leg and is currently in a wheel chair. I talked with him and he gave us a rundown of the night and where things are located, and I submitted the $50 broadcast rights payment.

Just before the doors opened, there was a large contingent of Galesburg fans waiting to enter. By 6:15, the fan buses had started arriving. In total, Galesburg brought 3 fan buses, and they nearly filled the entire one side of Pontiac's gym. I never did find the exact gym capacity. I did find a sign that said the west balcony capacity was 834. In the lower section of the west side, the capacity was 512. I know this because there were eight rows of bleachers, holding 64 people in each row (bleachers were numbered). It appeared as though the east balcony seated more people than the west balcony, and the lower section on the east side appeared to be the same. I would guess the capacity of the Pontiac gym to be near 3,000.

I was also very impressed by the Hillcrest fan section, Hawks fans were certainly outnumbered by Silver Streaks supporters, but they did bring a nice crowd. Not long after we set up, I went down to get my pregame interview done with coach Evan Massey, to get things over with. I had talked with Hillcrest coach John Maniatis earlier in the day.

For some reason, I was very nervous. I wouldn't quite call it nerves, more like butterflies in the stomach. At first I thought it was because of the equipment and being in a gym I had never broadcasted in, but as the game neared, I felt it was more nerves for the Silver Streaks and the game itself.

IHSSN hosted a live chat, and it was launched at about 6:45. There was a total of 37 different readers in the chat room throughout the night. Hillcrest were the visitors and they took the floor first, while the "home" Silver Streaks entered after the Hawks.

Game Time
The Hilcrest Lady Hawks jumped out to a 12-2 lead, but Galesburg clawed right back, and it was a 20-16 game after the first quarter. The Silver Streaks run continued in the 2nd quarter, and the underdogs took a 34-32 lead at the break behind a boisterous Galesburg fan section.

The Streaks were 9-24 from the three-point line in the first half, and forced 13 Hillcrest turnovers. In the 3rd quarter, Galesburg took a 5-point lead early in the frame, but then turnovers and cold shooting did Galesburg in and Hillcrest took a 52-44 lead heading into the 4th quarter.

Galesburg committed 9 turnovers in the 3rd quarter, and got outscored 20-10. The fight never stopped for the Galesburg girls in the 4th quarter, when Hillcrest led by as many as 11 points.

With the Lady Hawks leading 70-66 in the final minute, Tai Peachey stole a Shannise Heady in-bounds pass and went up for a layup. It was blocked by Heady. We had a very poor angle to see if contact had been made, but it happened near the Galesburg bench, and coach Massey said in the post game show there was contact.

With just over 0:30 to play in the game, Jessica Howard knocked down her 6th three-pointer of the night, which was her 139rd of the season. That breaks the IHSA single-season record set by Kassie Drew of Anna-Jonesboro (138). Howard finished with 22 points, which tied Jahmia Phillips for game-high honors.

The deficit was just too large to overcome, and Hillcrest advanced to the state finals with a 77-70 victory. The Lady Hawks took 2nd place a year ago, falling to Montini in the state championship game. Three starters from that squad are with this team. Heady has received offers from Michigan State, South Carolina, Minnesota, and a host of other Division-One schools.

Galesburg finished just 8-20 from the free throw line, and went just 5-13 from the line in the 4th quarter. Hillcrest went 10-18 from the line in the 4th quarter. Heady finished with 16 points behind Phillips, while Samirah Ali scored 13 points, and Karlisa Harris added 10 points. Jamie Johnson was the only other Silver Streak to hit double figures, scoring 10 points. Galesburg went 14-32 from outside the three-point line.

It was a bittersweet ending for the 2010-11 Silver Streaks. It was a magical run to the Elite Eight, but the pain could probably be felt a bit more with how close they were from reaching Redbird Arena against a team that featured up to four Division-One prospects.

The 2010-11 Galesburg Silver Streaks finished with 397 three-pointers made, which sets a NATIONAL record for three's made in a season. The previous record was 394 three-pointers by the 2006-07 Stockton St. Mary's (CA) team.

Coming up: The Quest 2: 150 has a culmination date!!!

Game 144 Miles: 360

The Quest 2: 150 Total Miles breaks 10,000. After 144 broadcasts, the odometer has reached 10,210 miles traveled all over the state of Illinois.

Numbers Update

2011-02-27T14:01:00.000-08:00

143 Games
15 Weeks
Beau Spencer is approaching the 150th broadcast, which could happen at Redbird Arena on Saturday March 5th during the Class 3A/4A girl's basketball state finals, a whole two weeks before the basketball seasons comes to a close.

Numbers (as of 2/27/11)
Games: 143
Weeks: 15
Miles Traveled: 9,850
Teams (different) Broadcasted: 157
Gyms Broadcasted In: 41 (I must be a homer)
Names on rosters to remember: 2,014
% to Goal: 95.33%

Game 143: Galesburg @ Moline (Boy's Basketball)

2011-02-26T15:36:00.000-08:00

Wharton Field House

Game 143
Galesburg @ Moline (Boy's Basketball)
(2/25/11)

The final game of the regular season, at the storied Wharton Field House in Moline. Galesburg is playing for a tie for 2nd place in the Western Big 6, while the host Maroons are looking to claim 2nd place outright. Moline junior guard Anthony Lindauer is also looking to become the WB6 scoring champ for the 2010-11 season. Galesburg head coach Mike Reynolds was also serving his automatic one-game suspension for picking up two technicals and ejected from the Peoria Notre Dame game on Tuesday.

Today was a "vacation" day to cover the Class 1A/2A girl's basketball state finals. When I turned in the requests, I failed to remember that the Silver Streaks had their regular season finale during the small-school girl's basketball finals. Instead of working at the office, I kept the day off, slept in, and most importantly caught up on some work.

I picked Jimmie up and we headed to Moline. Normally, I park in the main lot on the east side of the gymnasium. However, my wise old cohort directed me to the west side lot and the back entrance. "Front Row Jimmie" knows his parking spots!

A couple of the Moline custodians remarked at how early we were. I like hearing those comments, because it makes me feel like I am right on time. A broadcast goes much smoother when there is time to unwind and get a lay of the land.

We beat the Galesburg team by about 20 minutes. When the Streaks showed up, I had a conversation with sophomore coach Ryan Hart. I asked how he and girl's basketball scoring leader Jessica Howard, were related. He said they are 2nd cousins....but they are also cousins through marriage. He explained it, but I wasn't taking notes. He also talked about a couple of Galesburg freshman, Bo Purifoy and Mark Skelley, and how he probably wouldn't have them next year, as they would most likely be on varsity. In Reynolds absense, Hart was next in the pecking order to talk with Jimmie on the post game show. Acting head coach Steve Cheesman did the WGIL post game show, while Hart did the WAIK post game show.

Jimmie Carr with Ryan Hart

Coach Cheesman and I conducted the pre game interview very early on, enabling Jimmie to get Moline coach Ryan Webber. Webber is a Galesburg graduate, and Mr. Carr tends to go long with the former Silver Streak.

In passing, Cheesman and I talked a little baseball, relaying the information that Bob Schlemmer had given me regarding the 1988 Silver Streaks state championship getting honored during the IHSA state finals in Peoria this June. He mentioned that the 1971 American Legion State Tournament champions would be honored this summer. Galesburg is hosting State Tournament this July, and it's only fitting with the 40th anniversary of the Galesburg Post 285 state championship, that they be honored. Steve told me that all 15 members of that team will be returning for the ceremony.

Jimmie tracked down coach Webber, and I headed over to talk with the Galesburg assistant coaches Rob Williams and Troy Noble. Let's just say this was no MENSA meeting! Topics of our discussion included the Pontiac gym (where the Galesburg girls are playing their Supersectional on Monday), Sports Illustrated writers (namely Rick Reilly), and the photo of Galesburg Register-Mail assistant sports editor, Aaron Frey. Williams also told us that his son, Garrett, was given a nickname by an opposing player in summer league last year, that he takes offense to. Frey joined us for the conversation, and we talked about the girl's sectional title win over Richwoods. Another point of our talk was whether or not an Elite Eight appearance (Supersectional) is considered a state appearance. I had asked Matt Troha of the IHSA earlier in the day, and he confirmed my belief. When the switch was made from two classes to four classes, the IHSA no longer considers a Supersectional appearance an official state appearance.

WGIL play-by-play man Brad Bennewitz came up and asked me about my problems at Peoria Notre Dame on Tuesday. I explained what had happened, and said it was one of those broadcasts you want to forget. He related to his broadcast with the boy's at Metamora in December when they had many problems with the connection.

Jimmie Carr and Harley Knosher

In the front row of the bleachers along the base line at Wharton Field House, a pair of Moline fans were wearing referee striped shirts, with one difference. The front of their shirts, in red block letters, read "Referee Adgitator."

Knox College coaching legend Harley Knosher joined Jimmie Carr on the pregame show. I didn't have a head set on, so I will have to listen back to hear what the content of the interview was about. Knosher played basketball at Miami-Ohio with Wayne Embry.

In the first quarter, Chad Thompson drained three three-pointers for the Silver Streaks, and Galesburg led 14-6 after eight minutes. The Silver Streaks continued their hot shooting from outside, and had knocked down eight three-pointers in the first half.

Galesburg led 27-24 at halftime. Thompson had four three-pointers and both Garrett Williams and Brandon Thompson each added a pair of three-pointers. Anthony Lindauer had 13 points in the first half. He needed 19 points to surpass Chasson Randle for the Western Big 6 scoring championship this season. He would secure that title on a three-pointer in the 4th quarter, and finished with a team-high 23 points.

At the half, Jimmie was joined by Frey. They touched on a lot of things including tonight's game, the season, and the girl's game on Thursday.

Aaron Frey of Galesburg Register-Mail

The Maroons chipped back in during the 3rd quarter and outscored Galesburg 11-10. The Silver Streaks led 37-35 heading into the 4th quarter.

A back-and-forth game in the final frame. Chad Thompson scored 9 points in the last eight minutes, and finished with a game-high 26 points.

In the final minute, Garrett Williams had a big rebound on the run, dished off to Ryan McElmurry for a layup, securing the Galesburg victory. The Silver Streaks would finish out for a 51-46 win. Galesburg committed 13 turnovers, while Moline turned it over 12 times. Galesburg finishes the season with a 24-6 record, while Moline wraps up the regular season at 17-12.

Fortunately, nothing ugly happened after the game. As Galesburg walked off the court and into the tunnel to the locker room, a swarm of Moline students hovered around, creating some tense moments. Very proud of Galesburg's Trimaine Carson and Dalton Davis, the last two off the court. Both of them looked straight ahead and ignored the Moline taunts.

Following the game, Jimmie and I meandered to Montana Jack's, near the airport. I ordered a Mushroom & Swiss Burger with Fries. It was delicious, and I didn't think to take a picture, d'oh! I really enjoy mushroom & swiss burgers, but the fast food chains have that sauce and they are pretty sloppy and not enjoyable. This burger had the small full mushrooms (not exactly sure what they're real name is), with the swiss cheese on the burger like a cheeseburger. We were entertained by a lady sitting next to Jimmie at the bar. It was late, so we didn't want to bother a waitress out on the floor (likely excuse). When our neighbor learned that we were in town covering high school basketball, she said she was from: "Daaaaavenport Sssshen.....trrrrrl." Another line..."I manage 336 apartments, it's tough....that's why I drink."

Game 143 Miles: 230

Game 142: Galesburg vs. Richwoods (Girl's Basketball)

2011-02-25T10:36:00.000-08:00

Galesburg Silver Streaks: Sectional Champs

Game 142
Galesburg vs. Richwoods (Girl's Basketball)
Class 3A Sectional Championship (@ Metamora)
(2/23/11)

Editorial
It's no secret that I follow the Galesburg Silver Streaks more than any other team. That's because my job during the day is Sports Director at WAIK in Galesburg (and WMOI/WRAM in Monmouth), and that's what pays the bills. IHSSN is just a hobby, and for now a not-for-profit entity.

In my broadcasting years, I have followed many teams, and there have been some teams you can really get attached to when covering. Over the course of my career, I try not to play "homer" and favor any team. Sure, there is a higher level of enthusiasm when the "home" team is on a roll, but I call it down the middle.

This 2010-11 Galesburg Silver Streaks girl's basketball team is special, and I am (hopefully) going to look back on a long broadcasting career and say this was one of the funnest times of my basketball broadcasting career. I have gotten to know this team unlike any other team I've covered. I spent many summer days and nights in John Thiel Gymnasium covering their summer leagues and shootouts, spent the day at their first practice in November, and have now covered 34 games with the Streaks.

When I covered the first practice in November, I sensed a high level of chemistry and team bonding with these girls. From the girls joking with Jessica Howard about wearing long sleeves in their practice, to Jamie Johnson's calling out a team dinner at her house.

As the year went on, it felt as though that chemistry built with each game, and more than not, each game ended with a win, further building the team's bond. I could sense it with the coaching staff, too. This is just the second full season of broadcasting their games, but I covered about 1/4 of the season in 2008-09. Coach Evan Massey seemed to be enjoying his role much more this season, even after a rare loss. In fact, when Moline came to town and shellacked the Silver Streaks on their own Senior Night, you would have never known the end result on the scoreboard with Evan's demeanor after the game. Massey also has two assistant coaches that the girls can relate to, in Jacque Gohlinghorst and Andie Allison. If they were giving out Manager of the Year Awards, Sarah Main and Lauren Riggs would be my joint selection. When each was chosen to raise the flag before a boy's basketball game, the list of activities each was involved could be counted in minutes, not seconds.

Winning 28 of 34 games certainly makes coming to the gym to cover these girls an added level of excitement, but even with an exit in the Regionals, I would have said that this group of girls has been one of the most enjoyable groups of high school basketball players I have ever been around, and this group now has a well-deserved trip to the Elite Eight at the Pontiac Supersectional on Monday night. The three-pointers are just an added bonus! So, if anyone wants to accuse me of favoring the 2010-11 Galesburg Silver Streaks....go ahead, I'll agree with you.

Sectional Championship
Good news before we headed off to Metamora, all equipment was accounted for, in fact our original broadcast board had been fixed (and certainly tested!), so there would be no hangups like Tuesday night.

Jimmie and I arrived in Metamora, and he directed me to pull into the Redbird Mini Mart so he could pick up his Lotto tickets. I grabbed a large Dasani water and a Hostess Lemon Pie. I've probably touched on my bottled water preferences, so I'll just touch on it, here. Dasani is my favorite, with Aquafina in second. It's all about the plastic bottle they use. Evian is my least favorite.

The team bus just beat us to the high school, as it passed by when we were pulling out of the gas station. We arrived at the gym and staked our claim right behind the scorer's table. There was a boy's basketball player shooting around with Metamora boy's basketball coach Jim Youngman. I assumed it was one of his high school players. No, it was Jim's son....a 6th grader!!! Jimmie Carr spoke to the elder Youngman and coach said he was projected to be 6'7". Jimmie was raving about the kid, and said he's one of the best 6th graders he has ever seen. Keep an eye on this kid!

I went to hang the WAIK banner, but the duct tape was in a different bag in the car, so I went outside to fetch it. On my way back in, WGIL broadcasters Tom Meredith and Eric Gibson were walking up. Eric said, "Geez, we thought we would beat you tonight." I responded that we were a little behind tonight, and if it weren't for Jimmie's Lotto habit, we still would have beat the team.

Worst Kept Secret
I spoke with Richwoods head coach Todd Hursey on Thursday afternoon. Before our interview, I wanted to get his starters for the game to make out my notes. He went silent for a moment, and then said, "well....can I tell you something and promise that it won't get back to Galesburg?" I said I could that. He explained that All-Stater and Princeton-bound senior Mariah Smith was unavailable for the game due to an illness. In fact, she was hospitalized the day before, and doctors ran tests, but fortunately everything came back negative. In addition, 6'1" junior Center Breanna Baker was ruled academically ineligible.

This is one of those situations I hate to be in, in my position. This is major breaking news, but I was told in confidence. I wrestled with the idea of releasing it or not, but in the end I want to uphold my honesty and trustworthiness. Sure, many other media outlets would have broken that code of ethics, but I feel that if I miss the boat on this story, I can make it up in other ways.

It turned out, that this was the worst kept secret of the week. Former Metamora baseball coach Bob Schlemmer told me he received two text messages filling him in on the news. Coach Massey had found out, apparently through a trickle-down of sources.

Schlemmer
Always good to see Bob Schlemmer. We talked for several minutes, mostly about baseball. He said he was heading up the baseball state finals in some capacity, I wasn't taking notes. He mentioned that they would be honoring baseball state champions within a 50-mile radius during the Class 1A/2A state finals in June, held at O'Brien Field, home of the Peoria Chiefs. Included in that honor roll would be the 1988 Galesburg Silver Streaks Class AA state championship team. And....if you would like to hear the broadcast of that game, check this out. 1988 Class AA Baseball State Championship.

Game Time
Before the game, the 3-point shootout was being contested. The first four shooters knocked down six three-pointers each. The fifth, Sterling's Steph Echebarria broke the trend and drained seven.

Without Richwoods' two starters, I was much more confident in a Galesburg win, even though I felt they could win even with a healthy Knights squad. Little did I know that the Silver Streaks would end the night with a 28-point win (74-46).

The Streaks jumped out of the gates making five of seven three-pointers in the 1st quarter, taking a 27-7 lead after eight minutes. It was more of the same in the 2nd quarter, and Galesburg held an unbelievable 54-15 lead at halftime. The Streaks went 10-14 from three-point territory, and Jessica Howard was an amazing 7-9. She finished with eight three-pointers and a game-high 24 points.

Minutes Before Sectional Title

Galesburg came out flat in the 3rd quarter, and only scored 8 points, and Richwoods had 14 points. The Silver Streaks played their sophomores throughout the 4th quarter and played a lot of stall basketball in the final eight minutes to cruise to a Sectional championship victory.

GHS Students Rush the Floor

Richwoods committed 26 turnovers, while Galesburg turned the ball over 23 times. The Streaks finished 12-19 from three-point, and have now made 383 three's on the season, building on their IHSA record.

Jimmie Carr talked with Galesburg sophomore Jessica Lieber after the game. What's amazing about Jessica, is that if you talk to her, you would never know she's a sophomore. In fact, one night after a game Jimmie and I ran into the Lieber family at Sully's in Galesburg and had a conversation about Illini basketball. Jessica jumped right into the talk, where a lot of kids her age would be tugging on their parents to get home.

Jimmie Carr & Jessica Lieber

I've covered Richwoods on a few occasions on IHSSN, and met the father of Maggie and Gabby Cunningham, Tom. He came up after the game and asked, "What time does the game start?" Richwoods loses some very talented seniors in Mariah Smith, Susan Lynd (missed 2nd half of season with ACL), Elise Tamplin, and Karissa London, but a solid nucleus returns starting with the Cunningham girls.

Supersectional Preview
The Silver Streaks will face off against Hillcrest in the Pontiac Supersectional on Monday. Here are season previews I wrote for each team back in October/November.
Galesburg Preview
Hillcrest Preview

Silver Streak T-Shirts
Coach Massey sent me a note that they are selling Elite Eight T-Shirts.

Saturday 2-4pm at Thiel gym

Sunday- 2-4pm at Thiel gym

Cost $10

Game 142 Miles: 242

Game 141: Galesburg @ Peoria Notre Dame (Boy's Basketball)

2011-02-23T20:42:00.000-08:00

Gilfillan Court at Peoria Notre Dame

Game 141
Galesburg @ Peoria Notre Dame (Boy's Basketball)
(2/22/11)

Who would have thought that an early arrival and extra preparation to avoid an equipment disaster would blow up in my face? Tonight, the broadcast resembled the 84-39 final score between these two teams, and I was on wrong end...

Organization, overly prepared, and early are three things that are extremely important, and words I live by for my broadcasts. No matter how much effort is put into these three, one oversight can create a disaster. Here's my story.

In Game Blog #140, I touched on the problematic power supply for our Cellcaster unit. We are in the process of trying to secure a new power supply. Numerous phone calls have left us empty on this issue. Since I just averted a catastrophe on Monday night in Metamora with the unit, I opted for Plan B. The Cellcaster was left behind at the radio station, to try and find out if it was something that could be rewired, or soldered.

By the way, I had to Google search the spelling of solder, since it's commonly misspelled as sodder. Here's a humorous definition from Urban Dictionary.

"Soddering" - An incorrect term for 'soldering', usually used by idiots, or people with 'labtop' computers.

Tuesday afternoon, I packed the Monmouth-Roseville equipment bag for the Titans broadcast at the Mercer County Regional, as well as my own bag for the night. I made the mistake of assuming that one very important cable was with the remote mix board (where it should be). It wasn't, as I found out in Peoria later on.

The funny thing is, after picking Jimmie up in Galesburg and we hopped on Interstate 74, I had this sense of panic come over me that I didn't have the proper equipment. Apparently, I've done enough broadcasts that I have this "motherly instict," and can sense danger.

It was the dawning of disaster. Okay, I am probably exaggerating on how terrible the broadcast went, and it wasn't that bad. In fact, when I cut up audio on Wednesday, you could not tell a difference in the sound quality, however the content was lacking due to having to hold a cell phone to my face for three hours, more on that in a moment.

When we arrived at Notre Dame High School, the cheerleaders were still practicing upstairs in one end of the balcony. I talked with athletic director Matt Blackford, and he said we could set up at the table right next to the scorer's table. Jimmie had suggested all along that we broadcast from the balcony, which was where he preferred. Blackford was a little curious as to why we wanted to use that spot, and he had to fetch a table and a couple chairs.

The cheerleaders wrapped up their practice, and the bleachers were extended out. We had a very small table, but enough room to set up our remote mix board and my laptop. There was very little room to work with, which created some obstacles with the foot traffic that would be passing by.

After emptying out the equipment bag, the initial panic of forgetting something turned to reality. There was no cord that connected my cell phone to the mixer board. I had no adapters, nothing. Of course, I took the radio station vehicle, so my personal equipment for the IHSSN broadcasts was left behind in my own vehicle. It's unlikely that I had anything in that bag that would have worked, but stranger things have happened.

I searched every nook and cranny in the duffel bag, and nothing. The sophomore game was a few minutes from tipping off, and Jimmie had gone down to conduct a pregame interview with Notre Dame head coach Eddie Matthews. I made a beeline to the car, and headed off to find a Radio Shack.

Garmin is not that helpful when it comes to these emergency situations. According to Garmin, the nearest Radio Shack was 2.9 miles away. When I got to the 2nd stoplight (and where I was supposed to turn left), I spotted a Radio Shack a half block away. It was destiny, maybe Lady Luck had made the trip with me tonight.

Inside Radio Shack, I scanned the various adapters, and found no cord that I needed. One of the employees helped out, and said that they didn't have any cords with the connections I needed, but had an adapter. I said that's all I needed, and $6.48 later, I was headed back to Notre Dame.

The sophomore game was midway through the 1st quarter when I made my return, giving up a prime parking spot near the front door. Now, I was down the hill in the main parking lot. At any rate, I made the call to the radio station, and nothing. I could hear them, they couldn't hear me. I flipped every switch on the mixer board to get it to work, to no avail.

Greg Ford, back at the station, mentioned I should call U.S. Cellular, the provider of the cell phone we use. I called one store, they had nothing. I called a second store in Peoria, nothing. Strike three on the Knoxville location, and a fourth strike on yet another outlet. The last store told me that Best Buy would be the only place that would have something like that. A quick call to the Peoria Best Buy netted zero results. They instructed me to try Radio Shack, where I had just been. Knowing the Sheridan location didn't have what I was looking for, I tried the Northwoods Mall location.

By this time, it was halftime of the sophomore game. Travis at the Radio Shack mall location wasn't too confident that he had anything to help me out. I still had time to make a gamble, before using the old cell phone-to-mouth broadcast. I slowly explained what I needed, and what I had that didn't work. I'm not technical when it comes to the stereo and mono plugs, so I threw each cord setup I had to show him what DIDN'T work.

With 2:00 before the start of the 3rd quarter in the sophomore game, I was headed back out of the gym and driving to the Northwoods Mall. I had no idea where the Radio Shack location was in the mall, so I found the first mall entrance, and asked the young woman at the Verizon kiosk. She directed me downstairs next to J.C. Penney.

I took the escalator, which always reminds me of one of my favorite movies (remember, I have horrible taste in movies), Mallrats. "Listen, not a year goes by, not a year, that I don't hear about some escalator accident involving some bastard kid which could have easily been avoided had some parent - I don't care which one - but some parent conditioned him to fear and respect that escalator." - Brodie (Jason Lee of "My Name is Earl" fame)

Travis was working the counter at Radio Shack and piled together some adapters and cords, three to be exact. He plugged everything together how I would need it, and said it should work. He wasn't very convincing! Fortunately, he was extremely gracious and knocked off over 50% of the total bill. One of the adapters was $12 alone, and the total bill came to $26, but was charged a little over $12.

Jimmie had texted me as I pulled back onto Sheridan, or War Memorial, or whatever road I was on headed back to the school. He said there was just 3:00 left in the game. It was going to be a tight squeeze. Pulling into the parking lot, I gave up another good parking spot, and ended up out of the main lot, a far, far cry from the initial parking spot when we arrived (we had the closest non-handicap spot outside the front door).

Rushing back into the gym, the warmup clock was just beginning to run. I plugged in the new cord, still nothing. Flip of the switches, and still nothing. I took a deep breath, and had one cord that I didn't think to use. When I plugged it into the cell phone, I had a much clearer sound in my headphones from the station, but alas, the station couldn't hear me. It was phone-to-face the entire night!

In retrospect, I'm not sure which broadcast location would have been better. I certainly didn't enjoy our location with the tight space, and the constant traffic, however it seemed to be a tight squeeze down on the floor.

Galesburg made it a game in the first quarter, despite trailing 7-0 to start the contest. It was 17-14 after the first quarter. The Silver Streaks were also playing without top defender and starting senior guard Ryan McElmurry, sitting out a game due to violating school rules.

There were some questionable calls made in the 1st quarter that did not go the Streaks way. I am very rarely critical of officials during a game, but what transpired by this crew at Notre Dame was abhorable. Following an exchange before an in-bounds play, Austin Gernant picked up two quick fouls. On the following posession, another foul was called, and Galesburg coach Mike Reynolds was in disagreement. He was whistled very, very quickly for a technical foul. The explanation: hand gestures. This referee in particular is no stranger to controversial technical fouls. In fact, this referee may have been trying to make a "statement," in getting in coach Mike Reynolds face after the technical foul. Reynolds was issued a second technical foul moments later when he was trying to get a timeout, "earning" an ejection. The reason for technical foul number two is as laughable as the first...."unsportsmanlike conduct." The only other comment I'll make is that the best officials are the ones you don't notice. This referee is certainly not one of them, and hopefully his antics aren't rewarded with IHSA postseason assignments.

The wheels fell off after this debacle, and Peoria Notre Dame took a 39-23 lead at the half, and cruised to a 84-39 win. The loss of McElmurry in this game, and the calls that went against the Silver Streaks certainly played no part in a win or loss for Galesburg, it was 45 points for goodness sakes, but I will say that if these two teams meet up in a Class 3A Regional championship game, expect a much closer outcome.

Max Bielfeldt finished with a game-high 25 points, while teammates David Molinari (14), Sam Feehan (12), and Nick Reynolds (10) also reached double figures. Brandon Thompson scored a team-high 17 points for Galesburg. The Irish knocked down 13 three-pointers.

Notre Dame improves to 26-0 on the season. In the latest ESPN Rise Fab 50 national rankings, the Irish moved up five spots to #25 nationally. Galesburg drops to 23-6.

You can hear coach Mike Reynolds comments on the game, and his techincals online here in WAIK Sportsline.

With his ejection, Reynolds must miss the Galesburg/Moline season finale at Wharton Field House. He tells me that he will be scouting his first round Regional opponent, Richwoods, on Friday night.

In the house: Rock Island head coach Thom Sigel was at Notre Dame watching the Irish for a potential Sectional matchup. Moline head coach Ryan Webber was also in the gym getting one last look at the Silver Streaks before Friday night's game. Dartmouth was in the house, watching Max Bielfeldt. I also saw coaches from Ashford University.

Game 141 Miles: 232

Game 140: Galesburg vs. Ottawa (Girl's Basketball)

2011-02-23T19:36:00.000-08:00

Game 140
Galesburg vs. Ottawa (Girl's Basketball)
Class 3A Sectionals (@ Metamora)
(2/21/11)

The trip to Metamora started with my typical 3:00 lunch from the Subway drive-thru. However, today something happened at the drive-thru that completely drew my ire. One of my biggest pet peeves....

As I waited behind a white Bonneville in the Monmouth Subway drive-thru, the woman in the driver's seat began to pull away from the window, when she suddenly stopped after just a few short feet. It was then, that she threw out an apparently empty gas station coffee cup against the Subway building. I was shocked! Then, she tossed out her half-smoked, still-lit cigarette.

I very nearly got out of my car to approach her with the cup, but she pulled away. Littering is my biggest pet peeve. It's absolutely pure laziness. If you don't want to look at your wadded up McDonald's bag, throw it on the floor in the back seat of your car. You simply can't hold onto your trash for a five-minute drive across town to throw it in your trash can? Even after the game, I thought back to this incident, and it is purely irritating and absolutely disrepectful.

Anyway, on to basketball. I picked Jimmie up at 3:30, to make the trip over to Metamora. Galesburg has the first game of the twin bill, facing the Ottawa Pirates at 6:00. I wanted to make sure and get to the gym early (is that a surprise?), before the three-point shootout began.

The Sectional games are being held in the new gym, also called the North Gym. Ironically, the new gym is actually smaller than the old South gym. The new gym seats 1,600. The old gym seats 1,800. Metamora boy's basketball coach Jim Youngman prefers to play in the old gym, and according to one person I talked to during an earlier broadcast, it was because he liked to use the spotlights in that gym for the warmups. Not sure if there is truth to that or not.

We arrived before anyone else, except for Metamora athletic director Jared Hart, who was getting the scorer's table ready, and Metamora girl's basketball coach Steve Gorrell was setting up the three-point shootout racks. That was it, the gym was to ourselves and I staked out our claim at the press table behind the scorer's table.

One of the first things I did, was look for a place to hang the WAIK banner, that would be seen by the most people. I hung it up on the wall at the top of the bleachers behind us.

The Ottawa radio station (WCMY) crew arrived not too much later. One of their broadcasters shared an old Galesburg radio story from a game that was played out at Ottawa. This was when hard line phones were used for the broadcasts (hard lines are still used, but cell phone broadcasts account for the majority).

He said the WAIK and WGIL broadcasters got into an argument over who had the right to use the courtesy line. The Ottawa broadcaster said one of the stations called ahead and secured the line, but he appeased the other station by running over 100 feet of phone down to an office.

That reminded me of a story when I first began broadcasting with the old WHHK (Galva) and WGEN (Geneseo). We relied on the hard line broadcasts, as cell phone technology was in its infancy. In a game at Stark County in Toulon, we had to run a couple hundred feet. I recall running phone cords across the stage, down a long hallway, through another hallway, the auxiliary gym, up a flight of stairs and into the A.D.'s office or a secretary's office. Not sure how many feet it was, but it certainly had to be a few hundred feet.

It was a tight fit along press row, with us and WCMY at one table. I always joke that I get so spoiled at Thiel Gymnasium with all of the room we have, I just sprawl my stuff everywhere. I have to manage small spaces when we go on the road. It worked out well, and we had a near scare with our Cellcaster unit.

The power supply to our Cellcaster has been held together by electrical tape for over a year, and it finally started to slip in recent broadcasts. I've had to doctor it up with some duct tape, which it has held up, however during one broadcast we did get cut off at one point. As game time neared, the machine kept shorting out, giving me some anxiety for the broadcast.

I discovered that it was cutting out, due to the closeness of the workers at the scorer's table, and any type of brushing up against the cord that was hanging below, would cause it to short. Just before the pregame show, I readjusted everything, and it was smooth sailing. However, I was very wary of the situation and it really took some of my focus off the broadcast. In hindsight, it was a much better experience than the following broadcast, which you will read about in the Game 141 Blog.

My favorite name of a player from this season may just hail from Ottawa. Hanna Sakakibara (5'5" Sr.) is actually one of triplets. Her other two sisters no longer play basketball. The pronunciation of her last name is Suh-KOK-ee-bar-uh. Of course, it was pronounced about six other ways during the broadcast by yours truly. It's one of those pronunciations where I know how to say it, but then I see it spelled out halfway through saying it, completely flubbing it.

Ottawa coach Mike Cooper said a key for his team was to get a good start against the Silver Streaks. Unfortunately for the Lady Pirates, that didn't happen. Galesburg was hot! In the first minute, the Streaks knocked down a pair of three-pointers on back-to-back possessions and created four Ottawa turnovers. In fact, Galesburg scored their first 24 points from beyond the three-point line.

The Streaks jumped out to a 15-0 lead at the 3:48 mark of the 1st quarter, and went scoreless the rest of the quarter. Galesburg led 15-4 after one. In the 2nd quarter, a Jamie Johnson three-pointer (celebrating her 18th birthday) gave Galesburg the new IHSA single-season record for three-pointers, draining their 366th of the year. The old mark of 365 was set by last year's team, and to put it into perspective Crystal Lake Prairie Ridge is 3rd on the list with 260.

Galesburg led 30-19 at halftime, after a driving rebound put back by Tai Peachey at the buzzer. The Streaks went 8-27 from the three-point line in the first half.

After an offensive slowdown in the latter stages of the first quarter and throughout much of the 2nd quarter, it was important for the Streaks offense to catch fire again to start the 2nd half, otherwise Ottawa could sneak back in. There would be no sneaking back in, as the Streaks outscored Ottawa 25-7 in the 3rd quarter to take a 55-26 lead in the 3rd quarter.

When the final horn sounded, Galesburg came out victorious, 61-34, after playing a slow-down game throughout the 4th quarter to eat clock. The Silver Streaks move on to the Sectional championship with a 27-6 record, their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2003.

Jamie Johnson poured in a game-high 25 points, with a 16-point showing in the 3rd quarter alone. She worked the inside-outside game, knocking down three three-pointers, and driving inside for several layups. The "Happy Birthday Jamie" sign in the stands was raised in celebration throughout the night!

Speaking of the stands, the Galesburg crowd was tremendous, and I am really looking forward to the Silver Streaks turnout on Thursday. The Streaks had nearly three times the amount of fans that Ottawa brought. Judging by the Richwoods turnout in the second game (and the short distance separating Metamora & Peoria), it should be a black and silver gym Thursday night.

There was an error in the first quarter of the game, when Baylie Boyer appeared to pick up her first foul of the game. It was listed on the scoreboard as Sadee Hamilton's second. Galesburg assistant Jay Barshinger asked the official scorer how many fouls Hamilton had, and he was told one. He approached the table again at the end of the quarter, and was told two. This caused a delay to start the second quarter. I had Boyer picking up the last foul, not Hamilton. Galesburg also had this, as well as the Register-Mail's Todd Rudolf and Aaron Frey, sitting in front of me. Fortunately, the gaffe didn't make a difference. A similar circumstance occurred against Ottawa late in the game. A foul was called on Kara Kistenfeger, but was charged to Bree Carlson. The scoreboard had Carlson with three. I asked Rudolf after the game, and he did say the correction was made.

Jimmie and I stuck around for the first quarter of the Richwoods/East Peoria game. This was the final game for East Peoria head coach Pete McGinnes, retiring as girl's basketball coach. The Raiders student section was very impessive!!!

The Richwoods crowd was extremely disappointing. The Knights are 28-3 this season, have a Division-I player in Mariah Smith, and one of the top girl's basketball programs in the state in recent years. Yet, the crowd was lacking.

During starting lineups, one of the Richwoods starters was announced wrong, which put some curious looks on everyone on the Richwoods bench. Coach Todd Hursey walked over to the scorer's table with an inquisitive look on his face.

The Metamora Casey's was unkind to Jimmie Carr in his quest to win $500,000. He'll try to hit the Lotto again when we head to Peoria Notre Dame on Tuesday night.

Game 140 Miles: 234

141 Games In...An Update

2011-02-22T23:11:00.000-08:00

I think I need Wednesday night off!

Game blogs will be written for Game #140 (Galesburg vs. Ottawa girl's sectional) and Game #141 (Galesburg @ Peoria Notre Dame boy's basketball). This is just a quick update.

It's a few minutes past 1:00 a.m. and the IHSSN Coaches Polls have just been compiled. This is the final rankings for Class 1A & 2A boy's basketball, while the final 3A/4A rankings will be released next week. The day began just before 7:00 a.m. this morning, and it's been non-stop, hence the lack of game blogs.

Tonight, Galesburg lost 84-39 at Peoria Notre Dame (Game 141). I don't know what it's like to lose by 45 points in a basketball game, but I feel as though I lost my broadcast my 45 (or more) points tonight. It was a night that if something went wrong, everything went wrong. Without going into details (I'll leave that in my blog update), I spent the entire sophomore game driving to two different Radio Shack locations in Peoria, not to mention calling five different U.S. Cellular locations, as well as Best Buy. Thanks to Travis at the Northwoods Mall Radio Shack, who gave me a 50% discount on some adapters...it was most appreciative, however it didn't work. I'd rather forget about broadcast #141 and move on, but I must write it out soon. In broadcasting, 141 may become as unlucky as 13, just because it will remind me of this horrific radio night.

Since I am getting way behind with the long road trips, late nights, and early mornings I have decided to take Wednesday off. My most recent projection had me hitting broadcast #150 at the end of next week. With a night off this week, that could delay the milestone into the following week, however I may decide to broadcast the 3A/4A girl's basketball state finals.

Speaking of state finals, I will be covering the Saturday games at Redbird Arena for Class 1A/2A. I am experiencing an issue with the IHSSN website with links, which is holding up some updates. I am hoping to have a live chat room open for Saturday to talk girl's basketball. Stay tuned.

Game 139: Alleman @ Galesburg (Boy's Basketball)

2011-02-20T20:15:00.000-08:00

Silver Streaks Ready for Senior Night

Game 139
Alleman @ Galesburg (Boy's Basketball)
(2/18/11)

Senior Night for the Galesburg Silver Streaks, with a rare introduction for the seven players, Pioneers coach Bob Szorc, Matt Correthers sports a 'stache, and yet more fast food.

On Sportsline, Alleman coach Bob Szorc was supposed to call in for a preview of the Pioneers and Silver Streaks. When the team arrived, Szorc came up to the broadcast booth and apologized repeatedly for missing the interview earlier. He also apologized to Jimmie Carr. Jimmie said it was a breath of fresh air to have a coach being so adamant in an apology. I agree.

When we were talking, Alleman's Matt Correthers walked into the gym, sporting a mustache. Szorc looked down and said, "Take it off."

Galesburg assistant coach Steve Cheesman came up to the booth. I had asked him about doing some special coverage of the American Legion state baseball tournament that Galesburg is hosting in July.

The Silver Streaks sophomores beat Alleman, 50-46 and win their third consecutive game. After the sophomore game, the senior cheerleaders were honored. They were announced with their parents and stood out on the floor like most Senior Nights. Then, the seven basketball players were announced briefly and came out (without parents).

The teams then took the floor and went through their warmups. The National Anthem was then performed. Jessica Howard was the flag raiser. In her bio that was read at the gym, she noted that she would be going to school to become a nurse then, "work at a nursing home and take care of coach Evan Massey."

Galesburg Senior Night

Following the National Anthem, the Alleman starting lineup was announced. Then, the Galesburg seniors were honored before the tip. I have never seen this done before, but surely would throw the opposition off, as the Pioneers were waiting out on the floor while the celebration of seniors was conducted.

The seven seniors for the Silver Streaks are; Dalton Davis, Ryan McElmurry, Brandon Thompson, Garret Williams, Chad Thompson, Trimaine Carson, and Stefan Simic.

Brandon Thompson is planning on playing basketball at a four-year college. He was a National Achievement Scholarship semi-finalist. Stefan Simic is a foreign exchange student from Belgrade, Serbia. He is going to continue his education in college in the United States, and then would like to play basketball in Europe. Chad Thompson plans to major in physical therapy in college (and play basketball). He is the grandson of former longtime Knox College coach Harley Knosher. Ryan McElmurry plans to major in business. He was named the Most Valuable Defensive player last year. Dalton Davis plans to attend a four-year school and major in accounting and business management. Trimaine Carson plans to attend a junior college in Iowa and play football. Garret Williams is undecided on his future. He is the son of assistant coach Rob Williams.

The air must have been let out of the basketball during the senior night celebration. Neither team scored until the 3:39 mark in the 1st quarter. It was only 12-5 after the 1st quarter, and the score was 18-15 at halftime.

During the 3rd quarter, freshman coach Matt Pogue came over and handed me a sheet to announce for the upcoming golf outing. It's great to promote events like this, mainly because that means the weather is warming up. The boy's basketball golf outing is set for May 21st at Lake Bracken.

The Silver Streaks held on to their five-point lead throughout the 3rd quarter, and would win the game, 48-38. McElmurry scored a game-high 14 points, Brandon Thompson scored 12 points, and Dalton Davis scored 11 points. Matt Correthers, Austin Long, and Tyler Yeocum each scored 10 points for the Pioneers.

Aslan Butler has been dismissed from the Silver Streaks basketball team. He was one of the top players off the bench for Galesburg, in which the team was only seven players deep. Some players saw more playing time tonight, with both Austin Gernant and Lamont Ross seeing some first half action.

Time...and Money Well Spent - Steak 'n Shake

After the game, I decided on a trip through the drive-thru. My choice was Steak 'n Shake, and I opted for the portobello steak burger with a Coke. After ordering a number eight, the voice on the other end asked me if I ordered a number three. On the drive home, I kept repeating eight and three to figure out if they sounded similar. They don't!

Game 139 Miles: 146

Game 138: Galesburg vs. Sterling (Girl's Basketball)

2011-02-20T18:09:00.000-08:00

Class 3A Regional Championship @ Geneseo

Game 138
Galesburg vs. Sterling (Girl's Basketball)
Class 3A Regional Championship (@ Geneseo)
(2/17/11)

A regional championship is on the line at Geneseo, pitting the Galesburg Silver Streaks and Sterling Golden Warriors. It was a good day away from the office, allowing me to catch up on some things at home. I also made the decision in the afternoon to save some miles and stay in Annawan after the game, instead of driving all the way back to Macomb, and then back up north on Friday morning.

I received an email from Greg Smith, saying that I had given him the wrong title in the previous blog this week. He is not the technology coordinator, but the press box manager.

Before going to Geneseo High School, I made a stop at the radio station to pick up the equipment and get some last minute notes printed for the broadcast. As I pulled up to the school, I noticed Jimmie Carr's vehicle was already parked. He beat me to to the gym. Jimmie and I joke about parking spots, as you will see his car parked closer than anyone. Even though he beat me tonight, I had the last laugh, finding a spot right outside the front door.

He was sitting in the gym when I arrived, and no one else was around. There were a couple people milling around the building, but not much action. Jimmie said that there was nobody there when he arrived.

We were located on the opposite side of the press box for this game, next to stats keeper Seth Peachey and filmer Anna Barshinger. Sterling had a radio station on the other side, with the WGIL broadcasters. I noticed that we had a special spot. For those that know "Mr. Geneseo" Jesse Dobbels, he has his own reserved seat at the gym.

Jesse Dobbels' spot at Geneseo High School

Once I finished filling out the score book, I talked with Sterling head coach Julie Schroeder. I was able to see the Golden Warriors twice at their tournament right before Christmas. It is a great tournament and have attended the past two seasons, and will continue to mark it on my calendar. The tournament consists of the hosts, Montini, Richwoods, Moline, Freeport, and Hononegah.

Schroeder said she would be playing an eight-girl rotation.

Sterling Starting Lineup
Nicole Renner (5'4" Sr. Guard)
Aleena Hammelman (5'8" Jr. Guard)
Lauren Hernandez (5'8" Sr. Guard)
Angie Minnick (5'8" Sr. Forward)
Steph Echebarria (5'8" Sr. Forward)

In looking for coach Massey, I sat with Pete Thierry and Ray Pickrel. Pete is known for delivering candy to the players. He called over manager Sarah Main to deliver candy to players. He gave a box of Mike & Ike's to Sadee Hamilton and gum for the rest of the players. Sarah said the girls were looking for gum earlier.

Massey was in the opposite corner of the gym, so I walked over and conducted the pregame interview.

Galesburg Starting Lineup
Tai Peachey (5'6" Sr. Guard)
Jessica Howard (5'7" Sr. Guard)
Megan Young (5'6" Sr. Guard)
Mickey Rodriguez (5'6" Sr. Guard)
Jamie Johnson (5'9" Sr. Forward)

Sophomore Allison Mangieri advanced in the three-point shootout for the Silver Streaks, the only Galesburg player that moved on from the first round. She knocked down eight, most of the field, and advances to the Metamora Sectional to shoot.

The Silver Streaks jumped out to a big lead, 20-12 after the first quarter. Jamie Johnson had nine points in the first eight minutes. Galesburg continued the hot shooting offense and led Sterling 43-28 at halftime. Johnson had 15 points at the break.

The shots went cold in the 3rd quarter, and the Golden Warriors were able to out-rebound Galesburg. The Streaks only scored 8 points in the 3rd quarter, and 6 of those points came on back-to-back posessions. Galesburg picked up four offensive rebounds, which led to a Jessica Lieber three-pointer. On the ensuing in-bound, Tai Peachey came up with a steal. The Streaks had another offensive rebound, and it led to a Peachey three. Sterling kept fighting, and it was 51-46 in favor of the Streaks heading into the 4th quarter.

In the final frame, Sterling was able to pull within one point in the final seconds, 53-52. The Golden Warriors had the basketball down one, but a Lauren Hernandez three-pointer rimmed out. Jessica Howard got the rebound and was fouled, making both free throws. The Silver Streaks escaped with a 55-52 win, and won their first Regional championship since the 2006-07 season.

Johnson finished with a game-high 17 points, and Jessica Lieber added 10 points. Sterling's Sloane Wolfe scored a team-high 12 points, while Aleena Hammelman added 10 points. Sterling shot just 5-13 from the free throw line, while Galesburg went 10-14. The Silver Streaks had 13 turnovers, and forced 20 turnovers.

Jimmie Carr & Jamie Johnson

Jimmie Carr & Jessica Howard

After the game, Jimmie Carr spoke with seniors Jamie Johnson and Jessica Howard.

After packing up, I headed to Annawan to stay at Mom & Dad's Bed & Breakfast.

Game 138 Miles: 113

Coming Up....Game Blogs #138 & #139

2011-02-19T07:43:00.001-08:00

Stay tuned for blogs from Game 138 and Game 139. Through 14 weeks of the season, the Quest is averaging nearly 10 play-by-play broadcasts/week.

Game 138: Galesburg vs. Sterling Class 3A Regional championship (Girl's Basketball)

Game 139: Alleman @ Galesburg (Boy's Basketball)

Game 137: Galesburg vs. Geneseo (Girl's Basketball)

2011-02-17T09:26:00.000-08:00

Geneseo High School

Game 137
Galesburg vs. Geneseo (Girl's Basketball)
Class 3A Regional Semifinal
(2/15/11)

The Class 3A Regional at Geneseo is pretty balanced. Take for example the #4 seed (Sterling) enters the tournament with two more wins and two less losses than the #1 seed (Rock Island)! Entering the semifinals on Tuesday night, the remaining four teams have a combined record of (88-25).

Despite the fact that the Galesburg Silver Streaks and Geneseo Maple Leafs didn't play until 8:00, I wanted to get to Geneseo High School well before the first game tipped off. A couple reasons, mainly. First, I am anal about getting to the gym and setting things up and being prepared. Secondly, I wanted to see the first game between Rock Island and Sterling, and thirdly (ok, a few reasons, not a couple), I was told that there were going to be 11 media outlets covering the games tonight.

I picked up my broadcast partner, Jimmie Carr, at 3:45 in Galesburg and we hit Interstate 74 to Interstate 80 and made the trip to Geneseo. I grew up in Annawan, just 13 miles east of Geneseo and spent a lot of time in the maple city growing up.

Since this is my first trip to Geneseo High School since the 2002-03 basketball season, I failed to remember how to get to the high school. Maybe it was the lack of sleep over the past couple days, it was honestly a little frustrating. I broadcasted Geneseo boy's and girl's basketball just eight seasons ago. How could I not remember which way to take? I guess in my defense I was used to going to the school from the east, not the west. I still think lack of sleep is partially to blame. When I arrived at work this morning, I was talking to a co-worker and mentioned that I had my P.E. clothes in my office. I meant my gym clothes for the YMCA. It's looking more and more like Wednesday night away from the gym will be in my best interest!

Geneseo High School just recently became known as GHS. Up until 2005, it was J.D. Darnall High School.

We arrived pretty early, and got all set up in the gym. Walking into the gym, there was not a soul inside, not even a custodian. I looked at Jimmie, "We're the only ones here!" Greg Smith, the technology coordinator gave us the rundown of the press box. There was going to be four radio stations and a TV station broadcasting the Galesburg/Geneseo game. In addition, there were two radio stations broadcasting the first game. Rock Island's iHigh online broadcast would set up next to us, and a radio station from Sterling was broadcasting. For our game, WAIK and WGIL are following Galesburg, WJRE is following Geneseo, and the student radio statio, WGRG is also broadcasting the Maple Leafs. Cable station Channel 50 videos the Geneseo games.

There are two sides to the press box, which was added a few years ago. It was not here when I broadcasted for the now-defunct WGEN back in 2002-03. We just had a long table at the top of the bleachers. We were going to be sardines, with just enough room to squeeze in three radio stations on our side. It was taped off, so I had to really be creative in setting up our Cellcaster unit and my laptop. I would have to fill out the score book on my knees.

Home of the Maple Leafs

After getting the equipment set up, a few people started showing up for the three-point shootout. It actually began at 5:15, and we headed down to the hospitality room. There were sandwiches with turkey, ham, and roast beef along with bags of potato chips. It was a meat tray, so a build-your-own sandwich. The bread wasn't cut into small pieces, so I decided to just take the large hunk and make a big turkey sandwich. Normally, I don't use Mayo or Miracle Whip, but with all of the bread, I needed to dress it up. I only used one small packet.

A couple coaches, one from Geneseo and one from Sterling came in a few minutes later. One of them said, "Geez these sandwiches are big, gonna have to cut it in half." To which another replied, "Or even fourths." I chose oneths (did I just make up a word?).

At 5:45, I headed back up to the press box. Brian Stuart from Rock Island's iHigh broadcast was there. We talked for a few minutes. He was stationed at the far end of our side of the booth, and WGIL would be filling that space for the second game. He was worried how long it took WGIL to set up, since he did a postgame show. I just told him that he shouldn't do anything different since that is where he was positioned.

I filled out my score book at the start of the Rock Island/Sterling game out in the bleachers, where there was more room. I shot some video of the final seconds of the Rocky/Sterling game...

During my prep earlier in the day, I checked out the Massey Ratings, where you can project matchups between teams, a very neat process. The Massey Ratings initially only covered football, and have been around since 2004 or 2005 (for football). Just recently, the last year or two, they have added basketball. The Massey projection had Sterling beating Rock Island, 41-40. The final score was Sterling winning 45-42. Not bad, Massey Ratings. The predictions had Galesburg beating Geneseo 60-55 on the Maple Leafs home floor, which was correct in the victor, but was a few points shy on the final score (74-57).

Usually, the Galesburg girl's basketball team is always smiling and laughing, and very loose. Tonight, when they took the floor there was a look of seriousness. No smiles, no laughing. I looked at Jimmie and commented on this, saying I didn't know if this was a good or bad thing. Was this nervousness, or we're out to take care of business? In all honesty, I felt that Geneseo was the scariest of the teams in this Regional. That was just my perception. The Maple Leafs handed Galesburg a season-ending loss in last year's Regionals. Sure, a completely different season, but now Geneseo was on their home floor. This is a tough Regional, and I told somebody earlier that it could be a Regional that Galesburg wins, or falls in the first game.

The Silver Streaks convinced me that it wasn't nerves, it was business early on in this game. Off of the opening tip, Megan Young forced a tie-up and a jump ball situation that gave the Streaks possession. That would turn into a Jessica Howard three-pointer, and the Streaks were off to the races. They jumped out to an 8-2 lead early, and Geneseo called a timeout to adjust.

Galesburg was hot, and Howard made two more three-pointers in the first quarter, enroute to her seven on the night. The Silver Streaks were 5-17 from outside the three-point line in the 1st quarter, and 7-16 in the 2nd quarter (12-33 at halftime), and held a 48-33 halftime lead.

The Streaks let the air out of the ball throughout the 4th quarter, holding a big lead. In one possession (4:30 in the 4th quarter), Galesburg passed the ball around for two minutes. The Streaks pulled off a big win, 74-57, and hit 15 three-pointers (15-45), and forced 24 Geneseo turnvoers.

Geneseo was led by Allison Wiese's 15 points, while Kaci Storm scored 11 points, and Devan Griffin added 10 points. Jessica Howard led Galesburg with a game-high 21 points, and Mickey Rodriguez added 15 points. Sadee Hamilton notched a double-double with 12 points, 14 rebounds.

Kaci Storm is the daughter of former Geneseo boy's basketball coach Brad Storm. Her older brother, Tyler, plays basketball at Northern Illinois.

The Galesburg win sets up a #2 seed vs. #4 seed matchup in the Regional championship. The teams are a combined 48-14. Against common opponents, Sterling is 5-3, Galesburg 6-2.

When we got back to Galesburg, we noticed the gas station on Henderson/Dayton had gas at $3.19 at 11:00 p.m. It was $3.03 at 4:00 p.m. Driving just a mile down Henderson Street, Mobil was still $3.03. I'm glad I drove that extra mile!

Game 137 Miles. 206

Game 136: Knoxville vs. Brimfield (Girl's Basketball)

2011-02-17T08:07:00.000-08:00

Knoxville Blue Bullets Mascot

Game 136
Knoxville vs. Brimfield (Girl's Basketball)
Class 1A Sectional (@ Midland)
(2/14/11)

The battle of the Lincoln Trail Conference went to the Stark County Rebels, and they would move on to the Sectional championship against a member of the Prairieland Conference, either the Knoxville Blue Bullets or the Brimfield Lady Indians.

Back in July, I published my extra early preseason rankings in Class 1A girl's basketball. I just went back and looked at it, and now that we're at the Sweet 16, I don't feel so stupid. In fact, I had Knoxville ranked 5th in Class 1A. I look a little smarter after their Regional championship and eventual win over Brimfield in the Sectionals. When they started the season 2-4, I felt pretty silly!

My Preseason Class 1A Top Ten (published in July)
Source: IHSSN Blog
1) Havana
2) Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City
3) Hinckley-Big Rock
4) Ridgeview
5) Knoxville
6) Woodlawn
7) Annawan
8) Jacksonville Routt
9) (Winchester) West Central
10) Hardin Calhoun
*Seven of the teams are still alive, however Havana plays Routt in a Sectional championship.

As the Annawan/Stark County fans left the gym, the Knoxville/Brimfield fans started to trickle in. It was about 7:40 and there were about half as many fans in the gym than the previous game. I mentioned this on the chat room, and a fan of one of the teams in the chat room did mention that the fan bases were told to arrive at 7:45.

Just after 8:00, the Galesburg Register-Mail's Todd Rudolf arrived and took the table next to me. He said he arrived at 7:30, because he wanted to get to the gym early. It took him 30 minutes, because the line to the school was backed up a mile. The parking lot at the school is small, and could not accomodate all four fan bases, so the fans from the first game were allowed to leave, before the new fans could park. After everyone was in the gym, it was still a disappointing crowd. The Annawan/Stark County game was definitely to capacity with no seats available. There were several people standing in the corners of the gym. Capacity of the gym is 1,196.

Brimfield Lady Indians

Sitting directly behind the team's bench, you are privy to hearing things you normally don't hear. With the three-point shooters warming up, an unnamed Knoxville player let out a pretty loud belch. She commented, "Eww, it smells like egg."

Knoxville took a 13-6 lead after the first quarter. At halftime, the Blue Bullets held onto a 9-point lead, 22-13. Abby Ball scored 10 points in the first half, while Katie Houston added 8 points. Mackenzie Kelly scored 8 of Brimfield's 13 points.

In the 2nd quarter, one of the referees went down with what appeared to be an ankle injury. He had to limp off the floor and couldn't finish the game. The rest of the 2nd quarter was played with two officials. One of the officials from the first game was still in the gym, so he changed at halftime and the game was finished with three officials. One of the original officials for this game told me at halftime that he had done the same thing in a Supersectional game last year.

Katie Houston was on fire in the 3rd quarter, scoring 10 points, lifting the Blue Bullets to a 35-23 lead heading into the fourth quarter. At the 5:00 mark, Brimfield had closed to within five points when Knoxville coach Matt Gibson called a timeout. After that timeout, Knoxville reeled off an 8-0 run.

Knoxville Timeout

The Lady Indians were able to chip into their deficit at times during the 4th quarter, but Knoxville would finish with a 51-37 win. Ball and Houston combined to score 40 of their team's 51 points. Kelly scored 14 points to lead Brimfield, whose season ends at 23-11. Brimfield coach Jim Blane told me earlier in the week that his team had exceeded expectations after losing a pair of All-Staters (Paige Spietz - Missouri and Kelsey Herridge - Army). Knoxville improves to 25-8. The Blue Bullets are 22-4 since December 1st. They defeated Stark County in November, 42-37.

After the game, the Knoxville fans sang Happy Birthday to Abby Ball's father, Jack Ball.

Knoxville athletic director Chad Bahnks asked me if I would be returning to broadcast the Sectional championship. Unfortunately not, I said, due to the poor Internet connection. It wouldn't have worked in my schedule anyway, as I have prior committments for the Galesburg/Sterling Regional championship at Geneseo.

I plugged in Garmin, and it directed me through Chillicothe and onto Route 116 through Farmington. In breaking some speed limits, I was able to cut my travel time down 8 minutes from the original arrival time of midnight. That 8 minutes is crucial, because my Tuesday morning wakeup call is 4:30 a.m.

Game 136 Miles: 112

Game 135: Stark County vs. Annawan (Girl's Basketball)

2011-02-16T23:50:00.000-08:00

Annawan Bravettes

Game 135
Stark County vs. Annawan (Girl's Basketball)
Class 1A Midland Sectional
(2/14/11)

The Chronicles of Varna
I had the perfect date for Valentine's Day...a double header of Sectional basketball! Midland High School was the destination to take in a hotly contested Annawan/Stark County matchup, a pair of Lincoln Trail Conference teams in the opener. Both have been ranked in the Class 1A top ten all season in the IHSSN Coaches Poll and in the AP Poll.

There were a lot of phone calls and emails exchanged in the days leading up to these Sectional broadcasts at Midland. I made the decision last week to cover after checking over my schedule. Ridgewood girl's basketball coach Bryan Brooks was in my ear about covering the game, and he said he would provide commentary on the broadcast.

When I first lined up the broadcast with Midland High School athletic director Joe Mintus, he asked me to call him about a couple things. First, I was going to be broadcasting his game against Maroa-Forsyth on Saturday at the Riverton Shootout, and he wanted to give me some information on his Timberwolves. He then shared the fact that the teams had sold out their allotments of tickets very early on, and there was fear of overcrowding. The decision was made that they would clear the gym between games.

Another thing I worked on in the days leading up to the Monday games was a live video broadcast of the Sectional. Mintus and I talked again as I inquired about having a student from the school run the camera for me, and line up the broadcast logistically for a good video view and room for three people in a booth. He said they had a crow's nest in the corner of the gym, and it should be suitable. He called me back later Monday afternoon to say it may be a stretch to get up there and get good video.

I had not promoted the fact that this was a possibility for a couple reasons, the first being the Internet connection in the gym. The real dagger to the idea is the fact that the IHSA charges for video broadcasts, which I found out while talking with Kevin Sander of iHigh on the drive over to Midland. I am not familiar with the video rules for broadcasting, just the radio broadcasts. There is no charge to broadcast (audio) games until the Supersectionals. Fees for the Supers are $50, paid to the site host. The state finals broadcasts are $150 paid to the IHSA.

As I was talking with Kevin, I was about 20 minutes from rural Varna, Illinois, when our conversation cut out. Rarely (only in Fulton County), does my cell phone drop a call due to poor reception. It did near Tanner's Orchard, and I began to worry what the prospects of my Verizon Internet connection at Midland High School. Let's just say, my initial worries came true, ten fold.

Verizon Coverage Map

To have a solid Internet broadcast, I need a solid two bars on my Verizon air card. Two bars is stretching it, three is really where I need to be. I was at zero inside the Midland gym. This never happens. I get a better Internet connection on my Verizon card in Quincy....where Verizon is not even carried, see the coverage map to the right (the white in northeast Missouri/Illinois). Let's just say that Verizon "Can you hear me now?" guy hasn't stepped foot in Varna, Illinois.

Before heading off to Varna, I made my stop off at Subway. Today's order was a foot long Cold Cut Combo on wheat with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and black olives, untoasted, no cheese, no dressing, with a large Pepsi...or Coke...whatever Subway carries.

I wasn't really that hungry, despite not eating lunch. It was 2:30 when I left, because I wanted to get to the gym extra early to scout my broadcast spot and beat the mad rush of many fans. As I hit route 167 near Victoria, I emptied the Subway bag of my sandwich. The plastic bag was still pretty heavy, thinking they put a few extra napkins in there. It wasn't napkins, it was a cookie. I didn't order a cookie, so I guess it's my Valentine for the day. Thanks Subway lady. I forgot how delicious Subway cookies. I was well aware of that fact in college, as these delicious sweets were a part of my Freshman-40 plan. The cookie was good, and I'll just need a short-term memory on that fact!

Phew...just under the limit today!

Many times on road trips, I see things along the way that I would love to snap a picture of. In most cases, I don't have time to stop and pull over to get a picture, but today was an exception. The first instance was just outside of Wyoming (Stark County Lady Rebels country). As I drove past on a country road, I noticed a sign that something about cattle. Now, I've lived in rural Illinois my entire life, but I've never seen such a sign. Picture-worthy.

Imposing creatures, aren't they?

Not too far down the road, the giant windmills were in the horizon. The windmills are very impressive. There are not as many in this area (whichever county I'm in) as the windmill farm east of Bloomington, but still a large number of the imposing structures. If this were 1988, I'm sure there would be a cheesy horror movie made about the alien-looking structures. I can see it now, the large windmills reach out to outer space to communicate to aliens, spying on us unexpecting Americans. Admittedly, I just watched the movie Pulse, starring a young Joey Lawrence. Great movie (I have bad taste in movies) in the same sense of Maximum Overdrive (told you so). In Pulse, Joey's little brother Matthew Lawrence steals the script with his overacting as an annoying neighbor kid. His best line, "And when she turned it on it shot that metal thing right up into her face, shot it up just like a gun. Isn't that BAAAAAD"

When I pulled into Midland High School, there weren't too many people around, of course the doors weren't open for another hour. I was escorted into the gym, and shown to the press tables. I mentioned that Mintus had told me I could be up in the balcony. The teacher said that I would have to jump up into the balcony. I said I'd just take a table right behind the benches. I'm glad I did!

As I was setting up, John Ballentine of the Stark County News came over and chatted. He remembered me from an earlier Stark County broadcast (vs. Princeville). He said it was going to be a physical game, and boy was he right!

Bryan Brooks, my color commentator arrived before the three-point shootout. One of his players, Ella Teel, was shooting. He brought a few players with to cheer Teel on. His Spartans upset Ridgewood earlier this season, and also beat Annawan last year in the Sectional championship on their way to a 3rd place finish at state. I mentioned on Facebook over the weekend that, "I had to pay top dollar to get this guy." Unfortunately for Bryan, the dollars have the face of "Rich Uncle Pennybags" on them.

The Annawan Bravettes came out and dominated the first half of the game, taking an 11-5 lead after the 1st quarter, and a 20-13 lead at halftime. Celina VanHyfte (6'0" Fr.) was a force down low. Everytime she touched the ball, good things happened for Annawan. She finished the game with 19 points.

As good as Annawan was in the 1st half, Stark County was even better in the 2nd half. The Lady Rebels took advantage of a 20-0 (no typo) run in the 3rd and 4th quarter. Stark County outscored Annawan 18-4 in the 3rd quarter.

It looked like the Bravettes were going to work their way back into the game with the poor Stark County free throw shooting. The Lady Rebels started the 4th quarter, going just 2-11 at the line. Annawan was able to close to as close as five points, but turnovers and cold shooting kept Stark County ahead. The Lady Rebels finished 8-17 from the line, while Annawan was 8-11 from the charity stripe. Stark County had 15 fouls called against them, while Annawan was whistled on 20 fouls, however many of them were in the 4th quarter when they were trying to foul.

There were some interesting comments made in the newspaper by Annawan coach Jason Burkiewicz.

Postgame Comments
"A good group of girls is suffering again because they work hard to play by the rules,” said the first-year Annawan coach. “They (Stark County) go out there and do whatever they want. I feel so bad for the girls that I’m not 6-5 and I can’t bark at a guy and make him change his ways." - Jason Burkiewicz in Kewanee Star-Courier.

“How does the game change? We’re dominating the game, we’re outplaying them and they’re kicking the crap out of us physically and it just changes. I don’t understand it. These girls don’t deserve it and I’m tired of it.” - Jason Burkiewicz to the Kewanee Star-Courier

"I'm tired of what's been going on with them the last three years,'' said a visibly frustrated Burkiewicz. "He (Stark County coach Scott Paxson) is crabbing and moaning about the calls just before the half, and all of a sudden we're not getting those calls in the second half. How is that? We dominated the game; we outplayed them. How then does the game change like that?" - Jason Burkiewicz in Dispatch-Argus

While I don't like to criticize officials, I'll have to admit that this was not a very well officiated game. With that said, it went both ways and did not cost Annawan the game. One of the oddest parts of the game as far as the officiating is concerned, was a situation where a Stark County player knocked the ball out of bounds. One official called it out on Annawan (the wrong call, it happened right in front of our broadcast spot). It was (correctly) overruled by a second official. The referee who made the call was insistent that it went out on the Rebels, but it was eventually ruled correctly. Oddly, this same official was whistle-happy, and I don't mean calling fouls, I mean blowing his whistle. After a foul, he would blow the whistle sometimes five or six times. It reminded me of an NFL scrum when the officials constantly blow their whistles to restore order, or in the WWE when the bell constantly rings during outside interference. It was odd, to say the least.

Natalie Turner led the Lady Rebels with 17 points, and Kate Morrssey added 14 points. VanHyfte led Annawan with 19 points, the only Bravette in double figures. Annawan turned the ball over 22 times, while Stark County committed 21 turnovers.

Programs?
For fans in attendance, they didn't get a souvenir program for the Class 1A Midland Sectional. Why is that? It was unknown, but Mintus told me that Royal Publishing (company who produced the book) had not delivered them. They never did arrive to the school. He said the company had the check and everything was set to go, just no programs were delivered.

Game 135 Miles: 135

Stay Tuned....

2011-02-16T06:43:00.000-08:00

Apologies for the blog delays. I didn't arrive at home until midnight both Monday and Tuesday nights, then a 4:30 a.m. wakeup call on Tuesday morning and a 5:30 a.m. wakeup call on Wednesday morning coupled with full workdays have put me behind.

I'll have an update on the last three broadcasts on Wednesday night. Blog updates will be the following...

Game #135 - Annawan vs. Stark County (Class 1A Midland Sectional)
Game #136 - Knoxville vs. Brimfield (Class 1A Midland Sectional)
Game #137 - Galesburg vs. Geneseo (Class 3A Geneseo Regional)

Game 134: Macomb vs. Williamsville (Boy's Basketball)

2011-02-13T16:20:00.000-08:00

Riverton's Hawk Center

Game 134
Macomb vs. Williamsville (Boy's Basketball)
Riverton Shootout
(2/12/11)

Before the last game tipped off, I made a fast jaunt down to the hospitality room. I chowed down on a few pieces of delicious mushroom pizza from Gallina's in Riverton. As I sat down at a table in the room, a plate of home made brownies caught my eye. I've been (trying) eating healthier in the last week, so I was able to abstain from the sweets.

In fact, now that I think about it, I've only made one trip to a fast food joint in the last week. The funny thing is, by July I will say I haven't ate fast food in three months. Nature of the beats. First off, with my schedule it's tough to plan meals ahead. Secondly, in the summer I conduct a much healthier lifestyle with working out and fast food disgusts me. Unfortunately, for four months of the year, my vocabulary is filled with terms like; double cheeseburger, steakburger, sliders, and cheesy gordita.

After my quick eats in the hospitality room, I went and chatted with the Macomb media contingent. K100 play-by-play man Kipp Jones and Shelby Burget talked about the previous night's game at Monmouth-Roseville. It was a tough loss for the Bombers, falling 66-43. It was certainly a tough atmosphere for the visitors, as fans at the door were being turned away during the sophomore game! A line began around 4:00 (7:30 varsity game).

Macomb was without the services of Zach Grover, serving a one-game suspension after an ejection from Friday night's game at Monmouth-Roseville. The Bombers got down early, trailing 7-0, however they burst back and took a 16-14 lead after the first quarter.

Williamsville evened things up in the 2nd quarter, and the game was tied, 23-23 at halftime. Tyler Thorman had 10 first half points for the Bombers. Williamsville had eight players score in the first half, led by Brad Wagner's 7 points.

A strange occurrence happened in the 3rd quarter. After a Josh Gentile steal and layup, the buzzer sounded at the scorer's table. I scanned the floor, and there were no injuries, neither coach called a timeout, and the referees even looked confused. Then, an announcement came over the P.A. that Gentile just scored his 1,000th career point. Certainly, a fantastic moment, however I am not in favor of this sort of acknowledgment (the way it was handled).

Galesburg girl's basketball coach Evan Massey and I talked about this earlier this season, as one of his players (Jessica Howard) was approaching the 1,000 point mark. He asked me what other schools had done for players that scored their 1,000th point. It caught me off-guard since he has had more than a few in his day as a head coach.

My opinion on how it should be carried out is that it is acknowledged at the next dead ball, never---never interrupting the game. It should be announced at the next timeout, or at the end of a quarter, but never should a special timeout be called to acknowledge an individual achievement. I believe that it is disrespectful to the game of basketball, and certainly the opposing team. I guess I'm a traditionalist.

Thanks to Macomb statistician Dan Rouse, each team committed 14 turnovers. Macomb did outrebound Williamsville, 27-23. However, the Bullets shot 60% from the field (20-33), while Macomb shot 32% (17-52). The Bombers were just 2-18 (11%) from outside the three-point line.

Gentile was named the Player of the Game. He finished with 15 points, along with teammate Brad Wagner. Tanner Schultz also finished in double digits, scoring 10 points. Tyler Thorman led Macomb with 10 points.

With all the games in the bag, here is my Riverton Shootout All-Name Team

The Name Team
Matt Ferrari (Dwight)
Jason Rock (Midland)
Ozzie Kent (Williamsville)
Southern Foster (Princeton)
Connor Holliday (Riverton)

The Broadcaster's Nightmare Team
Ethan Leskovisek (Delavan)
Jashar Kongjeli (Dwight)
Sune Klarskov (Newark)
Fisnik Seferi (Lanark Eastland)
C.J. Grzincic (Dwight)

The Beau Team (Maroa-Forsyth)
Maroa-Forsyth has the highest per capita Beau's on their team. BO Banning and Austin BEAUlieu

Game 134 Miles: 95

Game 133: Princeton vs. Riverton (Boy's Basketball)

2011-02-13T15:26:00.000-08:00

Princeton Tigers

Game 133
Princeton vs. Riverton (Boy's Basketball)
Riverton Shootout
(2/12/11)

I was greeted by another coach before the Princeton/Riverton game. It was Merritt Burns, the former Annawan Braves head coach. He is now an assistant at Beardstown. We caught up with some Annawan chat, and filled me in on the Beardstown season. His quote when he walked up..."You look better than I thought you would after all these games." For those that follow the blog and count up the trips through the drive-thru's would probably say the same thing, LOL.

Another friend walked through, McDonough Voice Sports Editor Shelby Burget. He was arriving to cover the Macomb Bombers game later in the night.

Princeton Tigers Starting Lineup
Blair Bickett (5'11" Sr.)
Ben Schmidt (5'10" Sr.)
Michael Murray (6'1" Sr.)
David Sailer (5'11" Sr.)
Greg Musselman (6'2" Sr.)

Riverton Hawks Starting Lineup
Will Schneider (6'0" So.)
Spencer Pulliam (6'0" Sr.)
Alex Behrens (6'0" Sr.)
Matt Jagodzinski (5'8" Sr.)
Zach Yoggerst (6'3" Jr.)

This may be the most senior-laden starting lineup of the entire shootout.

Officials are: Denny Held, John Fahl, and Allen Poggenpohl.

Riverton jumped out to a 12-11 lead on their home floor after the first quarter. The Hawks led 24-19 at halftime. Both teams scored 15 points in the 3rd quarter. The Hawks defense limited the Tigers to just 7 points in the 4th quarter, while scoring 15 points. Riverton claimed the 54-41 win.

Zach Yoggerst scored a game-high 17 points. The sophomore Will Schneider scored 13 points for the Hawks. Spencer Pulliam was named Player of the Game, he scored 9 points. David Sailer led Princeton with 14 points (9 in 3rd quarter). Michael Murray finished with 13 points, and also registered 4 blocks.

Blair Bickett of Princeton is a cousin of former Bureau Valley head coach Brad Bickett, who starred for the Ohio Bulldogs team that took 2nd place in the 1986 Class A finals.

Game 132: Newark vs. Nokomis (Boy's Basketball)

2011-02-13T14:48:00.000-08:00

Newark Norsemen Warming Up

Game 132
Newark vs. Nokomis (Boy's Basketball)
Riverton Shootout
(2/12/11)

Before Newark and Nokomis tipped off, I got a visit from Princeton Tigers head coach Jesse Brandt. We talked about his team's progress this season, coming off a close loss on Friday night to a very strong (Chillicothe) IVC team, who they had beat earlier in the season. He mentioned that his team lost to Newark by one point in the semifinals of the Plano Christmas Tournament. It was a controversial ending, as his team was fouled on a three-point shot...but it was overruled and called a two-point attempt. The second free throw was missed and the Tigers lost by one. I've had great respect for coach Brandt, because of an earlier experience in broadcasting one of his Sectional games...

Three seasons ago, Monmouth-Roseville and Princeton met in a Class 2A Sectional Semifinal at IVC. I broadcasted that game with my commentator, "Mac" McIntosh. Princeton had a stellar team that year, and went on to knock out Manual in the Sectional championship. My goal in broadcasting games is to not get tied up in the game, call it down the line and explain to listeners what is going on, on the court. In other words, I don't like to be a "homer." Sure, in teams that I cover for the radio station my excitement in a call is lifted when the "home" team makes the plays. Honestly, I could write an entire blog about toeing that line of calling it down the middle with a touch of homerism, but I'll leave at this. Anyway, a few days after this game, coach Brandt sent me an email. He requested a copy of the game, and said: "I heard from a few people who listened online that you guys do a great job." It's notes like that, that make me feel I have conducted a successful broadcast. Even though, "my" team fell short, opposing fans were not critical of the "home broadcasters." It's funny that I still had that email so easily accessible!

Newark is another team that I was looking forward to watching. Kyle Anderson (6'3" Sr.) has signed to play basketball at Delaware. He doesn't need to change colors of his wardrobe, as he'll go from the blue Norsemen to a Fightin' Blue Hen.

Speaking Anderson's and Norsemen, they have three...count 'em...three Anderson's in the starting lineup. Kyle is joined by Brett (6'4" So.) and Jeremy (6'2" Sr.) in the starting five. If I happen to screw up who has the ball, if I just say "Anderson with the basketball," I'm most likely correct!

Newark Starting Lineup
Kyle Anderson (6'3" Sr.)
Jeremy Anderson (6'2" Sr.)
John Avery (6'6" Sr.)
Cameron Berg (6'0" Sr.)
Brett Anderson (6'4" So.)

Nokomis Starting Lineup
Brendon Pesko (5'8" Jr.)
Hayden Brownback (6'0" Sr.)
Marcus Clavin (6'1" Sr.)
Bryce Friesland (6'1" Sr.)
Derek Bourke (6'2" Sr.)

Both teams enter ranked or receiving votes in the top ten of the Class 1A IHSSN Coaches Poll. Newark is ranked #3 this week, while Nokomis is ranked outside the top ten (#13) in the receiving votes category.

In talking about the Anderson's Three, they contributed the first 24 Newark points. They combined to score 42 of the 48 Norseman points. John Avery scored 6 points. Newark led by one point at halftime, 17-16.

The Norseman outscored the Redskins 15-9 in the 3rd quarter and cruised to a 48-33 win. Newark is now 22-1 on the season, while Nokomis drops to 21-4.

Brett Anderson was named Player of the Game, scoring a game-high 20 points. Kyle Anderson added 17 points for the Norsemen. Hayden Brownback scored a team-high 11 points for the Redskins.

Tricky Pronunciations
Nokomis probably had the trickiest pronunciations, as far as looking at the spelling compared to the actual pronunciation.
Brendon Pesko - pronounced Pee-sko
Marcus Clavin - pronounced Clah-vin (long "A")
Bryce Friesland - pronounced Freeze-land (not Fries-land)
Derek Bourke - pronounced Burk (that "o" in there can give you fits)

Riverton Shootout Mascot Rankings
The Norseman is probably my favorite of the mascots at the Riverton Shootout this year. Here, I rank the 14 mascots in the shootout field...

1) Norsemen - Newark
2) Timberwolves - Midland
3) Storm - Sangamon Valley
4) Redskins - Nokomis
5) Bullets - Williamsville
6) Saints - Springfield Calvary
7) Bombers - Macomb
8) Spartans - St. Joseph-Ogden
9) Hawks - Riverton
10) Trojans - Maroa-Forsyth & Dwight
11) Cougars - Lanark Eastland
12) Panthers - Delavan
13) Tigers - Princeton & Herscher
14) Cardinals - Pleasant Plains (maybe my Chicago Cubs bias showing here)

Scary Moment
There was a scary moment in the 2nd half of this game when Derek Bourke came crashing to the floor on a rebound and landed smack on his right shoulder. He was in obvious pain for several minutes while officials tended to him on the floor. At first, I found it odd that the Nokomis coaching staff didn't come out onto the floor, but then coach Steve Kimbro told an official, "I can't come on to the floor unless you ask me."

Game 131: Dwight vs. Pleasant Plains (Boy's Basketball)

2011-02-13T13:39:00.000-08:00

IHSSN Broadcast Central at Riverton

Game 131
Dwight vs. Pleasant Plains (Boy's Basketball)
Riverton Shootout
(2/12/11)

One of the student helpers at the shootout brought me up something before the Dwight/Pleasant Plains game. It was a music stand. Since my stool was to the left of the table, I was putting my score book on my legs during the broadcasts. I'm not sure who the innovative person was who noticed this, but it is extremely appreciated. In fact, I had never even thought of it. The hospitality at the Riverton Shootout continues to amaze me!

Dwight is one of the teams at the shootout that I was excited to see play, especially the 6'9" senior, Jens Kennedy. He will be headed to Quincy University next fall, and he didn't disappoint today!

Starting Lineup (Dwight)
Tyler Hogan (5'10" Jr.)
Cal Vigna (5'11" Sr.)
Jack Steichen (5'11" Jr.)
Matt Hooker (6'1" Jr.)
Jens Kennedy (6'9" Sr.)

Starting Lineup (Pleasant Plains)
Dan Reiser (5'9" Sr.)
Braxton Lanier (6'1" Jr.)
Michael Cameron (5'8" So.)
Lucas Studach (6'3" Sr.)
Dylan Warrens (6'2" Sr.)

The Cardinals jumped out to an early lead, 15-8 after the 1st quarter. Both Studach and Cameron nailed outside shots to lift the nearby team early. Plains continued their scoring barrage in the 2nd quarter, outscoring the Trojans 17-10 and led 32-18 at halftime. This was unexpected.

Cliff Cameron always puts together some great teams. His team enters just 14-10, but they play some tough competition, playing at the large-school Jacksonville Tournament at Thanksgiving and arguably one of the best 1A/2A Christmas Tournament in Illinois, the Macomb-Western Holiday Tournament (I'd probably rank it behind the State Farm Classic).

At halftime, a former Cardinal great was present at the Hawk Center. IHSA Legend of Basketball Dusty Bensko, who led Pleasant Plains to a pair of state basketball championships (1999-00 & 2001-02) as well as a state baseball championship (1999-00). He played minor league baseball in the Minnesota Twins organization. I caught up with Dusty for a few minutes and said he is now coaching at Lincoln Park (Chicago), a member of the Chicago Public League's tough Red division. He is pursuing his master's degree.

Pleasant Plains continued to roll in the 2nd half, beating Dwight 50-35. Taylor Staff was named Player of the Game, scoring a team-high 13 points. Michael Cameron was also in double figures for the Cardinals, scoring 10 points.

KENNEDY!!!
For those familiar with WWE wrestling, Jens Kennedy made several big plays, scoring a game-high 18 rebounds and took advantage of his size (6'9") in getting rebounds and a couple blocks. Every time he made a big play, I wanted to yell out, "KENNEDY....KENNEDY," a reference to wrestling's Mr. Kennedy and his ring entrance. I'll admit it, I used to be an avid professional wrestling fan.

This Kid's Destined For Big Things
Dwight has a player with a big-time name. He is destined to do something big in life. With a name like, Matt Ferrari (5'7" Jr.), he can't go wrong. In fact, I just may steal that name for any future karaoke tours. "Up next, the Karaoke King....Matt Ferrari (with emphasis on the name, in a distinct punch of confidence)." I love it!

Game 130: Herscher vs. St. Joseph-Ogden (Boy's Basketball)

2011-02-13T13:10:00.000-08:00

St. Joseph-Ogden Takes the Floor

Game 130
Herscher vs. St. Joseph-Ogden (Boy's Basketball)
Riverton Shootout
(2/12/11)

I was able to catch up with a fellow member of the Illinois High School Sports.com family, KJRYNO. He has sons that play for Windsor, and the Blue Devils are playing tonight at the Illini Central Coaches vs. Cancer Shootout. He made the trip to Riverton to catch the first few games, before heading to Mason City.

He told me that Roger Lowe wasn't invited back to broadcast on the IHSA telecasts of the basketball state finals. Roger did a fantastic job on the broadcasts and will be missed. Lowe was a head coach at Windsor in the 1980's, and also had a stint at Princeton. Dave Bernhard and Lee Hall will be the broadcasters on the state finals, and both of them do a fantastic job, also.

After Eastland won in dramatic fashion in overtime over Springfield Calvary, I noticed their warm-up shirts. The backs of them read, "Most Valuable Player."

Officials for the Herscher/St. Joseph-Ogden game are Jerry Held, Mike Hawley, and Joe Jackson.

The Herscher Tigers feature twin brothers, Justin and Jordan Ruckman (6'5" Juniors). They combined to score 19 of Herscher's 46 points.

The Spartans of St. Joseph-Ogden Spartans trailed by two points after one quarter, but held a three point lead (24-21) at halftime. Herscher took advantage of a 13-7 third quarter to reclaim the lead heading into the fourth quarter, 34-31.

St. Joe-Ogden outscored Herscher 19-12 in the final eight minutes to win, 50-46. The Tigers went 5-9 from the free throw line in the 4th quarter, while the Spartans went 7-12. The Spartans committed 12 turnovers, the Tigers 11.

Both teams had very balanced scoring...

St. Joseph-Ogden Scoring
Chase Patton - 9 points
Louis Acklin - 9 points
Will Firkins - 8 points
Drew Arteaga - 6 points

Herscher Scoring
Spike Engelman - 11 points
Ben Wenzelman - 10 points
Justin Ruckman - 10 points
Jordan Ruckman - 9 points

Illini Connection
St. Joseph-Ogden's Nate Michael (5'7" Fr.) is the son of former Illini basketball player Tom Michael. Nate scored 5 points, including a clutch three-pointer in the 2nd quarter. He looks so young he could pass for a 7th grader, but he has varsity game!

Youth
St. Joseph-Ogden improves to 18-7 on the season, and have a youthful lineup. The Spartans start one senior (Jared Orcutt), one junior (Blake Hoveln), two sophomores (Chase Patton & Louis Acklin), and a freshman (Nate Michael). Herscher started four juniors and a senior.

After this game, I made a quick trip down to the hospitality room. With just 10 minutes to burn, I wasn't able to join in any conversations. I chowed down on a couple Subway sandwiches. I didn't even dress them up, outside a couple slices of cucumber. I also grabbed a few cheese wedges, monterrey cheddar.

Game 129: Midland vs. Maroa-Forsyth (Boy's Basketball)

2011-02-13T12:18:00.000-08:00

Maroa-Forsyth vs. Midland

Game 129
Midland vs. Maroa-Forsyth (Boy's Basketball)
Riverton Shootout
(2/12/11)

It was a late decision in the week to head down to Riverton for their annual shootout. I'm glad I made the trip, because in the end there was great basketball games, and I was able to catch up with several people I don't get a chance to see too often, and meet some new basketball friends.

Originally, this was an "off-day" due to our live radio auction that was scheduled. It was pushed back a week to next Saturday, so my options sprang to Riverton or the Chicago Public League Quarterfinals at Chicago State. After spending a week talking with various people that cover the Public League, I finally got some contact information for the CPL. Their administrator that usually handles the media never returned my call, which was pretty much expected. I didn't hesitate to forget my trip to the city, instead grabbing some broadcasts at Riverton.

There are eight games scheduled at the shootout, beginning at 9:00 a.m. Like any shootout, the "hotter" games are later in the day/evening, and with my trip on Friday night at East Moline, I could use the extra sleep Saturday morning.

I left Macomb at 9:00 a.m. and headed south. Even though there is a hospitality room (and a GREAT one at that) in Riverton, I packed some food in a cooler for the trip home. Typically, I get to the hospitality room in the early afternoon, but fail to get back for a "dinner," so I wanted to be prepared for a grumbling stomach for the drive back, without making a detour at a drive-thru. I packed a couple bananas and a peanut butter & jelly sandwich.

Before making the drive, I had to stop off for the essentials, a coffee and a couple granola bars. I also bought a large bottle of water to wash away the coffee taste before going on the air.

Many things pop into my head while making these road trips. One such thought: It's ironic that a town called Industry has very little.

Flipping through the radio stations, I found very little. This is the downside of driving from Macomb to Springfield. It seems as though every radio station is country. I can't listen to country. I popped in a CD, which I rarely do. It was titled, "Rock Mix." Among the tunes were Guns 'n Roses "Civil War," and Metallica's "Hero of the Day." After listening to a few tracks, I popped in a Theory of a Deadman album.

I caught the tale end of Jack Hull's Saturday morning coaches show on WBBA (Pittsfield). He was talking postseason boy's basketball and some of the regional complexes. As soon as the show ended, I flipped stations right because the next show was titled something like Between the Rivers Outdoors or something. That station flipped faster than after an NFL game and the tick, tick, tick, tick of 60 Minutes begins to sound.

For the first time in my 5 or 6 years of broadcasting at the Riverton Shootout, I didn't take a wrong turn, I didn't get misled, or lost! I've had my printed Mapquest directions mislead me (possibly could have been an operator's error), I've had my broadcast partner Kelly Sears direct me down the wrong exit, and I've had Garmin give me wrong directions. However, this time Garmin didn't lead me astray. I will say this....Garmin has screwed me up in Springfield more than any other cities I've traveled....by a long shot.

I headed to my usual broadcast location, the far end of the gym up in the balcony of the Hawk Center. I believe this has been my broadcast post for four of the six shootouts. I was directly across in the near balcony the first two years. This is the perfect location, because the access point of the gym at this location is nestled right between the men's bathroom and the hospitality room.

I spoke with Greg Behrens briefly when walking into the gym, before taking my spot. Riverton Principal Bill Lamkey, running the shootout, came up and delivered me stats for the Midland/Maroa-Forsyth game.

My arrival came at halftime of the Springfield Calvary/Lanark Eastland game. Surprisingly, Calvary was really handing it to Eastland. One of the struggles I've had in this broadcast location is the tight fit for fans to walk around me to access the bleachers. I did some strategic broadcast table maneuvering.

1) I placed my banner all the way to the edge over hanging the balcony so it wouldn't obstruct my view.

2) I moved the table away from the stair railing a few inches, and utilized the left side of the table for my equipment.

3) There is no leg room to squeeze my legs underneath the table, so this creates some of the tightness in the walkway, so I placed the stool to the left of the table. This also provides for a closer look at the gym with my stool all the way to the railing as opposed to two feet away.

Lanark Eastland/Springfield Calvary tip in OT

At the end of the Calvary/Eastland game, Eastland made a valiant comeback, and led by three points in the final seconds. Calvary's Justin Tournoux hit a three-pointer at the right side wing to tie the game and send it into overtime. In OT, Tyler Hartman drained a three in the left corner to give Eastland the 55-54 win. Video of the game-winning shot can be viewed online at www.ihssn.net.

Midland and Maroa-Forsyth took the floor, with the Timberwolves bringing in an 11-12 record. That is a deceiving mark, with some tough competition such as the #1 ranked Wisconsin team, a team out of Tennessee with a player going to Vanderbilt, and Limestone. Maroa-Forsyth comes in at 16-7.

The Timberwolves took a 12-8 first quarter lead, and jumped out to a 27-16 halftime advantage. Josh Fenoglia and Doug Shanklin scored 21 of those 27 first half points. Fenoglia is headed to Illinois Valley Community College, while Shanklin, a junior, has not received much college interest at this time. He's a very nice 6'6" player that can play the perimeter.

The Trojans made a comeback effort in the 2nd half, despite trailing by 12 points to start the 4th quarter. Maroa-Forsyth outscored Midland 24-16 in the 4th quarter and fell 62-58. Midland struggled at the free throw line down the stretch, going 5-10 from the line. Maroa-Forsyth hit three big three-pointers in the final eight minutes, two by Drew Aschermann and one by Bo Banning. Each of them finished with three of them in the game.

Josh Fenoglia scored a game-high 23 points and was named the Player of the Game. Doug Shanklin added 22 points for the T-Wolves. Austin Jackson scored 16 points for Maroa-Forsyth. Midland won despite turning the ball over twice as much as their opponent (16-8).

After the game, I talked with a fan that was in the gym taking in some action. He is a teacher at Pleasant Plains. He asked me where I was from, and I said currently living in Macomb. He mentioned Danny Watson, as they taught together at Plains before Watson took the job at Macomb. Both Plains and Macomb were playing today in the shootout.

Game 129 Miles: 95

Random Thoughts: Filler

2011-02-12T23:46:00.000-08:00

I arrived back home at 11:30, and instead of staying up to write long blog entries from the six broadcasts today, I decided to blog with filler material. I will have a game-by-game blog recap on Sunday.

After today, through 13 weeks of the 18-week high school basketball season I have broadcasted 134 games. I need to broadcast 16 games in the next five weeks. I think I can handle that!

Broadcasting 134 games to this point seems routine. What I am stunned about, is the fact that I have not become sick once. Not even a sore throat. Last year, I got sick one time and I completely lost my voice for two days which cost me a doubleheader (fortunately one of those two days was a Sunday). That was the only time I was sick last basketball season. I joked that it was because of my intense work schedule that I didn't even have time to think about getting sick. Now, I am beginning to wonder if that's not the case. I am working much, much....much harder this basketball season than last basketball season.

There have been some close calls with scratchy throats, but nothing came about. The times I thought I would come down with an illness was during the Thanksgiving Tournaments, due to the fact of the crazy amount of broadcasts and poor diet, along with my trip to southern Illinois that relegated me to just 2-3 hours of sleep at times over a period of one week. The biggest non-sickness surprise was during last week's blizzard. It just seems that when I have a period of downtime, that's when I get sick.

Now, of course, that I just brought this up, the sickness Gods have doomed me to become sicker than I have been in years because I have mocked them. I have been knocking on wood the past three paragraphs!

Numbers
In broadcasting 134 games, I have been wondering how many games I have actually watched this season. Many times, I catch games during tournament play that I am not broadcasting, and most notably the sophomore games that precede the varsity broadcasts. In counting up the games, after today I have watched 305 basketball games this season!

Next Week
Plans for next week....
Monday: Class 1A Girl's Basketball Sectional (@ Midland). Doubleheader features Annawan vs. Stark County and Brimfield vs. Knoxville. Ridgewood coach Bryan Brooks will join me on the broadcast.

Tuesday: Class 3A Girl's Basketball Regional (@ Geneseo). There are two games, but just one broadcast since Galesburg is playing the second game (vs. Geneseo).

Wednesday: Off Day (I had actually considered driving up to Morris to cover their 3A Regional, but I have Thursday off at the radio station which means I wouldn't be able to get out Wednesday afternoon in time to make the drive to Morris).

Thursday: Class 3A Geneseo Regional. This could change depending on how Galesburg does on Tuesday. If Galesburg loses, I will most likely do a Sectional championship at the 1A/2A level.

Friday: Alleman @ Galesburg boy's basketball. Senior Night at GHS. This will be the 2nd in a string of 4 consecutive Senior Night's we will run into.

Saturday: TBA. We have our live radio auction until early afternoon. I am keeping my options open, at least for now. I will take a look at the schedule on Sunday to see what's available within a reasonable driving distance.

The Quest: Forecast
As I drove home from Riverton tonight, I began to do the math in forecasting the final count in the Quest 2: 150. It appears as though my final count will reach between 160-165 broadcasts.

Game 128: Galesburg @ United Township (Boy's Basketball)

2011-02-11T22:50:00.000-08:00

Panther Den: United Township

Game 128
Galesburg @ United Township (Boy's Basketball)
(2/11/11)

My first trip to the Panther Den at United Township High School in East Moline since the 2002-03 season. That season, I was broadcasting Geneseo Maple Leafs basketball games on the now defunct AM 1500 WGEN. A funny story about that trip...

Gary Harlacher was my color commentator for Geneseo basketball during the 2002-03 season. Gary had previously been the girl's basketball coach at Geneseo, and was an industrial arts teacher at the high school. When Gary and I arrived in East Moline for the UTHS/Geneseo broadcast, he directed me to park in a parking lot near the front door. As we got out, a parking lot attendant walked up and told us we had to move, because this was for booster club members only. Gary gruffly replied, "we're from the radio station." That didn't impress the attendant, as he shot back, "I don't care, this lot is for booster club members only, you have to move." I opened my car door, in an attempt to move when Gary shouted to me, "Don't listen to him, you can park here." As we walked toward the doors, the attendant growled, "Typical Geneseo." It was pretty humorous.

Speaking of "Harlo," another story from our trips covering the Maple Leafs. The first time I broadcasted at Rock Island High School (even 8 years ago, we walked all through the halls trying to get to the girl's gym), was during a Class AA Regional. After the game, at the Black Hawk Road stop light coming down the hill, I stopped....then proceeded to turn left...on red. In a calm voice like he was going to ask me where we should stop off to eat, Harlo asks, "Does everyone in Annawan turn left on red?"

Before trekking up to the Cities (I call it the Cities, while others call it the Quads), I stopped off to fuel up, and also grabbed a Powerade. Standing in line, I noticed the "Behemoth" lighter. The Behemoth was the size of about 20 regular size lighters. It certainly couldn't fit in your pocket.

I pulled into UTHS at 5:15, arriving at the same time as die-hard fans Pete Thierry and Ray Pickrel. Many times I beat the team bus, but if there is anyone that gets the gym before me, it's Pete and Pick!

It's a long climb up the steps at the Panther Den to access the press box. There are two booths, which works out perfect (two radio stations). They are pretty tight, but I like to sprawl out all of my notes and have room for my computer and broadcast equipment. I guess I'm a table hog! There were four chairs inside the small area, so I moved one chair out onto the bleachers.

Jimmie Carr walked in not too long after I did. He thought he was going to beat me to the gym, and he almost did. When I was setting up the equipment, I noticed the cameraman in front of the box was wearing a headset. He was a student, and I asked him what the headsets were for. He said he can communicate with the other camera operators. There is a camera on each end of the gym, and it's for the team. Pretty elaborate operation there in East Moline.

Galesburg took a 5-0 lead to start the game, behind a couple of Brandon Thompson baskets. The Panthers would tie it up on a Nic Hoepfner field goal, and three-point play. UTHS led 8-7 after the 1st quarter. Thompson added 7 more points in the 2nd quarter, and Aslan Butler stepped out and knocked down a three at the top of the key for the Streaks. Hoepfner added 8 points, and Damon Overton scored 5 points in the 2nd quarter, as the Panthers outscored the Streaks 20-12 to take a 28-19 halftime lead. It was an Overton three-pointer at the buzzer that lifted the hosts.

Jimmie Carr with Mickey Rodriguez

Mickey Rodriguez was our special halftime guest on the WAIK halftime show. Jimmie is talking with each of the seniors. One thing I feel embarrased about learning tonight is the CORRECT pronunciation of Mickey's first name, which is Micaela. I've always called her Mickey, as everyone else has, but when she was a junior she was listed on the roster as Micaela. I always thought her name was pronounced, Meh-KAY-luh. Before she went on the air, she gave us the correct pronunciation. It is; Mick-I-Ay-luh.

The Silver Streaks made a big run in the 3rd quarter, outscoring the Panthers 18-9 behind some great play by Aslan Butler. He missed 13 games this season due to a foot injury, and it took a few games to gel at the onset of the season, but he has had two really good games against United Township this year. Butler finished with 13 points. Garrett Williams knocked down a three-pointer at the buzzer to tie the game at 37-37 starting the 4th quarter.

Turnovers proved costly for the Streaks down the stretch. Galesburg committed 16 turnovers in the game, 9 of them in the second half. With the game tied at 52-52, United Township had the basketball in the final seconds. Nic Hoepfner was fouled underneath the basket and went to the free throw line in the double-bonus. He made the first free throw and missed the second shot.

The missed free throw was pulled in by the Streaks and a timeout was called. Hoepfner was all over Ryan McElmurry, who posessed the ball, but the timeout was called before a foul could be whistled (if it would have been at all). The most interesting thing about the whole scenario was that not even a tenth of a second ticked off the clock, when at least a half second should have expired. A big plus for Galesburg, however they still needed to go three quarters of the court with nine-tenths of a second on the clock. A desperation heave by McElmurry fell short and the hosts prevailed, 53-52.

United Township fans rush the court

Hoepfner scored a game-high 21 points, and Damon Overton added 13 points. Brandon Thompson led Galesburg with 17 points, and Aslan Butler added 10 points.

Tonight marked a rush of Senior Nights. In fact, the Galesburg boy's basketball team will play in four straight senior nights beginning with tonight's at United Township. Next Friday is the Galesburg Senior Night, followed by Peoria Notre Dame's the following Tuesday, and Moline's the final Friday of the season.

Taco Bell needs to teach their employees some customer service. When I pulled up to the Moline location drive-thru, I was greeted with a, "Hey how's it going?" I replied, "Good." I waited, and heard, "How ya doin' tonight?" Since I still had an hour drive, I gave up on playing their game. The thing is, the Macomb Taco Bell would use these same lines, and it annoyed me to the point that I do not visit that location because of their lack of professionalism. Sure, professionalism and fast food sounds a bit odd, but these ways to communicate at the drive-thrus are not clever, not unique, just annoying.

Game 128 Miles: 182

Game 127: Moline @ Galesburg (Girl's Basketball)

2011-02-10T22:02:00.000-08:00

Galesburg Seniors
Source: Massey Basketball

Game 127
Moline @ Galesburg (Girl's Basketball)
(2/10/11)

Senior Night at Galesburg High School. There are five senior basketball players (Tai Peachey, Jessica Howard, Megan Young, Mickey Rodriguez, and Jamie Johnson) and two managers (Sarah Main and Lauren Riggs). It's an extremely tight-knit group of girls. Coach Evan Massey talked about this group of seniors on Sportsline today.

Coach Massey and I did an interview, above in Sportsline, discussing the GHS seniors. I talked with Moline head coach Steve Ford in the afternoon. I arrived at John Thiel Gymnasium around 4:45.

When I plugged in the equipment, I was getting nothing on our Cellcaster unit, no power. I plugged my laptop into the same outlet, and it had power. This was something that I had expected would happen. The power supply was frayed a year ago, bound together by electrical tape. I placed a call for some backup equipment to be delivered, but was able to rig the power supply for the time being with some fresh duct tape. The backup equipment came just in case. Move over dog, duct tape is man's best friend.

Along with Senior Night, a Western Big 6 title is on the line. Moline has won the past three league titles. After tonight, the Maroons and Silver Streaks will combine to win 19 of the last 25 Western Big 6 championships.

Galesburg has a 44-43 record against Moline, historically. Their first meeting was during the 1972-73 season. In their last meeting, on January 6th (a Galesburg win), Moline's Marquisha Harris became the school's all-time leading scorer, breaking Holly Hallstrom's record.

Following Senior Night introductions

Jimmie Carr lined up some interviews, as he will be talking with sophomore coach Mike Rux at halftime, and three of the seniors over the next week. He has already had Jessica Howard and Jamie Johnson on the air. Mickey Rodriguez, Tai Peachey, and Megan Young are next.

As the game neared, by our naked eye estimates, it appeared that tonight's crowd was the biggest crowd at Thiel Gymnasium all season, exceeding the crowds in the boy's Rock Island and Moline games.

Both teams have a winning streak entering the contest. The Silver Streaks have won six straight games, while the Maroons have won seven straight. The last loss for Moline came at home against this Galesburg squad.

Jimmie Carr interviews Mike Rux

Moline took a 13-2 lead to start the game, and Galesburg was not able to dig themselves out of the big hole. The Streaks went just 2-23 from the three-point line in the first half, and trailed 37-20 at the break. Galesburg turned the ball over 8 times in the first half, which isn't too bad, but only forced 4 turnovers.

During halftime, Jimmie talked with sophomore head coach Mike Rux. His team won an exciting game earlier in the night. The Streaks held off Moline, 43-39.

Moline outscored Galesburg 18-8 in the 3rd quarter, and held on to win easily, 74-45. The Silver Streaks went just 5-32 from the three-point line. Marquisha Harris scored a game-high 20 points, while Tiana McCormick added 19 points, and Kylie Romeo scored 13 points. Both Morgan Gerard and Jordan De Los Reyes scored 10 points. Sadee Hamilton paced Galesburg with 11 points, and Emma Junk added 10 points.

Outside of Western Michigan-bound Marquisha Harris, the Maroons are an extremely young team. The Maroons have one senior (Harris), three juniors, six sophomores, and four freshmen on their roster. Sophomore Becky Lankford was unavailable for Moline due to injury.

The Silver Streaks played their entire roster of 15 in the end. Sophomores Sharron Diggins, Chloe Anderson, and Allison Mangieri saw minutes late in the 4th quarter. Moline played nine girls.

The Maroons are now 18-11 and win their 4th consecutive Western Big 6 title. Galesburg falls to 24-6 overall.

Game 127 Miles: 100

Game 126: United vs. Abingdon (Girl's Basketball)

2011-02-10T21:27:00.000-08:00

Game 126
United vs. Abingdon (Girl's Basketball)
Class 1A Regionals (@ United)
(2/9/11)

The second game of the doubleheader in the regional semifinals pitted the host and #2 seed United Red Storm against the Abingdon Commandos. The two teams split during the regular season, and both enter with 20 wins on the year.

United is coming off of a big win over Wethersfield on Friday night, handling the Flying Geese. That victory gave the Red Storm a share of the Lincoln Trail Conference title. Abingdon is coming off of an impressive win of their own, beating South Fulton on Saturday, 40-38.

Abingdon plays an extremely slow-tempo game, one of those styles that can really give teams fits, and I felt that United could fall prey to their game tonight. Jeff "Doodle" Thurman came up before the game and we talked about the matchup. He is the son of Abingdon head coach Roger Thurman. He mentioned it would be a tough one for the Commandos with the talent that United has. I said that if Abingdon can control the tempo and keep it slow, they would win.

The Commandos jumped out to a 14-5 lead in the 1st quarter, and Beep Jones led that charge, scoring 9 points in the opening frame. United was able to slow down the Abingdon scoring in the 2nd quarter, but trailed 20-12 at halftime.

"Sharp" Shoes. Abingdon guard Kelsey Sharp sports a pair of bright green shoes.

United outscored Abingdon 9-8 in the 3rd quarter. Ashlynn Winkler lost a contact during the 4th quarter, and there was a brief search on the floor. It wasn't found. Jones continued her scoring barrage in the final frame, and went perfect from the free throw line in the 4th quarter, 10-10. She finished with a game-high 27 points and went 12-12 at the line in Abingdon's 44-33 win.

The Commandos went 14-17 from the free throw line, while the Red Storm went 1-5 at the line.

Suh...what? There have been a few Sahyouni's go through Abingdon in recent years, including junior Jamelia Sahyouni. Pronunciation = JUH-meel-ee-uh SUH-yoo-nee.

After the game, I headed home and went to the grocery store to pick up a few items. The typical "meals" that I can handle are anything frozen, peanut butter & jelly, eggs, and anything grilled. Tonight, I decided on PB&J. I needed some jelly, which is always something I struggle with.

Jelly, preserves, or jam, whatever your flavor of choice is difficult. It's so easy to pick out one that is just not good. I made the mistake of buying Cherry Preserves recently, never again! However, I followed that poor purchase with some apple jelly. Delicious! My pick was blueberry jelly, and it didn't disappoint. Jelly is one item that takes me forever to decide. In all honesty, I probably have a tougher time picking out jelly, than my last vehicle.

Here are three items I have the most difficulty in choosing.

1) Jelly - as stated above.

2) Toothpaste - It never fails, I spend 20 minutes looking at the wall of different toothpaste with a glazed over look in my eyes. Then...without fail, I pick out the same toothpaste that I've been buying for the last 10 years.

3) Dryer Sheets - I have a thing with smelly stuff, especially potpourri, detergents, etc. Again, after several minutes pondering, I typically grab the old stand-by.

Game 126 Miles: 40

Game 125: B-PC/A vs. Knoxville (Girl's Basketball)

2011-02-09T21:55:00.000-08:00

Game 125
B-PC/A vs. Knoxville (Girl's Basketball)
Class 1A Regional (@ United)
(2/9/11)

Prior to heading out to United High School, I made a stop at the Subway drive-thru for the dinner-lunch. Throughout the day, I got by on a couple apples and crackers. I ordered a 6-inch tuna on wheat with lettuce, tomatoes, black olives, and pickles.

It was about 5:00 when I arrived at the school, shortly after the B-PC/A bus. The Knoxville bus pulled in shortly after I pulled in. It took me a few minutes to get things set up, and filled out the score book while keeping an eye on the three-point shootout.

One of my two broadcast partners for the night cap arrived, Chris Van Norman. He is the father of Red Storm player, Sadie Van Norman. He asked if I was broadcasting the first game, and offered to provide color commentary for the broadcast. My other partner, Bryon Robbins showed up a few minutes later.

The Lady Spartans and Blue Bullets split their two regular season meetings, winning on each other's home court. Knoxville won their road game by 8 points, and B-PC/A avenged that loss at Knoxville by 24 points. Both teams have been extremely streaky all season long.

Knoxville took a 12-8 lead after the 1st quarter, and held a 29-24 halftime lead. Turnovers plagued the Lady Spartans, as they had 13 in the first half, compared to just six by Knoxville. The Blue Bullets took control in the 3rd quarter, outscoring B-PC/A 22-10 in that span of eight minutes. Abby Ball scored 7 points in the 3rd quarter and finished with 19 points, sharing game-high honors with Katie Houston.

The Blue Bullets continued their run in the 4th quarter, outscoring B-PC/A 16-10 and won the game 68-44, advancing to Friday night's Regional championship. B-PC/A committed 21 turnovers, while Knoxville finished with just 13. Houston and Ball scored 19 points each, while Makenzie Frank added 10 points. Bridjet Blout led the Lady Spartans with 11 points, and Sarah Reihm added 10 points.

Before the game, Frank advanced in the three-point shootout. She made all five balls in the first rack from the right wing, and finished with 9 three-pointers. She joins Bridjet Blout, Sarah Reihm, and Ali Postle (West Central) to advance to Friday's competition.

The teams combined to commit 30 fouls in the 2nd half. There were 43 total fouls committed in the game.

Three Knoxville freshman saw significant playing time, with Haley Kelso in the starting lineup. Kelly Lenz and Paige Putnam also saw minutes.

Game 125 Miles: 40

Game 124: Abingdon vs. West Prairie (Girl's Basketball)

2011-02-08T18:38:00.000-08:00

United High School outside of Monmouth

Game 124
Abingdon vs. West Prairie (Girl's Basketball)
Class 1A Regional (@ United)
(2/7/11)

This game was broadcast on IHSSN.net. It would have been carried on 97.7 WMOI like the previous game, however there was a Monmouth-Roseville girl's basketball game from Farmington that followed our West Central coverage.

The last Abingdon game I broadcasted was a makeup game against Elmwood recently. From tip off to the final buzzer, the game lasted 56 minutes. The Commandos play a really, really slow tempo game, and they do it quite well. In fact, Abingdon did this to South Fulton, a team getting recognition throughout the year in both the AP and IHSSN Coaches Polls. Coach Roger Thurman joined us on the halftime show of the B-PCA/West Central game and gave us a recap of that game against South Fulton on Saturday.

Abingdon came out and did their thing, leading 9-1 at the end of the first quarter. The West Prairie Cyclones didn't knock down their first field goal until the 1:18 mark of the 2nd quarter. It was 17-3 at halftime. Yes, at halftime!

There were only two turnovers committed by the Commandos, while they forced the Cyclones into eight. The final play of the 2nd quarter resulted in injury for Abingdon's Allyson Cordle. I didn't see what exactly happened, but she was laying in the floor in extreme pain as the halftime buzzer sounded.

The coaching staff came over to tend to her, and she was moved to the first row of bleachers with her right leg propped up. Administrators at United grabbed ice, and Cordle spent the rest of halftime and the second half on the bleachers with the leg propped and iced.

Just like the last broadcast, it seemed like this was going to be a swift game. The entire first half was 22 minutes. There were two 0:30 timeouts called in the first two quarters, and a total of 10 turnovers. Only three fouls were whistled in the first half, however all three were shooting fouls.

West Prairie pressured the perimeter more in the second half, and the game certainly did end in less than an hour. The second half may have lasted twice as long as the first half.

Tale of the Tape (1st half/2nd half)
1st Half
Turnovers: 10
Fouls: 4
Timeouts: 2
Free Throw Attempts: 6

2nd Half
Turnovers: 11
Fouls: 15
Timeouts: 4
Free Throw Attempts: 19

Abingdon took a 28-11 lead after three quarters, but the Cyclones fought back in the 4th quarter. Trailing by 17 points to start the 4th quarter, the Commandos cut that deficit down to 8 points down the stretch with chances to close even further.

The Commandos went just 4-11 from the free throw line in the 4th quarter, giving West Prairie more chances to get back in the game. Abingdon held on for a 36-28 win, and will move on to play host and #2 seed United on Wednesday night.

Cordan "Beep" Jones scored a game-high 12 points for Abingdon. Erica Webster reached double-digits for West Prairie, scoring 10 points. The Cyclones dressed just eight players. They had three seniors, three juniors, one sophomore, and one freshman.

There were 65 fans left in the stands at the final horn.

The gym capacity at United High School is 1,160.

After the game, Abingdon Athletic Director Joe Nichols came up to the broadcast booth. Knowing Joe for the last several years as the Abingdon baseball coach, and the B-PC/A assistant baseball coach before that, I forgot that I first knew him as a photographer for area newspapers. He told me that when he was taking photos for the Western Courier at WIU, a professor had talked about writing a coffee table book on old gymnasiums. He wanted Joe to take pictures of the old gyms, and the professor would write articles on each gym. This would be a really neat idea. Nichols said the professor was just interested in the really old turn-of-the-century gyms. I think it would be neat for all gyms, take for example the Benton gymnasium which was built in the 1970's, it's a classic.

Game 124 Miles: 40

Game 123: West Central vs. B-PC/A (Girl's Basketball)

2011-02-08T18:19:00.000-08:00

United High School
Host: Class 1A Regional

Game 123
West Central vs. B-PC/A (Girl's Basketball)
Class 1A United Regional
(2/7/11)

You're kidding me, right? Regionals?!?! Already!!! Talk about time flying, but it's bittersweet. With the onset of postseason basketball, it means that spring and warmer weather is on the way. On the flip side, it means that basketball season is almost over.

When I spoke about the lack of sleep over the course of the entire week due to the blizzard and the games at the end of the week, I thought that getting to sleep in on Sunday would make it all better. I was able to get nine hours of sleep Saturday night into Sunday, and really wasn't that tired on Super Bowl Sunday. I had a funny feeling about that, just knowing that it would probably hit me on Monday. It did.

There have been times through the Quest that I have had moments of tiredness, but usually getting to the gym revives me, and I am refreshed and ready to go. Today, a massive headache came on and I wondered if I was just really, really tired, or getting sick. Unfortunately, the headache didn't go away throughout the night at the games.

One big plus on the night, was that the Regional site was just a few miles down the road from the radio station, so I was able to arrive early and get things set up. In talking about the cell phone issue at various times we have at the radio station throughout the season, tonight was going to be another test night, since United is one gym where we have had many problems with the cell.

The problem has been one of the most frustrating and mind boggling issues I've ever dealt with. There is no rhyme or reason for the calls during a broadcast to "drop out." I've relayed the problem looking for a solution with other sports broadcasters, the makers of the remote mix board we use, U.S. Cellular tech support, and even the local U.S. Cellular tech support by showing them what is happening (of course the problem didn't happen while at the store).

We thought we solved the issue by getting a different phone. So far, that phone has worked. Since the problem arises at different times, and doesn't have any method to its madness, I wanted to make sure in troubleshooting to use our old cell phones and the new one, to cross check them. Another crew did this last week, and one of our older phones did not work at all, while the new phone held up for an entire broadcast of two games, back to back. Problem solved, right? Not really.

After setting up the radio equipment for the first game, and my own equipment for the next game, I called our General Manager, Vanessa Wetterling to test the phone. I used the old phone, and it held for more than 10 minutes. Usually, the problem happens at the onset of the phone call. Either that, or it will last throughout much of the broadcast before dropping out.

My plan was to use the old phone, and see how long it would last, then go to the new phone if a dropout occurred. I wanted to test both phones before going on air, to see if there was any difference in sound. The old phone held its connection to the radio station, so I called in with the new phone. My engineer at the studio, Julie Richardson, said the first (old) phone sounded better. In fact, the old phone sounded better in my ears as well. With that said, it also lasted nearly the entire broadcast, until dropping out at the start of our postgame show. I made a quick call back to the station, and it held for the entire postgame show without a dropout. So, I guess the mystery continues!

Pat Repp was my broadcast partner for the night. This is the first broadcast we've worked together this year. I haven't broadcasted too many of the Monmouth-Roseville or United games this season. Pat does a great job on color commentary, and he is an Avon native, part of the co-op that we were broadcasting tonight (Bushnell-Prairie City/Avon).

The United Red Storm girl's basketball team was practicing when I arrived in the gym. Coach Dennis Mann came up and talked with us before the opener of the doubleheader. Up until this season, the Red Storm boy's basketball team played their home games in Alexis, and Pat mentioned that this was the first time he had been in the United gym since the consolidation (when it was Warren High School).

A new floor was recently put in at United replacing a pretty bad floor at the gym. Mann shared a story about his coaching days with the Warren Warriors. He said that there was a hump in the floor, that Repp remembered well, also. Mann said that they would use strategies to push opponents to the hump. He told one story about a game against Northwestern High School in the 1980's in which a player from the opposition had a fast break and went up for a layup. The player went up in the air, but the last dribble hit the hump and stayed on the floor. A Warren player picked the ball up, raced down the opposite end of the gym and scored.

United Superintendent Jeff Whitsitt also stopped by. I told him that I didn't recognize him when he walked in the gym earlier in the night, because of the scruff. He has grown a beard, and called it winterizing.

The game started slow between the Lady Spartans and the West Central Heat. In fact, B-PC/A didn't get too much gym time last week, since Avon was out of school for four days. They also missed a Senior Night, which has happened a few times in recent years at B-PC/A. The Lady Spartans will have their Senior Night on Tuesday of the boy's game.

B-PC/A led 8-4 after the first quarter, but fared much better in quarter #2. The Lady Spartans outscored the Heat 18-13 in the 2nd quarter. B-PC/A forced 14 turnovers in the first half, but turned the ball over 12 times themselves.

Things opened up in the 3rd quarter, as the Lady Spartans pressure defense came out in the 2nd half. B-PC/A outscored West Central 18-8 in the 3rd quarter, and were able to cruise to a 60-37 win. The Heat are a very physical team, and I was really impressed with a sophomore post, Maria Steck. She scored 8 points in the 2nd quarter, but was limited in the 2nd half with foul trouble.

Both teams are limited with depth. West Central dressed 11 players, while B-PC/A had 12 players. One player that wasn't on the varsity roster on the program was a freshman, Kim Norris. She played limited time, but in the minutes she played did very well. She had 3 points, and probably around 4 rebounds.

The Heat are a very young team, with just four seniors, none of them a starter. West Central started three sophomores and two juniors. 29 of their 37 points return next year.

Game 123 Miles: 40

Game 122: Blue Island Eisenhower @ Galesburg (Boy's Basketball)

2011-02-06T20:41:00.000-08:00

Blue Island Eisenhower Warming Up

Game 122
Blue Island Eisenhower @ Galesburg (Boy's Basketball)
(2/5/11)

After broadcasting the reigning IHSA Girl's Basketball 3-point record holders (Galesburg single-season in 2009-10), it was time to broadcast the IHSA Boy's Basketball single season 3-point record holders. The Blue Island Eisenhower Cardinals just broke the record the night before, set by Lincoln in 2004-05. Coming in, the Cardinals have knocked down 292 three-pointers.

I was able to make it to John Thiel Gymnasium from Dunlap with about 20 minutes on the pregame clock of the sophomore game. Jimmie and I had arranged for him to record Eisenhower coach Mike Curta for the pregame show while I unpacked and set up the equipment, along with filling out the score book.

Mike Reynolds: Captain of the Fashion Police
Register-Mail Photo

During the sophomore game, P.A. Announcer Gary Mitchell announced that Ryan McElmurry was going to the free throw line. I was filling out my score book at the time, and it caught me by surprise! When I looked up, Gary corrected himself and announced Drew Nall would be shooting the free throws, with a chuckle. Nall is #4 on the sophomore team, while McElmurry wears #4 on varsity.

When I went to do my pregame interview with Galesburg coach Mike Reynolds, he commented about my wardrobe saying, "Geez, you dressed up for tonight's game." I was wearing a pair of black Nike Shox with cargo pants and an IHSSN polo with a white long sleeve shirt underneath. I'm a little less formal on Saturday game days.

Galesburg softball coach and basketball game day security extraordinaire Brad Swanson told me he had been to God's Country earlier in the day, referencing his trip to my hometown, Annawan, to watch his alma mater, Stark County play in the Lincoln Trail Conference Tournament. I would later listen to the end of Stark County's LTC title game win over United on WRMJ with Jim Taylor on the call.

Assistant coach Troy Noble explained to me what had happened the night before at Rock Island, when the P.A. Announcer asked fans to not walk in front of the Galesburg bench. He followed that comment with, "It's bothering them." Noble said that it happened on a few occasions before he walked to the scorer's table and asked for the announcement.

Register-Mail columnist Tom Wilson hand delivered a couple books for me. We did a talk on Sportsline earlier this week about a snow storm in 1960 that forced some Galesburg basketball players and many fans to stay at various points on a trip back from Rock Island. He mentioned a story about the paper's sports editor at the time, Joe Morrissey, and also made mention of a book Morrissey wrote, "Thiel: The Silver Streaks Years." Tom brought me that book, along with a copy of his own book, "Remembering Galesburg." Another visitor to the broadcast booth was Dennis Jacobs.

Jimmie Carr talks with Jessica Howard
WAIK Halftime Show

Eisenhower jumped out running and gunning, but the shots weren't falling. The Silver Streaks jumped out to lead, 20-16 at the end of the 1st quarter. By halftime, Galesburg led 48-41. The Cardinals were 7-27 from the three-point line.

There were 29 total fouls called against the two teams in the first half, 19 by Eisenhower. Jessica Howard was our special halftime guest on 1590 WAIK. Evan Massey recently interviewed Jessica for his BLOG, which was a very entertaining read.

Galesburg outscored Eisenhower 23-22 in the 3rd quarter to take a 71-63 lead heading into the 4th quarter. It looked like scoring 100 points would be out of the picture, needing 29 points to reach the century mark. The Silver Streaks had scored 20-28-23 in the first three quarters.

Jimmie Carr & Chad Thompson
WAIK Postgame

Down the stretch, the 100th point when Dalton Davis was fouled after his shot went down. With 99 points, Davis made the free throw. The Streaks would win the game 104-83. Chad Thompson became the first Silver Streak this season to eclipse the 40-point mark. Normally, an outside shooter, his points tonight came in the paint. He scored 6 points in the 1st quarter, 11 points in the 2nd quarter, 10 points in the 3rd quarter, and 13 points in the 4th quarter.

Brandon Thompson scored 21 points for Galesburg, while Ryan McElmurry added 18 points and Aslan Butler scored 12 points, in just his 2nd game back after a foot injury suffered just before Christmas.

Sophomore Tyrone Terrell scored a team-high 29 points for Eisenhower. He knocked down seven three-pointers. Davalle Ward scored 12 points, and Dustan Lewis added 10 points for the Cardinals. Eisenhower went 15-51 from the three-point line. Both teams committed 19 turnovers.

This was the final game for referee Larry Sholl, who was presented the game ball that he threw in the air for the opening tip. He was also recognized before the tip and given a standing ovation.

Three technical fouls were whistled on the night, two of them in the sophomore game. The only varsity technical assessed was against Eisenhower head coach Mike Curta.

My favorite name of the weekend goes to Eisenhower's Olajuwon Prude (5'11" Jr.). Prude was averaging 11.6 points/game and 3.2 rebounds/game, but did not play.

Following the game, I had to make a decision on my postgame dinner. Friday's dinner was McDonald's in Rock Island, breakfast Saturday morning was McDonald's in Monmouth. The thought of the golden arches was unsettling, as this trip is becoming all too familiar.

Working on just 3.5 hours of sleep, I was extremely exhausted, and still had an hour drive to Atkinson to catch the end of a family reunion. Five-Hour Energy was a must! Instead of fast food, I headed to the Galesburg Mobil on Henderson and grabbed a gas station dinner.

Fuel for the road

I'll have to write another royalty check to Macomb football coach Kelly Sears for making a mention in this blog. I broadcasted Macomb Bombers games for three or four seasons on K100 in Macomb, and Sears was my color commentator. During one trip he uttered the words, "gas station sandwich," which made me erupt into laughter. It's one of those you had to be there moments. At any rate, I took the Sears road warrior meal advice, and picked up an Italian sub and a small bag of Kitchen Cooked potato chips, a large bottle of water and an Orange flavored 5-Hour Energy.

On my drive home Sunday, I was flipping through radio stations when I came across an interesting song on 93.9 WYEC. It was "MacArthur Park" by Richard Harris. I laughed out loud to the lyrics, "Someone left the cake out in the rain, I don't think that I can take it, because it took so long to bake it, and I'll never have the reciple again...oh noooo." Here's video, I've listened to it a half dozen times, and I can't believe I've never heard this song before!

Speaking of music, our family reunions have really become much more entertaining in recent years with the advent of karaoke. When I walked into Gordo's Barn in Atkinson shortly after 10:00 to the large contingent of family, I was immediately summoned to the microphone, however I need a little time to loosen up the vocal cords. I "performed" with cousins Noreen, Chris, and Tammy to The B-52's "Love Shack." My stylings are limited, but here are three songs that I feel comfortable doing karaoke (for entertaining purposes only - not a good singer).

1) The B-52's "Love Shack" -- I don't really know when I started doing this song, quite possibly at the former Parkside Sports Bar in Macomb.

2) Nikki French "Total Eclipse of the Heart" -- You're wondering, What the ???? I do this duet-style with a female. My version is a take from the movie Old School, and I perform it Metallica-style. It really catches people off-guard, and half of the audience loves it and finds it hilarious, while the rest think it's awful.

3) Crash Test Dummies "Mmm Mmm Mmm" -- I don't have a very low voice, but for some reason I can drop it down a few notches and hit this song. Most comments after I do this song are, "I've never heard that song before." A shame, it's a mid-90's classic!

Another amusing moment on the road was a license plate spotted on Route 67, "KTY WTY." Maybe it was a couple that had a last name that started with the letter "Y." The only thing that I could picture, though, was a lonely cat woman that loves her kitty witty.

Game 122 Miles: 100

Game 121: Galesburg @ Dunlap (Girl's Basketball)

2011-02-06T17:35:00.000-08:00

Dunlap High School

Game 121
Galesburg @ Dunlap (Girl's Basketball)
(2/5/11)

Another short night of sleep, before turning around and heading back to work. Upon returning home from Rock Island late Friday night, I had to spend about an hour cleaning the house and preparing it for the showing on Saturday afternoon. By Saturday morning, about 3.5 hours of sleep ended, and another day began.

I worked the early morning shift at the radio station, and in between recording and picking up Jimmie Carr for our trip to Dunlap, I squeaked in my game prep for both games today. It took a little extra time, so I texted Jimmie saying it would be running about 20 minutes behind. We decided to leave extra early, in case some of the two-lane roads from the interstate to Dunlap were still snow covered, which they were not.

Garmin directed me to take I-74 to the Brimfield exit, and take Route 150 into Peoria, then head north to Dunlap. Initially, it told me to get off on the Route 78 exit, but I drove on by. That direction takes you into Dunlap from the north, through mainly two-lane highways and country roads. I'll stick the main route, thank you.

We made a stop at the gas station in Dunlap, and it was much needed. Three cups of coffee, a large orange juice, and a large bottle of water in the morning led to a swifter than usual walk into the gas station.

Heading over to the high school across the street from the gas station, the Galesburg team bus was pulling into town, arriving just ahead of us. The last time I broadcasted a game at Dunlap, was the Galesburg girl's basketball game there two seasons ago. It was played in the auxilary gym, and as we drove onto the Dunlap campus, I forgot how to get to the gym...much like the previous trip two years ago.

I followed the bus to the main entrance, then headed around the school to the back entrance near the auxilary gym. I could have sworn there was a road at the main entrance to the campus that took you around the school, but there was a large snow pile, that appeared to be blocking the road. Following the game, I discovered a new addition was added to the school, closing off that road.

The doors were locked, but after about 30 seconds, someone came and let us in. Jimmie kept walking past the auxilary gym and we went to the main gym, where the Dunlap and Metamora freshman girl's basketball teams were playing. Today's game will be in the main gym, which has a much better spot for our broadcast.

Our broadcast location is on the balcony, with a large table and plenty of room. Athletic Director Duane Peterson came up and asked if we needed anything. He also spoke about some big renovations coming to the high school. There is an approximately $5 million renovation project in the works that will include putting artificial turf on the football field, new tennis courts (9 total courts), a new soccer field next to the middle school.

Today's pregame interview was done with assistant coach Andie Allison, while WGIL talked with assistant coach Jacque Gohlinghorst. In talking with Dunlap coach Patrick Garst, he mentioned the team had not had a practice since last Friday, as in 8 days ago Friday. The school has a no school/no practice rule, and the snow storm took a toll. The Eagles did win their Friday night game against Washington, and Garst said that Dunlap started slowly, as expected after the long layoff.

Eric Lieber, the father of Silver Streaks' Jessica Lieber was talking with Jimmie when I returned. Jessica is starting to get college interest in golf. She helped the Streaks golf team to a 7th place finish this past fall. Southern Illinois University is showing plenty of interest, and she is just a sophomore this year. Her brother, Jordan, is golfing at Carl Sandburg College, and may continue at Knox College. Eric said he's not even a golfer, himself!

While we conversed, I had loaded the ESPN Gamecast of the Illinois/Northwestern game. Something that not pretty to follow, though it looked like it was a good game, minus the outcome.

Dunlap Gymnasium

In the sophomore game, the Streaks pulled away with a 58-41. I talked with sophomore coach Mike Rux earlier in the afternoon, and told him that Jimmie would be wanting to talk with him to recap the sophomore season. That interview will be aired with Coach Rux during halftime of the Western Big 6 championship showdown on Thursday night between Galesburg and Moline.

The Streaks started cold in the varsity game, shooting just 3-24 from the three-point line in the first half, and trailed 24-23 at the break. Galesburg did force 15 turnovers, and only committed 12. At halftime, it felt like the Streaks could win this game by double digits, as they were on the cusp of a big run.

Galesburg was doing everything right, the shots just weren't falling. They were getting good shots, and playing great defense. Sadee Hamilton had a big game, finishing with 13 points and 5 or 6 blocks, along with several rebounds. She was our First Glass Breakout Player of the Game.

After the 3rd quarter, Galesburg led 40-39. The Streaks hit four big three-pointers in the 4th quarter to hang on for a 53-50 win. Galesburg led by as many as 7 points in the final minute, but some missed free throws and Eagles baskets made it a game. A missed free throw in the final seconds of a three-point game game Dunlap the basketball. A last second three-point attempt from the top of the key just rimmed out, saving any overtime, and the Silver Streaks emerged with their 24th win of the season (24-5).

Hamilton and Jamie Johnson scored 13 points each, while Jessica Lieber added 10 points. Galesburg shot 9-41 from the three-point line and only 6-15 from the free throw line. The Silver Streaks committed 21 turnovers, and forced 24. Lexi Hobbs scored a game-high 20 points for Dunlap, and Alissa Recker added 18 points.

We left Dunlap High School, and drove straight to Galesburg to prepare for the boy's game against Blue Island Eisenhower...

Game 121 Miles: 145

Game 120: Galesburg @ Rock Island (Boy's Basketball)

2011-02-05T07:14:00.000-08:00

Rock Island Fieldhouse

Game 120
Galesburg (3A #7) @ Rock Island (3A #2)
(2/4/11)

Before this big game at the Rock Island Fieldhouse, I talked with both head coaches (Mike Reynolds & Thom Sigel) on my Sportsline (click to listen to full show) program. Coach Reynolds and I talked at 10:45, as Ryan Ricketts was getting set to publicly sign his letter-of-intent to play football at Western Illinois University.

Ricketts was with Reynolds before we started the interview, and apparently Ryan needed some advice on his wardrobe. He helps the basketball team with scouting, since he decided not to play after dealing with a slight knee injury, and decided to focus on football and track & field. Reynolds said, "Unbutton that first button, you look stupid." The two kidded back and forth.

Because walking 10 steps for smokes is so overrated!

It always gets me when driving to Rock Island High School. There must be more title loan joints in Rock Island than any other city in the state. Driving into Rock Island from Milan, there must be a half dozen in a 2-mile stretch.

However, the funniest business along this stretch of highway has to be the "smoke shop." The small store sells cigarettes, but is marketed differently than your average store.

The biggest question of the night was going to be whether or not I ate before or after the game. Sometimes I am not that hungry when getting to the gym, but by the time the varsity game tips off I am starving. Tonight, a rarity, I decided to eat right before going to the gym, so I decided on McDonalds. It was either before the game McDonalds, or after the game Dr. Gyro's. A tough decision, and with back-to-back games in Rock Island this week, I didn't make it to my favorite eating joint once.

The doors were still locked in getting to the gym before 5:00, and I even beat the Galesburg team. Rock Island athletic director Bob Swanson got me all set up, and I took in the sights of the fieldhouse for a few minutes, with this being my first trip to the boy's gym at Rocky.

My broadcast position was at the base of the upper level of the fieldhouse, on the far end of the gym from the main entrance. I spoke with Rocky coach Thom Sigel, and he made a comment about the broadcast layout. There is a press box at the very top of the upper level, but Jimmie Carr prefers this spot. I told Sigel it was about the same distance and angle as the booth at Galesburg, however I would learn quickly our home broadcast spot is much cozier.

Rock Island sophomores warming up

There were only a half dozen interruptions at our location, the more they happened, the less funny they got. However, the first interruption was a dandy during our pregame show, as Jimmie was giving his pregame analysis. A middle-aged man walks up and asks if he can get through. He then tapped Jimmie on the shoulder and repeated himself, and did so again.

The crowd really piled into the fieldhouse, and Bob Swanson estimated there were around 5,000 fans at the gym. The capacity of the Rock Island Fieldhouse is over 7,000.

Rock Island jumped out to an early advantage, taking an 8-0 lead to start. Galesburg was able to chip back in and made it a 14-12 game in the final seconds of the 1st quarter, but a Denzel McCauley three-point play with 0:00 on the clock lifted the Rocks to a five-point lead heading into the 2nd quarter. A technical foul was assessed on Rock Island's Keith Keesy in the 2nd quarter after pushing Galesburg's Ryan McElmurry.

The Rocks outscored the Silver Streaks 14-11 in the 2nd quarter to take a 31-23 halftime lead. In the 3rd quarter, Rock Island began to make another run, jumping out to a nine-point lead after a 5-0 run. That turned into a 5-0 run by the Silver Streaks after Rocky's Darquez Bonner was issued a technical foul. Bonner was trying to engage Chad Thompson and get into his head coming down the floor on a posession. After a foul was whistled, Bonner ramped it up by clapping his hands in an antagonizing fashion, doing so right in front of the officials. He was assessed a "T" after continuing the act in front of a referee.

Galesburg couldn't chip any further, and the Rocks were able to cruise throughout the 4th quarter and win 72-53. The win boosts Rock Island to 20-2 on the season and 8-0 in the Western Big 6. Galesburg's 15-game win streak is snapped, and they drop to 21-4 on the year.

Brandon Thompson scored a game-high 18 points for the Silver Streaks. Chasson Randle led Rock Island with 17 points. Moline's Anthony Lindauer overtakes the Western Big 6 scoring lead with his 27-point effort against Quincy.

Galesburg Register-Mail sportswriter Aaron Frey mentioned a situation that occurred at the scorer's table in the 2nd half, in which apparently Silver Streaks assistant coach Troy Noble asked it be announced for fans to stop walking through the Galesburg timeout huddles. The P.A. Announcer reportedly announced, "Can the Rock Island fans not walk through the Galesburg huddle? It’s bothering them." Frey's Story

A sign many custodians would love to see!

Most of my equipment packing had to be done in the dark, as the lights were shut out to get fans to move out of the gym. The lights were restored once the last fans headed out the doors. It reminded me of a few years ago when broadcasting Macomb Bombers games, and my broadcast partner Kelly Sears couldn't believe how many people just hung around the gym for an extended period of time.

Call Nick! Get me to Galesburg!
(no offense to Macomb, but the commute sucks)

It was a quick pack up and head home. No Dr. Gyro's stop, just a speed-limit breaking cruise home, and a quick turn-around Saturday morning. Once I walked in the front door of my house and threw everything down to get to bed for a solid 4 hours of sleep, I remembered that I had the house showing on Saturday afternoon. Even though, I have been at home (and awake) for only a few hours since my big Sunday clean last week, it was still messy, with some dishes to be done, trash to take out (or in this case, toss 20 feet from my driveway because I didn't feel like wading through a waist-high drift to my garbage can), and picking up the random things. Please cross your fingers, I need this house to sell, so I can stop giving all of my extra money to big oil!

Game 120 Miles: 180

Game 119: Galesburg @ Alleman (Girl's Basketball)

2011-02-03T23:35:00.000-08:00

Game 119

Don Morris Gymnasium @ Alleman

Galesburg @ Alleman (Girl's Basketball)
(2/3/11)

Throughout the day, I was eagerly anticipating getting back into the gym. It's only been two nights away from basketball, but cabin fever and hoops withdrawals were settling in. I was also ready to sleep in my own bed, and take a shower from home. For some reason, hotel showers just don't make me feel as clean as a home shower. That may sound very weird.

The email came over in the early afternoon from Alleman athletic director Steve Smithers, confirming that the game will be played. I picked up Jimmie Carr at 3:30, ensuring plenty of time just in case the roads were still snow covered.

In taking I-74 to I-80, the roads were 100% clear, and we arrived at the gym to get the best parking spot that you will find at the school. We parked on the street in front of Alleman High School, right across from the front entrance to the gym, only about 10-15 steps from the front door. This is what I call a "Jimmie Carr parking spot," because you will always....always find Jimmie's parking spot as close to the door as possible.

As early as we got to the gym, we still did not beat the Silver Streaks team. Had I not stopped to get gas in Carlock on I-74 last Saturday, I would have beaten the team to Bloomington, but the team has won the race to each away game this year.

Once we got into the gym, we set our equipment down. The custodian at Alleman gets along with Jimmie really well, because they are both huge Dallas Cowboys fans. In fact, he was wearing a Julius Jones Cowboys t-shirt tonight. They talked Cowboys, and I tuned them out.

After setting up the equipment at Don Morris Gymnasium, I walked over to the Galesburg bench and talked with Silver Streaks head coach Evan Massey. Alleman coach Jay Hatch came over and apologized for not returning my call this morning. He said it took him over an hour to get across the river to the school in the morning, missing his entire prep period during first hour. Massey also apologized, saying he was going to call me back on his way to the gym for the girls' shoot around, but forgot. It worked out because I had plenty of guests lined up for Sportsline, and I was able to play it off by saying, "You can hear Alleman coach Jay Hatch and Galesburg coach Evan Massey's comments on tonight's game during our WAIK pregame show on 1590 WAIK."

I talked with Jay Hatch, next. Since Alleman is in Class 2A, this is their last game of the regular season. The interesting tidbit on Alleman is something he mentioned to me after our interview. Last season, after a 20-win season (20-7), his Pioneers received the #2 seed in the Regionals. This season, at (9-19) entering tonight's game, his team is a #1 seed in the Regionals. We were equally flabbergasted.

Now recollecting that my interviews were done with 20:00 to play before the sophomore game even started, this sets a new record for the pregame interviews being recorded at the gym. I believe the last time I made mention, it was around 12:00 on the clock before a sophomore game.

I spent some time talked with Galesburg assistant Andie Allison, who greeted me the same way Massey did when I walked up. "Monmouth!" That was in reference to my Monmouth College polo I was wearing. Both of them are Knox College graduates.

The managers, Lauren Riggs and Sarah Main have a special concoction they make during games. They add M&M's to the popcorn from the concession stand. Tonight, they added both Peanut Butter MM's and regular M&M's.

Speaking of M&M's, I feel that the peanut M&M's get overshadowed. They are a classic, and an extremely underrated candy. Admittedly, the peanut butter M&M's are pretty tasty, and regular M&M's are just a classic, kind of like a plain Hershey bar. However, I am hardly a candy expert. I can probably count on one hand how many candy bars I've purchased in the last 10 years.

During the Bloomington/Galesburg Game Blog, I talked about the game of Knockout, and how the team was playing it. During halftime of the sophomore game, the varsity team warmed up to a game. There was no winner, as they played parts of two games. In the first game, the final three players were Tai Peachey, Emma Junk, and Megan Young.

In the 2nd half of the sophomore game, there was an official's timeout during a free throw as an Alleman player was tying her shoes. Quote from the stands: "Left over right, right over left."

After the sophomore game, there was a "Senior Night" celebration, however it was Charlene Yeager Night, the lone Pioneers senior. Along with the senior night announcement, Alleman recognizes everyone in the girl's basketball program. It's quick, though, with no bio's being read. It's a unique take, and I enjoyed it.

Galesburg started the game shooting very cold. I was beginning to think Doug Green from the Quad City Times was covering the beat. I gave Doug a hard time because each time he has covered the Streaks, they have made single-digit three-pointers. He was covering the Moline/United Township game at Wharton Field House.

The Pioneers led 12-8 after the 1st quarter, but Galesburg outscored the hosts 22-14 in the 2nd quarter to take a 4-point lead into the halftime break. A familiar face was in the gym rooting on his alma mater, recent graduate and All-Stater Keelan Prince, now at Black Hawk College. Pioneers boy's basketball coach Bob Szorc was also in the stands. One of the officials on the night was my friend Dave Hasley. Dave joined me on Sportsline earlier this week to talk about officiating, the block/charge call, among other intricacies. LINK TO FULL EPISODE.

Alleman kept pace in the early part of the 3rd quarter, but Jessica Lieber knocked down a couple of big three-pointers, and the Silver Streaks scored 19 points in the frame, taking a 49-42 lead heading into the 4th quarter.

Another 20 points were scored by Galesburg in the 4th quarter, as they cruised to the 69-58 win, improving to 23-5 on the season, and 7-2 in the Western Big 6. Moline knocked off United Township, meaning the Western Big 6 title will be decided at GHS next Thursday night, when the Streaks host the Moline Maroons. Rock Island is 6-3, and UTHS is now 5-4. The Rock Island/Quincy game tonight was pushed back to Saturday afternoon.

An interesting stat I compiled this afternoon was free throw attempts for Galesburg. Now the team has won five straight games, however in their only losing streak of the season, when they dropped games to Morton and Rock Island, the Silver Streaks were outshot at the free throw line. When attempting more free throws than their opposition, Galesburg is 20-2 (losses to Springfield and UTHS). When the opposition attempts more free throws, the Streaks are .500 (3-3). One of the wins when the opponent shot more free throws was the first win over Alleman in December.

Jamie Johnson scored a game-high 18 points, while Jessica Howard scored 17 points, and Jessica Lieber scored 15 points. Lieber was our First Glass Breakout Player of the Game, for her three-point exploits in the second half. She knocked down five three-pointers, all after halftime in crucial times of the game to lift the Streaks ahead, and keep them there.

Alleman freshman point guard Cierra Davis scored a team-high 14 points. Anne Bohnert scored 13 points, and Mary Anne McLaughlin added 10 points.

I noticed Galesburg Register-Mail sports writer Todd Rudolf was wearing a Minnesota Timberwolves hat. Not too often do you see a T-Wolves hat. I didn't get a chance to pick his brain on why he is a Timberwolves fan. Which got me thinking. I have always been a crazed and obsessive sports fan, and I've donned some unusual apparel. Here are the top five weirdest jerseys I've owned in the past.

Yinka Dare: I actually owned this jersey!!!

1) Yinka Dare (pronounced Dar-Ay) jersey (New Jersey Nets). This is no joke, and I challenge anyone to claim they've worn a stranger jersey. I wish I still had it, but in high school I purged some of my jersey collection. I was always fascinated by the strange player names at George Washington University, almost becoming a sort of GWU basketball fan. Yinka Dare played for them, and was actually an NBA lottery pick for the Nets. I can't quite recall where I found the Dare jersey, but I think it was one of the sporting goods stores at South Park Mall in Moline.

2) Rashaan Salaam Bears jersey and Salaam t-shirt. I was a big fan of the rookie running back, who ended up doing nothing. After I had the jersey (which I still own, but it hangs in a closet at my parents house), I bought a Salaam t-shirt at Bears training camp in Platteville, Wisconsin. It read, "Wisconsin has cheese, but Chicago has Salaami"

3) UMASS Lou Roe jersey. During the Marcus Camby/Lou Roe days, I jumped on the Minutemen bandwagon, which was also the height of my jersey collecting. I had the UMASS uni, with the matching mesh shorts, back in the heydey of Eastbay. For some reason, they were selling Lou Roe #15 jerseys, not jerseys with #21 (Camby).

I had to be the first to own the Nomar Cubs jersey

4) Nomar Garciaparra Chicago Cubs jersey. At least in the previously mentioned jersey snafus, I was a teenager, not so with this poor decision. I was in my 20's, and spent $125 on a Garciaparra jersey just days after getting traded from the Red Sox to the Cubs. What was I thinking?!?! I still own this jersey, keeping it as a reminder to STOP buying jerseys!

5) Honorable Mention: Seattle Supersonics warmup jersey, vintage California Angels jersey, Arizona State baseball jersey, and Bryan Cox Chicago Bears jersey.

The snow was tall!

Neighbor plowing my driveway

I have been worried the last two days of what the Blizzard of 2011 did to my property. When I arrived on my street at 11:30 p.m. it was just as I expected. The snow was knee-high. There would be no way I could shovel the drive, and absolutely no way that my Explorer would get through it. Fortunately, my neighbors have a snow plow, and they were outside when I pulled up. Five minutes later, my drive was cleared.

In addition, I have a house showing at 1:00 on Saturday afternoon, with a full day of work at the office on Friday, a game in Rock Island Friday night, and leaving for Galesburg at 8:30 a.m. Saturday to head over to Dunlap. Looks like an early wakeup on Saturday to shovel snow. Oh joy!

Game 119 Miles: 220

Bizzard of 2011 Coverage

2011-02-02T18:56:00.000-08:00

Snow Drifts at Super 8 in Monmouth

Blizzard of '11
(2/2/11)

Remember in yesterday's blog, when I mentioned the word, "excited", when talking about the impending blizzard? Well....

Those words were spoken in the heat (or cold) of the moment, in anticipation of an event I've never before witnessed. In addition, it takes me back to my musings about the heat, which is a good topic to discuss at this time, taking our minds off of the cold.

During those dangerous heat waves, I am reminded via Facebook, that if I was working outside in that heat, that I would be thinking differently. Well, as excited as I was about the blizzard, I found myself realizing that since I have to go out and about in it, that it's not all it is cracked up to be.

Case in point #1. I don't own snow boots. I don't own snow pants/coveralls/overalls, or whatever they are called. I came equipped with extra clothes, but nothing wintery. We're talking one pair of jeans, two pairs of Dockers, some polos, a pair of dress shoes, a pair of "sneakers," and of course gloves and a hat. I used to have a bulk of winter clothing apparel, but when I was constantly moving every 6-12 months, I tossed it out since I never wore the stuff.

The back reads: "whitetrashwheelin.com"

Case in point #2. Just like that previous statement about working in the summer heat....the same can be said of working in the blowing and drifting snow. Add in the fact that I am not equipped with winter weather gear, and it's pretty deplorable.

So, that's where we begin! The alarm was set for 4:00 a.m. this morning, despite falling asleep sometime after midnight. I wasn't even remotely tired, due to the excitement surrounding the winter storm, and the constant Facebook updates from my snow-bound friends.

Dear Super 8, plug in your darn alarm clocks!

For some reason, the last few hotels I have stayed at, the alarm clocks are not plugged in. I don't understand this! Anyway, I made the mistake of not testing the alarm clock before hitting the sack. Everything seemed to be set up correctly, and it was....however....

At 4:30 a.m. I woke up. Uh oh! I wanted to be out of my room by 5:00. The alarm was indeed, on. It was just faintly playing the radio. I thought it was set to the buzzer, but it was not. Hurriedly, I took a shower and packed everything up to get to the radio station.

Our station vehicle won't be going anywhere!

I ran out to the parking lot to start my car and get it warmed up. Judging by the drift surrounding my vehicle, she would need to be warmed up! Upon getting it started, I raced to the front door of the motel. I encountered (no joke here) waist-high snow drifts. With momentum carrying me a short way into the drift, I became stuck for a moment. The first thing that came to mind, was Chris Farley wearing that small coat. I squirmed my way out of the drift, only to look up at the hotel lobby window to see about five guys laughing about my excursion through a 3-foot snow drift.

My co-worker, Greg Ford, thought he could get out of the drifts in his Buick. He was wrong. We tried to make a go of it in my 4WD Explorer, but a snow plow (while I was backing up) plowed be under. Normally, I am not one of those road rage kind of guys, but at 4:30 a.m. and no coffee in my system, I shook my fist at the snow plow driver like an elderly lady. I feel bad now, because he was very friendly after coming up and offering to pull me out with his log chain.

Radio Station back parking lot

When I read people's statements and hear comments about various things, I try to bring them back down with positive comments, but I let the moment get to me here. Early morning, lots of snow, no caffeine. The thing is, looking back, that snow plow driver was just doing his job, plowing out the parking lot. It's a common gripe I hear from people, that #&$* snow plow driver plowed me in, etc. Well...what other option does he have? He's clearing the road, not your personal driveway. Get pissed off at Mother Nature for dumping a foot and a half of snow in front of your house, not the guy trying to help make things easier for you! So, with that said, many apologies to Mr. Plow for my fist shaking incident in the wee hours!

Once we were pulled out of the Super 8 parking lot, it wasn't long before my second moment of being stranded in the snow occurred. Trying to get out of the County Market parking lot, again I was stuck. Several times doing the backwards/forward shift didn't work. A few minutes of shoveling proved worthless. Finally, a little more shoveling and Greg Ford pushing the rear of the Explorer was able to get us unstuck.

V.I.P. parking at the radio station

It only took 50 minutes to travel between 6-8 blocks to the radio station. That's when the next problem came to. The main roads were all clear...but there wasn't anyplace to park. After driving around downtown a couple times, I saw an opening. It was the sidewalk in front of the station on the square. Surely, I broke more than a couple city ordinances, but there was no other choice. Rock star parking!

It was a busy day at the office, and surely the list of "openings" was much shorter than the list of "cancellations" today. I even brought up the idea that we air Openings instead of Closings on the radio today.

After reading that the Illinois State Police in Macomb were sending troopers out in snowmobiles and Humvees, I thought it was probably wise to just stay an extra night at the Super 8.

My house is for sale. An amazing back deck with TV! Call, Nick!

I love motels, I don't know why. It's like a vacation, even when I'm working 75% of the time. As a bonus, I'm not messing up my house, which is being shown on Saturday. Keep your fingers crossed, and hopefully they want to buy!!!

Only a Blizzard Can Slow Down the Quest

2011-02-01T21:18:00.000-08:00

Route 34 in Monmouth

Blizzard of 2011
(2/1/11)

Tonight was scheduled to be the 119th broadcast in the Quest 2: 150. The game was to be Annawan @ United in the Lincoln Trail Conference Tournament.

Stoplight at County Market in Monmouth on Rt. 34

No surprise the game was cancelled, in fact it was looking like the Tuesday and Wednesday games of this week would be weathered out as early as the weekend.

As I type this, the Blizzard of 2011 is rearing its ugly head. This is exciting, and as I ponder that statement, it makes no sense as to my rationale behind the excitement of 20 inches of snow, 40 mph wind gusts, and sub-zero temperatures.

Life's a Ditch Sometimes

During the summer, I prefer to sit out on my back deck with the Cubs game on, under the bright sun when the heat index soars well into the triple digits. I spent 12 hours covering ASA softball in Springfield last summer when the heat index reached 115 degrees, but I'm excited about a blizzard?

Growing up, I had heard so many stories about the Blizzard of '79, and how it was the worst ever. I was not around for that winter storm, but the stories fascinated me. I've never had that Blizzard of '79 moment. Here it is!

With a room at the Monmouth Super 8 motel booked, I spent some extra time at work catching up on things, then decided to travel around town in the middle of the storm to take some pictures and video. I want to experience this storm, and tell the stories that I have heard so often about 1979. I certainly don't want to say, "I sat in the recliner and watched it on TV for three days." That's not my style.

Downtown Monmouth

So my memory of the Blizzard of 2011 that will stick out is eating Chinese take-out at the Monmouth Super 8, with only the Internet, as the TV completely went out shortly into my stay.

Someone asked me earlier in the day if this storm will affect the Quest. It will not. It will take a couple games away, but I am confident that the Quest will be reached.

The Illinois High School Sports Network Coaches Polls are compiled and published. Boy's Rankings. Girl's Rankings.

The take out from Chen's Garden was good, as usual. I ordered the Sweet & Sour Chicken with fried rice. My fortune wasn't really a fortune. It read: "You are sociable and entertaining." I only hope so! If you are feeling lucky, play these numbers: 5, 6, 14, 34, 39, and 42. I should pass them along to my buddy, Jimmie Carr, he's a lotto man.

It's shortly after 11:00 p.m. when I type this, and glancing out my window I notice a snow drift has reached the hood of my Explorer. 4:30 a.m. is going to come very early! I'll keep you posted!

Game 118: Havana @ South Fulton (Girl's Basketball)

2011-01-31T21:45:00.000-08:00

V.I.T. High School Gymnsasium in Table Grove

Game 118
Havana @ South Fulton (Girl's Basketball)
(1/31/11)

The odds of getting games in on this Monday night ahead of an expected blizzard was getting slimmer and slimmer as the afternoon began. Many schools in the Jacksonville/Quincy areas were getting dismissed early, and some games in western Illinois were getting cancelled. Fortunately, the Havana/South Fulton game was on.

To make sure, I sent a note to V.I.T./Astoria athletic director Steve Kelly to make sure everything was on. As of 2:00, it was a go. Monmouth had received about an inch of powdery snow in the afternoon, and areas south were getting freezing rain.

When I pulled up to V.I.T. High School outside of Table Grove, I realized that I have never broadcasted a game here, never even been inside the gym. I broadcasted a football game here back in 2004 between the South Fulton Rebels and B-PC/A Spartans.

I walked through the doors, and headed toward the gym. A couple of people were very helpful and showed me to where I needed to be. First, I spoke with South Fulton fresh/soph coach Brian Porter, and then varsity head coach Carl Beebe. They had me all set up with my broadcast location on the stage.

South Fulton seniors

My buddy Shelby Burget from the McDonough Voice arrived, and took a seat next to me on the stage. We chatted during the sophomore game, mostly about how hard to believe that it's the final week of the regular season in girl's basketball already. We also spoke about each of our plans for work while the expected snowfall of 12-20 inches was expected to come our way.

It was Senior Night at South Fulton, and the Rebels honored six seniors. All six of the seniors are members of the National Honor Society! The South Fulton seniors are; Tiffany Churchill, Chelsea Burgard, Laci Porter, Liz Engel, Haley Bent, and Sarah Adcock.

The Havana team was in front of my broadcast location, with a couple of the girls trying to figure out a handshake.

Havana head coach Jerry Wilson was the girl's basketball coach at Astoria (part of the South Fulton co-op) from 1988-89 thru 1991-92. According to Shelby Burget, Wilson was the boy's basketball coach at Astoria in the mid-to-late 1970's. Wilson just picked up his 450th win earlier this season. He is now (456-206), after the win at South Fulton tonight.

For some reason, there were some difficulties with my online stream at the start of the game, delaying my broadcast to the late stages of the 1st quarter. Once I restarted my computer, things were up and running fine. An equipment issue also delayed the start of the Havana/South Fulton girl's game last season in Havana. That issue was with my mixer board, having a faulty adapter.

South Fulton took a 12-10 lead after the 1st quarter, but the Ducks came back in the 2nd quarter and led 24-22 at halftime. Havana was 9-10 from the free throw line at the break, however they got into some foul trouble. The Ducks had committed 7 fouls in the 1st quarter. Another issue was turnovers, a problem that Havana doesn't typically have, turning the ball over 9 times in the first half.

The Ducks were dry in the 3rd quarter, as South Fulton outscored Havana 12-0 in the first six minutes of the second half. At the 2:05 mark, Havana scored on a Jill Friedrich basket, and Emily Eakle scored to give Havana a 4-0 run to end the 3rd quarter, trailing 34-28.

It was a back-and-forth 4th quarter, with Havana taking a momentary lead on a Samantha Ellsworth three-pointer. The lead didn't last long, as on the very next posession, Carly Beebe answered to put the Lady Rebels back on top. South Fulton would hang onto the lead, but Havana tied the game on a Brittany Parker three.

With 0:08.1 on the clock, Jill Friedrich toed the half-court line, and it appeared she was nudged over, garnering a over-and-back call, and giving South Fulton posession in a tie game, 49-49. The Rebels did not score, and the game went to overtime.

Havana Ducks

Ellsworth, Parker, and Macy Brown each hit three's in the overtime period, as both teams scored 10 points in overtime, sending the contest to a second overtime. The Ducks outscored the Rebels, 7-4 and won in 2 overtimes, 66-63. After the Friedrich turnover, the same result happened, benefitting Havana. It appeared as though Destini Bollinger was pushed in the corner of the gym, but was called out of bounds.

Havana turned the ball over 26 times, while South Fulton had 22 turnovers. Carly Beebe scored a game-high 22 points, while Laci Porter added 14 points, and Haley Bent had 10 points in the Lady Rebels (25-4) loss. Samantha Ellsworth scored a team-high 17 points, and Macy Brown scored 12 points for the Ducks (26-2).

After the game, Havana head coach Jerry Wilson telle me, "Sorry we're getting you home late!" I said it was worth it! Assistant coach Scott Meyers asks me what it is with me broadcasting their games and them going into overtime, mentioning the Class 1A Supersectional from 2008-09 against Brimfield, a game I broadcasted.

V.I.T.
Vermont, Ipava, Table Grove is what V.I.T. stands for. The high school comprises one-half of the South Fulton co-op with Astoria. V.I.T.'s mascot was the Hornets, while Astoria was the Pirates.

Game 118 Miles: 42

Game 117: Galesburg @ Bloomington (Girl's Basketball)

2011-01-30T07:36:00.000-08:00

Bloomington High School

Game 117
Galesburg @ Bloomington (Girl's Basketball)
Plus - bonus basketball
(1/29/11)

An IHSA record was broken on this Saturday afternoon at Bloomington High School, yet more fast food, the call I've been waiting for, and a lot of miles logged on the road, as the WAIK broadcast crew decides to drive up to the Quad Cities.

Jimmie Carr and I met at 9:30 a.m. to make the trip over to Bloomington. On my way over, I stopped in Monmouth to pick up some backup equipment. Since there were no other games being broadcast today, I wanted to have some backup equipment just in case. We haven't had any equipment problems this season, but I didn't want to be non-equipped just in case. I also picked up the Peoria Journal-Star sports page from the radio station, and did something I shouldn't do. I scanned over the back page, with the stats and basketball write-ups, while I headed to Galesburg.

We made good timing, in fact I think we passed the Galesburg team bus between Peoria and Bloomington on I-74. I had to make a stop in Carlock for some gas ($3.09) at Yoder's BP.

When we pulled up to Bloomington High School, the Galesburg bus was just unloading, so I was very happy with our timing. The last time I was at BHS was during the 2002-03 season, when I was broadcasting Geneseo Maple Leafs girl's basketball and they were playing in the State Farm Classic. I believe the game I broadcasted at Bloomington was Geneseo/Tinley Park Andrew. It's a neat gym, as we sit up in the balcony overlooking the playing floor from one of the baselines.

Since we arrived so early, I was able to just take my time to get things set up, hang the balcony, etc. Once everything was situated, I talked with Bloomington head coach Don Anderson, in his first season as head coach of the Purple Raiders. He has a very young team, since Bloomington graduated their top six players from last year.

View of gym from WAIK broadcast booth

Why Can't I Remember Purple Raiders
Maybe there is too much information I am trying to remember, and my mind just won't allow me to recall certain things. There are two instances of fuzzy memory today. For one, I nearly called Bloomington the BLUE Raiders on several occasions, not the PURPLE Raiders. The mascot memory bank must be in overload, or the Bloomington Purple Raiders information is filed next to the old Walnut Blue Raiders in my brain.

The File on the Purple Raiders
On some occasions, I just don't get a chance to do much prep on the Saturday non-conference opponents, and today was one of those cases. When this happens, it is a cram session just before the broadcast. When I spoke with Galesburg coach Evan Massey, he got on his phone and we sought out the nine wins that Bloomington has picked up this year. We searched the High School Sports.net website and Maxpreps, and I also showed him Athletics2000, which is a website most, if not all, of the Big 12 Conference schools use. Of all of the websites that schools use for schedules, etc. I like Athletics2000, the most. It's generally used by suburban schools, but some of the large downstate schools use it, too.

Knockout
Before the sophomore game, while the underclassmen were getting ready for their matchup, the varsity team was shooting around. Not just shooting around, playing a game. It was Knockout. I think I was in high school the last time I ever recall seeing anyone play the game, and that is certainly the last time I've every played it. I explained the rules of the game to Jimmie, as he had never heard of it.

A Record-Setting Performance
Coach Massey and I discussed these Saturday afternoon non-conference games, and many people can call them "trap games" coming off of emotional conference games. This just hasn't been the case for the Galesburg girl's basketball team over the past two seasons. They seem to have their best performances in these games, and many times record-setting performances.

At the start, Galesburg jumped out to an early lead and forced many Bloomington turnovers, however the offense just wasn't hitting their shots. The team started the game 2-10 outside the arc, before a hot string of shooting kicked in throughout much of the game.

After the first quarter, Galesburg was 6-18 from the three-point line and had forced 15 Purple Raiders turnovers, taking a 24-10 lead. Eight more three-pointers were made in the 2nd quarter, and the Silver Streaks were 14-34 from outside the three-point line in the first half.

Galesburg kept hitting, making five more in the 3rd quarter (19-46 after three quarters), but getting the last three were tricky. The Streaks shot just 3-26 in the 4th quarter, including missing 16 straight in attempting to get the record-setting 22nd three-pointer.

The record-breaker came late in the 4th quarter, when Sadee Hamilton toed up a three-point attempt at the top of the key and swished it. See the video below.

IHSA Single-Game Three-Point Record
The Silver Streaks broke their own record that was set twice in one day at the Charleston Holiday Tournament (21 vs. Paris and Rantoul). Here is the rundown of the record-breaking performance.

Galesburg Three-Pointers
Jessica Howard -- 7
Mickey Rodriguez -- 5
Jessica Lieber -- 5
Jamie Johnson -- 2
Baylie Boyer -- 1
Paige Klinck -- 1
Sadee Hamilton -- 1

Streaks Defense
Even though the three-point record is the "top story," the defense by Galesburg was the most impressive play by the Streaks. The defense forced 15 turnovers, smothering Bloomington in the 1st quarter. By halftime, Galesburg had forced 29 turnovers. With the defense backed off in the 2nd half, Bloomington finished with 35 turnovers.

Minutes
Equally as impressive, in this 88-47 victory for Galesburg, was the fact that nobody played more than 15 minutes. Jessica Howard, who scored a game-high 23 points played just 13 minutes. All 15 girls played significant time.

On the Road
When Jimmie and I headed out of Galesburg, we discussed Friday night basketball results as well as the Quad Cities/Peoria Shootout that hits the Wharton Fieldhouse tonight for a doubleheader. When I saw this on the schedule, I did some math in my head, wanting to make the trip up from Bloomington to broadcast. My estimation was that I would not get to Moline until 5:30, at best, cutting it too close.

Jimmie mentioned that he had thought about going up there, so I said I'll drive up if you want to go. It would be really strange for me to be covering a basketball game without headsets on. The lineup was Rock Island/Manual in the opener at 6:00 and Moline/Peoria Central in the nightcap. I've seen three of the four teams already, of course Moline and Rocky several times. I caught Central down at the Springfield shootout in early December, and haven't seen Manual yet this year.

Jimmie Carr spills his pop at Culver's

Since I hadn't eaten since my French Toast breakfast, I needed to stop off for some junk food. The decision was Culver's in Morton. I had the Butter Burger double with the crinkle-cut fries and a Root Beer. In a previous blog, I discussed french fries, and I would put the Culver's fries tied with White Castle, they are identical, and both pretty good.

We went inside for a to-go order. While waiting for my food, Jimmie's order came out and a Culver's employee delivered it. Jimmie was holding his pop in one hand without its lid on. As he reached out to grab the sack of food, he held his pop too high and it spilled all over. I took a picture of the mess he left behind.

My mind calculation earlier in the week was almost exact to a "T". Before our fast food stop, Garmin estimated our Wharton Field House arrival at 5:29 p.m. We had quite a wait at Culver's, so it slowed us down to 5:49 p.m. However, I picked up the pace since the I-74 stretch between Peoria and the Quad Cities is pretty long and boring. On top of that, Jimmie went into post-meal nap stage. I picked up the pace, and let's just say I shaved 10 minutes off of the Garmin time!

Game Time: Part II
We got to Wharton Field House and it was a packed parking lot. Usually I get to the gym well before any of the fans, so I'm not used to driving around looking for a parking spot. There was an extremely long line that snaked outside the front doors and all the way to the edge of the building at the main parking lot. It was going to be a packed house.

Not quite...Galesburg head coach Mike Reynolds and high school principal Tom Chiles were right in front of us, and they were told to go around (pass gate), so we all walked around the building and Reynolds mentioned, "this is the place where I came nose-to-nose with Andre the Giant, well not quite nose-to-nose," in reference to the old WWF events that were held at Wharton before The Mark....errr I-Wireless Center was built.

Rock Island starting lineups at Wharton

We came in through the back, and walked in next to where our broadcast booth is, press row. I talked with Aaron Brenner of the Quad City Times. He was covering a game in which Iowa City West attempted 50 free throws in a game where over 50 fouls were whistled. I mentioned the Galesburg record-breaking performance hours earlier.

We took a seat in the 2nd row at the baseline, on the side opposite of where you walk in at Wharton. As we took our seats, I pointed out and laughed about the officials for the night. Joe Thompson and crew, who seem to be at every game! We need to start car-pooling.

Here is first quarter video from the Rock Island/Manual game, as the teams trade baskets. Manual's Brandon Watson scores in the first posession, followed by a Rock Island basket by Romal Davis.

I thought Rock Island would handle Manual, but that was certainly not the case. The Rocks held a 36-33 halftime lead, behind Chasson Randle's (Stanford) 12 points. Brandon Watson had 12 points for the Rams. Manual's Landis Farmer hit a three-pointer to pull Manual as close as one-point in the 3rd quarter, but Rocky was able to hold them off for a 74-68 win. Randle finished with a game-high 26 points, and Keith Keesey added 14 points. Jeff White led the Rams with 15 points, and Watson had 14 points.

Before the Moline/Peoria Central game, Maroons coach Ryan Webber came over and said a quick word. He is a Galesburg graduate. He's not the only Galesburg/Moline connection, as Mike Owens Sr. and Mike Owens Jr. are rooting on Moline, as Drew Owens is a sophomore on the varsity. Mike Owens Sr. was the head coach that took over the Silver Streaks program right after John Thiel, and his son, Mike Jr. played for the Streaks. Both of them came up and spoke with Jimmie during and after the Moline game.

Moline jumped out to a 15-12 lead after the 1st quarter, and held on to a 25-24 lead at halftime. There was a break in action during the 2nd quarter, when Central's Shamar Hill went down. We couldn't quite tell what happened, but the trainer came out and looked him over, not sure if he hit his head, or got the wind knocked out of him, but they looked him over pretty good. Hill was taken back to the locker room for a few minutes after leaving the floor.

Central made their run after halftime, taking a 40-34 lead after three quarters, and held on to win easily, 56-43. Moline's Anthony Lindauer scored 24 points. Central was led by a balanced scoring attack.

Game 117 Miles: 380

Game 116: Quincy @ Galesburg (Boy's Basketball)

2011-01-29T06:00:00.000-08:00

Pink Out Night at Galesburg High School

Game 116
Quincy @ Galesburg (Boy's Basketball)
Pink Out Night
(1/28/11)

Pink Out Night at John Thiel Gymnasium, an amazing 2nd half comeback, Galesburg coach Mike Reynolds' at lunch, and another lunch/dinner combo.

Today was another one of those day's where I had to run from studio to the printer and back to save time. In the end, I was able to get everything done with a few minutes to spare, but of course there was no lunch break all day. To curb the hunger, I snacked on two bananas, two fresh guavas, and a breakfast bar throughout the day.

When these times occur, which is frequently during the basketball season, I make the late afternoon run for a lunch/dinner. It only works if I can snack throughout the day, if not I can sometimes slip into junk fast food. Today, I made that typical trip to Subway.

I would never make it as a Food Photographer

Normally, I spend a little bit of time mulling over my decision for which Subway sandwich I am going to order. By the way, I had an interesting conversation with a former co-worker last year about ordering Subway in the drive-thru, which is what I always do. He thought it was so odd that people use the drive-thru at Subway. I found it odd that someone would think that. To each their own!

It was a foot-long cold cut combo that I ordered on wheat with tomatoes, pickles, black olives, and lettuce. I also ordered a large Coca-Cola, and I really need to cut pop out of my daily routine. I am slipping again, and really need to cut out the junk food and start getting to the gym. Basketball season = unhealthy habits.

I arrived at the gym at 4:30, because I had an interview scheduled with Galesburg freshman girl's basketball coach Jay Barshinger for my show, Sportsline. Jay grew up in DeKalb, went to Illinois State University, then took a job at Galesburg, and has been here every since. He played football, and was a member of the gymnastics team at DeKalb. My interview with Jay, as we talk about his background, the city of Galesburg, and coaching at GHS under several different head coaches, and his thoughts on new Silver Streaks football coach Tim Doughtery.

When I walked into the gym, the only other people besides Jay, were new GHS Softball coach Brad Swanson, and a couple of sophomore basketball players shooting around, Travon Diggins and Eric Stevenson. I wanted to interview Swanson as well, since he was recently hired as the new softball coach. He has been the sophomore coach the past few seasons.

After my chat with Barshinger, we talked for a few minutes. Mike, the tireless custodian was setting up the benches and scorer's table. I asked him how many hours he works in a day, and he shot out some numbers that made my jaw drop. During tournaments, I get to the gym around an hour before the first game, and usually take off 15-20 minutes after the horn sounds on the final game. Mike is there long before that first game, and long after that last game. Shawn Hickey, the defensive coordinator on the football team walked into the gym, and had found a cell phone in the hallway. It was obviously a girl's cell phone with a pink or purple studded cover.

Just a tick before 5:00, the Quincy Blue Devils walked into the gym. I spoke with coach Sean Taylor for a moment, and he was looking for a dryer, he was holding a T-shirt.

All of my equipment was already set up, because of the girl's basketball game the night before. I just had to boot up my computer, and rearrange the broadcast booth because of the Quincy radio stations that are coming. WQCY shares the broadcast booth with us (WAIK), while WGEM shares the booth with WGIL. I made sure there were enough chairs/stools in the booth, moved our equipment down, and cleaned up the booth for the night.

After getting things organized, I went down and talked with coach Taylor. I got his starters and made sure the roster was correct. He has brought up two underclassmen to the varsity, sophomore Joey Laws and freshman Luka Radovic. He gave me his starters and we talked about how the Blue Devils season has been going. I wanted to confirm his record (8-10), and he responded, "Thanks for reminding me!"

Brad Swanson had returned to the gym, and we stepped out into the hallway to talk softball. He's a Stark County graduate, so we talked a little bit about the Rebels basketball teams, both have very good seasons. The boy's team just earned the top seed in the Lincoln Trail Conference Tournament, and the girl's have been state-ranked much of the season, however they lost twice this week.

At the start of the sophomore game, Jimmie Carr headed down to interview Quincy coach Sean Taylor. Afterwards, I headed down to talk with Galesburg head coach Mike Reynolds. Galesburg Register-Mail assistant sports editor Aaron Frey walked in, and made a comment about Reynolds' pink button-down shirt, asking why he didn't wear it at lunch today. Reynolds was a guest with the Lunch Gang, one of my regular blog reads, check it out The Lunch Gang blog.

The Silver Streaks and Blue Devils battled in the 1st quarter, and it was tied 15-15 after one quarter. Quincy couldn't miss in the first half, knocking down six three-pointers before halftime and outscored Galesburg 19-6 in the 2nd quarter, taking a 13-point lead at the break (34-21).

WAIK's Jimmie Carr with Jamie Johnson

Joey Laws (6'4" So.) who looks more like a football player, but has the softest touch from the three-point line knocked down two of those three's, and finished with five three-pointers on the night and 15 points. The unbelievable thing is, Laws doesn't play football. I would imagine Rick Little has been in his ear to try the Blue Devils football program out.

Our WAIK halftime guest was girl's basketball player Jamie Johnson. The night prior, Johnson scored 19 points and went 8-8 from the free throw line in a win over United Township. She was our First Glass Breakout Player of the Game. She spoke with Jimmie Carr.

Starting the 2nd half, Chad Thompson sported a new pair of shoes. They stuck out, bright yellow basketball shoes. These are his practice shoes, after his game shoes broke down during the first half.

Galesburg came fired up and ready to go in the 2nd half, outscoring the visitors 23-12 in the 3rd quarter. Garrett Williams was clutch knocking down a pair of three-pointers, Dalton Davis hit one, and Brandon Thompson came uncorked.

Thompson, averaging almost 20 points/game, was held to just 2 points in the 1st half. That scoring drought didn't last long. He tossed in 12 points in the 3rd quarter, and finished the game with 23 points.

The Silver Streaks kept their rally going, down by 2 points to start the 4th quarter. Quincy's Tomas Dean and Joey Laws each hit 3-pointers in the final frame, and took a 7-point lead early in the quarter. Galesburg kept fighting, and were able to take a 62-60 lead with just over 2:00 to play on a Garrett Williams three-pointer. He as Mr. Clutch on the night, finishing with four three-pointers and 15 points. He was named our First Glass Breakout Player of the Game.

With Galesburg holding that lead the rest of the game, there were some tense moments in the final 0:12. Tomas Dean was called on a double-dribble, and some words were exchanged between Quincy and Galesburg players. This resulted in a Blue Devil shoving one of the Silver Streaks players, garnering a technical foul. Brandon Thompson sank both free throws, and the Streaks prevailed 69-64. Below is video of the final posession.

Pink Out Night
There was pink everywhere, in honor of the late Jason Gray, who was a Silver Streaks assistant during the 2008-09 season before passing away. Funds generated from Pink Out Night were donated to his son Zeke's education fund, Coaches vs. Cancer, and Luke's League, a foundation started by Quincy coach Sean Taylor in honor of a nephew that passed away from leukemia.

Game 116 Miles: 100

Game 115: United Township @ Galesburg (Girl's Basketball)

2011-01-27T22:47:00.000-08:00

Galesburg Silver Streaks Ready to Take Floor

Game 115
United Township @ Galesburg (Girl's Basketball)
(1/27/11)

An interesting night of Western Big 6 girl's basketball, with a head coach getting ejected, over 50 fouls, over 70 free throw attempts, and video of a hard fall by Galesburg's Jessica Lieber.

Despite a rough start to the workday, I was able to get everything squeezed into the shortened day. Since I came in at 11:00, I had to do about four hours worth of work in one hour....so there were some tense moments leading up to the Sportsline show. All went smooth and without a hitch.

I arrived at the gym earlier than expected, arriving just after the United Township bus. Normally, I get to the gym and get my equipment set up and scorebook filled out first. On many occasions, this holds me back, since it's easier to get coaches interviews done before the sophomore game. Tonight, I went down to get the coaches interviews done, then set up all of the equipment and filled out the book. This fresh approach was must smoother.

When I dropped the equipment off in the press box, I headed downstairs to talk with United Township head coach Justin Shiltz. He was talking with a player, so I spoke with Mike, who works at Galesburg High School. I don't know how Mike does it, but he puts in the hours and workload of a dozen people. He asked me how I was coming along on the quest, and I said this was game 115. I mentioned that there have been a couple spots where I got run down, but this week I am refreshed and wished I could squeeze in another 115 games this season.

I talked with coach Shiltz about his team and how they have come along since the last meeting between these two teams. The Panthers knocked off the Silver Streaks in East Moline, 76-71. He said he was a little disappointed in his team's effort last week in the Mid-Winter Classic.

Coach Evan Massey came up to me and said, "You're here early!" I responded that there wasn't anything else to do, no other place I'd rather be. I was on the verge of getting both pregame interviews done 15 minutes before the sophomore game started, that may be a first this season.

My Case of College Fandom
While I waited to interview Massey, I talked with Pete Thierry. We talked about the Illini, and I made a crack to Massey about the Illini, he being a die-hard Wisconsin Badgers fan. I certainly don't call myself an Illini fan, since I grew up rooting for the Iowa Hawkeyes. However, I don't consider myself a Hawkeyes "fan" anymore, because I just don't follow them like I used to, mainly because they are not covered on local TV in Macomb, like they were in the Quad Cities when I was growing up. I watched every Iowa basketball game on TV in the 1990's, so I began rooting for the Hawkeyes. Now, I couldn't name two players at Iowa. On the flip side, I know all about the Illini, and actually root for them now because I've covered so many of the players on the roster when they were in high school. Basically, I am not a "fan" of any college team, but there are a few I root for.

On the Air
We went on the air a little early, and broadcasted the final minute of regulation of the sophomore game. It was a tight game, and eventually went into overtime. It's fun to casually broadcast the sophomore games on occasion, and gets the younger kids some exposure. Galesburg pulled out an exciting 41-40 overtime win over United Township.

In the varsity game, United Township pounced on the Silver Streaks, and jumped out to an early 6-point lead. The Streaks gathered themselves, and made it a 4-point game after the 1st quarter. In the 2nd quarter, Galesburg began to rally, and Megan Young hit a huge three-pointer with just seconds to play in the first half. That's when all heck broke loose.

With just two seconds on the clock, and Galesburg leading 29-23, United Township attempted a half-courter at the buzzer. It appeared that the shooter got fouled by Galesburg on the three-point attempt, however it was waved off on a travel call as the buzzer sounded.

United Township coach Justin Shiltz was upset with the call, and according to his quote in the Moline Dispatch, was motioning to his guard, not the referee. After one of the two technical free throws were made by Jessica Howard, Shiltz did leave the court with things to say to the referee. That's when the 2nd technical foul was called, and he was ejected from the game. Along with having to sit the entire 2nd half of tonight's game, he will have to sit out the next Panthers game, which is next Thursday's tilt against Moline.

The 2nd quarter also saw a short distraction with a 2-year old getting away from his supervision and running out to half court.

After halftime, Galesburg only scored 1 point on the 2nd technical that was assessed at the start of the break. Jessica Howard made one free throw, and the Streaks committed a turnover on their possession. United Township began to make a run after Galesburg jumped out to an 11-point lead. The Panthers put together an 8-0 run, and it was a tight game the rest of the way.

The 4th quarter was marred with foul calls. In fact, there was a total of 52 fouls called between the two teams, and 71 free throws were attempted. During the final quarter, Galesburg scored 18 points, with 14 points coming at the free throw line (14-24). United Township was 10-12 from the free throw line in the 4th quarter. Galesburg held on to a 61-58 win, but United Township made it interesting down the stretch, after a three-pointer by Abby Vandeventer pulled the Panthers to within a point (57-56).

United Township had three players foul out (Vandeventer, Aisha Burris, & Kiana Brady). Jamie Johnson finished with 19 points, 10 rebounds and was our First Glass Breakout Player of the Game. Sadee Hamilton scored 8 points, and had 12 rebounds. Jessica Lieber and Jessica Howard each scored 11 points. Check out this video of a hard fall by Lieber. She's one tough player, and just a sophomore!

No Triple Cheeseburgers
The Panthers did a great job of denying the outside shot by Galesburg. The Silver Streaks went 5-24 from outside the three-point line.

Aisha Burris - West Point
Aisha Burris (5'8" Sr.) from United Township is headed to West Point. Here's Doug Green's article from the Quad City Times.

Western Big 6 Standings
With the Galesburg win, coupled with the Moline win at Rock Island, the Streaks and Maroons are now tied atop the league standings at 6-2. Rock Island drops to 6-3, and United Township is 5-3. Moline and United Township play next Thursday, while Galesburg visits Alleman, and Rock Island plays Quincy. The final week of the season will see Galesburg host Moline.

Game 115 Miles: 100

Game 114: Elmwood @ Abingdon (Girl's Basketball)

2011-01-26T21:48:00.000-08:00

Abingdon, IL: Hospitality Capital of the World!

Game 114
Elmwood @ Abingdon (Girl's Basketball)
(1/26/11)

Another late add to the broadcast schedule took me to Abingdon to cover this rescheduled Prairieland Conference girl's basketball matchup. The last time I was in Abingdon, I was furnished a broadcast recliner.

I didn't have any special requests tonight! The game was originally scheduled for Monday night between the Trojans and Commandos. Elmwood has just one coach, Dawna Crawford, and she was sick on Monday and unable to bring the team, so the schools decided to schedule the game for tonight.

Before making the short drive from Monmouth to Abingdon, I covered a press conference at Monmouth-Roseville High School, regarding their new Ag/Fitness Facility. Currently, the school's ag room is used for multiple purposes, and the weightlifting facility is located at the football/baseball field, which is several blocks away from the school. A brand new facility is going to be built, and the expectations are for it to be ready by the start of next school year.

Finding a gym, baseball/softball diamond, or football field is no problem. Finding a classroom in a high school? That's a different story. One of my co-workers, Kris Kinney, was giving me some instructions before I left on how to get to the ag room at the school.

Artist's rendering of Monmouth-Roseville Ag/Fitness Facility

I walked into Monmouth-Roseville High School where I normally walk in for a basketball game. I was told to walk up the stairs, then walk down a set of stairs. I didn't see the other stairs, maybe hidden by a door, I didn't know. Basketball practice was going on, and the door swung open. It was freshman center Trayvon Smith. I said, "Trayvon...where's the ag room?" He said, "It's right next to the library." That didn't help me, because the only rooms at the school that I'm familiar with are the gym and the A.P. (All-Purpose) room. "Where's the library?" I asked. "Follow me, I can show you," Trayvon said. Hopefully, I didn't keep him away from practice for too long. As he showed me to the end of the hallway, he gave me directions for the rest of the way.

I headed down another hallway, in search of the staircase, and downstairs I went. Trayvon said something about the library. I saw the library, and it was dark and looked closed. I don't think I was going the right way, so I found the nearest hallway. Fortunately, it was still early enough that some teachers were still in their classroom. I found a teacher and asked her how to get to the ag room. She said that I needed to go through the library...but it may be locked. I agreed and said it probably was because all of the lights were off. She said I would probably have to go out the doors and around. As I walked to the exit, another teacher, with another member of the media was heading downstairs. So, here was the third person to direct me to the ag room. After the press conference, I decided to just use the outside door of the ag room and walk around the school to spare any headaches!

At the start of the press conference, I was a little worried that it may run long and I would be late for my game. However, that was not the case and I made the short drive to Abingdon with plenty of time to spare.

Abingdon High School Gymnasium

When I arrived at the gym, I headed upstairs to my broadcast location. Abingdon's gym is one of my favorites to broadcast in, not just because of the hospitality, but because of the view. Also, the artwork in the gym is second to none.

One thing that I always forget, in the 200 times I've broadcasted in the gym, is to not tape the banner in front of the broadcast table. It will obstruct the view. On several occasions, this has slipped my mind, and I have had to make banner adjustments just before air time.

Once all of the equipment was set up, it was time to talk with the coaches. Commandos head coach Roger Thurman and his son, Jeff "Doodle" Thurman were standing in the corner of the gym. Jeff was an assistant coach for the Carl Sandburg College men's basketball team the last couple years. He is finishing up his degree at Western Illinois University and will graduate in May. He is looking to be a coach and athletic director in the future. They jokingly said to me, "You must not have anything better to do tonight." What is better than broadcasting basketball????

With the reschedule of this game, there is only a varsity game, and the tip off is set for 6:00. This is great, I was there in plenty of time, no sophomore game to wait through, and an early arrival at home! Little did I know how quick this game would go.

It was a tight game after the first quarter, with Abingdon taking a 3-point lead after the 1st quarter, 10-7. It was a 7-point game at halftime, 22-15 in favor of the hosts. There were only 4 fouls called altogether in the first half, cruising right along.

Not too many timeouts in this 0:56 game

At halftime, there was a half-court shoot, where fans could pitch in $1 and take a half-court shot. The first shooter was Commandos boy's basketball player Johnathan Miller-Austin, or better known as J-Mil. He sunk the half-court shot. Not to be outdone, Abingdon athletic Director Joe Nichols, or J-Nic, knocked down his half-courter. The J-Mil half-court legacy grew even larger as he took the event's final shot, and you guessed it...nothing but net. Prairieland Conference, look out...J-Mil is coming to a center court near you!

After the break, Abingdon took their time on posessions, and capitalized on them as well, outscoring Elmwood 15-4 to take a 37-19 lead heading into the 4th quarter. The Commandos shut the Trojans down in the final eight minutes also, holding Elmwood to another 4 points. Abingdon improved to 17-8 with the 42-23 victory.

The most impressive stat line of the night was elapsed time from tip-off to final horn. This is the total minutes of game time, including dead balls. The game tipped off at 6:02 p.m. and the buzzer sounded to make it final at 6:58, making the entire game only 56 minutes. Kudos to the Joe Thompson officiating crew for a swift game!

Abingdon was called on just two fouls during the whole game, and Elmwood was whistled for 8 fouls. Just 10 fouls combined by the two teams. Elmwood committed 16 turnovers, while Abingdon committed 15 turnovers. Two players scored in double figures. Abingdon's Madyson Glisan scored a game-high 12 points. Paige Carver led Elmwood with 10 points.

Neither team had a very deep roster. Abingdon had 11 players available, while Elmwood had just 10 players. The Commandos played all 11 girls, while Elmwood played 7 girls.

This Ford Explorer is ALWAYS THIRSTY!!!

With the early night, I retired to a dinner of frozen pizza. Normally, I get a California Kitchen Spinach & Mushroom or a Gino's Deep Dish, but tonight I opted for a DiGiornio's rising crust supreme. I really, really need to start watching what I eat. It's a downward spiral.

I made a stop in Bushnell to get gas, as I took Route 41 back to Macomb from Abingdon. For some reason, Bushnell has the cheapest gas in western Illinois. Gas in Macomb is $3.19 and it's actually a nickel cheaper ($3.14) in Monmouth, which is a rarity. In Bushnell, gas is just $3.08, so I filled her up at Casey's.

This week is a light week, with just one game scheduled each game this week, and it will end up being a five-game week. Next week, there may be a trip north for a girl's basketball game between Class 1A ranked Hinckley-Big Rock and Class 4A ranked DeKalb. I have an opening on Saturday February 12th, and there are a couple options. There is a shootout in southern Illinois, the Riverton Shootout, and maybe a Chicago Public League Tournament. In years past, I have broadcasted at Riverton, however I am still looking to broadcast a Public League game this year, so this may be a good opportunity.

Game 114 Miles: 106

Game 113: Princeville @ West Prairie (Boy's Basketball)

2011-01-26T20:08:00.000-08:00

Home of the West Prairie Cyclones

Game 113
Princeville @ West Prairie (Boy's Basketball)
(1/25/11)

In a rare Tuesday night broadcast, I made the quick trip over to West Prairie High School. The first time I've seen a defensive player call a timeout during a posession, a table collapses on me, troubles with duct tape, and some Lincoln Trail Conference basketball.

Normally, I try not to schedule broadcasts on Tuesday nights since that is the night that I compile and release the IHSSN Coaches Polls. However, with a 15-broadcast week last week, I took Monday off as an extra day of recovery. With this switch in schedule, I needed to fill the Tuesday night spot.

With the coaches poll compiliation in the back of my mind, I wanted to find a game that met two scenarios. 1) There were no other broadcasts of the game already happening, and 2) It was a fairly short trip home. This really put a squeeze on potential matchups, but I found the opening just a few miles up the road between Princeville and West Prairie.

It was an easy schedule, and I've broadcasted a few games at the gym when I was at K100 in Macomb, and worked with athletic director Nancy Calvert quite often. I just headed down Route 67 after work and went straight to the gym.

After getting to the gym, I staked my claim in the corner of the stage of the gym, then filled out my scorebook, dodging errant basketballs flying my way. Cyclones basketball coach Andy Jordan showed me a table on the stage to use. Jordan is a Stockton, IL native in his first year at West Prairie, and first year as a head coach.

After getting my equipment set up, the table collapsed. Fortunately, it was more like a folding than a complete collapse. The brace of the table was unique, and at first, I couldn't find a way to lock the legs in place. Never did I realize, there was a picture diagram underneath the table that showed you how to lock the legs. It's the first table I've seen with an extra lock bar like this. There were no other collapses for the night.

There was something that occurred in the sophomore game that I have never seen. Down on my end of the court (nearest the stage), a West Prairie basketball player on defense during a Princeville posession was yelling for a timeout. It was granted...for a moment. Woops! It wasn't until the Princeville sophomore coach yelled out, "He can't call a timeout, they're on defense," that the officials realized this and the Princes kept the ball. I think it was one of those instances where it takes you so off guard, that it just seemed right to grant the timeout.

Throughout the night, I was having to secure my duct tape for the banner hanging at the front of my table. This is a constant problem which results from purchasing crappy duct tape!

Before the game, I did a count of players, cheerleaders, and band members at West Prairie. I think this may be the first time I have ever seen a game where all of the numbers for each of those was even, and it was less than 15! The Cyclones basketball roster listed 11 players, while I counted 10 cheerleaders, and during the National Anthem I counted 11 members of the band.

Center court at West Prairie High School

The Princes jumped out to a 23-7 lead after one quarter, taking advantage of 13 West Prairie turnovers. Princeville never looked back, leading 42-23 at halftime, and 59-33 after three quarters. Princeville cruised to a 71-44 win at West Prairie.

West Prairie drops to 0-18 on the season, and almost had as many turnovers as points in the game (35 turnovers, 44 points). Despite the low scoring, Evan Gentes scored a game-high 20 points for West Prairie. He torched the nets with four three-pointers. Dylan Endress scored 15 points for Princeville. Nik Potter also scored in double-figures, finishing with 12 points.

Game 113 Miles: 80

Live in Sciota....Not to be Confused With Nova Scotia

2011-01-25T16:42:00.000-08:00

Gymnasium at West Prairie High School

Broadcast #113 coming to you from rural Sciota, Illinois for a Lincoln Trail Conference matchup between the West Prairie Cyclones and the Princeville Princes.

Mascot Envy

2011-01-24T16:41:00.000-08:00

One of the things I enjoy when I broadcast different teams, is to learn a little bit of the history behind how the school formed, in the case of consolidated school districts, or schools that have several small towns nearby. On occasion, I will make note of them in my game blog. With a rare off night, I delve into mascot envy...

This blog entry has been a sort of work-in-progress now that I look back at a few different conversations that I have had in the last couple months. It all began at the end of the football season this past fall.

I was making copies of the Monmouth-Roseville Titans football games on CD, and to fit the games on two CD's, I had to do some editing. Most of the editing was done in the pregame, halftime, and postgame shows.

During one of the broadcasts, I happened to catch a snippet of a halftime interview conducted by Titans football play-by-play voice Tom Peterson, talking with Monmouth-Roseville Athletic Director Chuck Grant. I don't quite remember the topic of their conversation, but it swayed to Chuck having a call-to-action in trying to figure out what the old G&O (Gladstone/Oquawka High School) mascot was. He said that he and a couple friends have been trying to figure this out for a few years. Tom then mentioned the old Viola High School, where his father attended, and didn't know the answer to their mascot.

It only took me a couple of clicks, as I knew exactly where to unearth this information. Illinois High School Glory Days was my destination. In no time, I found that it was the Gladstone/Oquawka Hawks and the Viola Lumberjacks.

I found that the Lumberjacks was a pretty unique mascot for a high school in Illinois. It reminded me of the old Prairie City High School, Cobras. You don't hear of any high school, at least in Illinois, call themselves the Cobras. Where on Earth did a tiny high school in western Illinois come up with the Cobras? Prairie City consolidated with Bushnell High School (Braves) in the early 1950's to become the Bushnell-Prairie City Spartans. Back to the Viola Lumberjacks, Viola and New Windsor (Norseman) consolidated in 1952 to form Winola High School. I always found Winola to have a unique mascot as well, the Jets.

Taylor Bell wrote a book on mascots in Illinois, entitled, "Why Mascots Have Tales," and I have never even read this book yet...I feel ashamed to admit that. One of these days, maybe during the couple weeks break between basketball and the spring sports season, I'll sit down and give it a read. There are several mascots that I would enjoy researching to learn where the school came up with the nickname. Of course, many mascots in the early days of high school athletics were derived by sports writers, and many in later years were adopted after a school-wide vote. Still, it's something I'd like to research someday.

As I drive from town to town, I occasionally head to the IHSGD website and check out the small towns and what the mascots were. For example, during my swing to southern Illinois, I spent a night covering basketball at Carmi-White County High School. Originally, Carmi High School (Bulldogs), the school closed in 1988. The consolidation effort occurred with Crossville (Tigers). Carmi also had another high school from 1904 to 1950, East Side High School, which was a school for African-Americans. I also drove through Akin (Bulldogs) on my trip.

Last week, I mentioned that I was talking with referee Jude Kiah about the Glory Days website, and he mentioned that he also enjoys the history of small towns and high schools, and we talked extensively about some of the former high schools in McDonough County, such as Bardolph, Adair, and Good Hope.

In a conversation I had on my daily sports talk show Sportsline, on 1590 WAIK, Glory Days website founder Dave Nanninga talked about the history of the website, as well as the unique mascots around the state. This talk led to the creation of a new page on Glory Days, Mascots & Nicknames.

Along with Dave and I, there are three others involved in the website, Kev Varney, Richard Soseman, and Cody Cutter. With the advent of the new mascots page on the website, Dave asked each of us to list our top ten unique mascots. Here is how I voted.

Beau Spencer's Most Unique Mascots (deactivated high schools)
(listed in alphabetical order)
Arabs (Sumner High School)
Cardunals (Dundee High School)
Eskimos (Forrest Township and Forrest-Strawn-Wing)
Firemen (Chebanse High School)
Flying Dutchmen (Carrollton St. John)
Hummers (Hurst-Bush High School)
Kingfishers (Kampsville High School)
Leprechauns (Roberts-Thawville High School)
Mighty Swedes (Andover High School)
Zebras (New Baden High School)

Dundee Cardunals
What I found most unique about the Cardunals mascot, is that it's an odd take. This mascot was a bird at Dundee, but the mascot is an acronym for the towns that made up Dundee High School. Those towns are Carpentersville, West Dundee, and Algonquin. Speaking of acronyms, one of my biggest thrills in working with the Glory Days website was when I stumbled upon the meaning behind Balyki High School in Bath, near Havana. Balyki was an acronym for Bath, Lynchburg, and Kilbourne. This was not easy to find on any map, because Lynchburg is a township, and it took driving around the Bath area, and I read a sign for Lynchburg Township on a country road.

Stay tuned to the Glory Days website to find out who the writing staff voted on as the top ten most unique mascots among the deactivated high schools on the website.