In The Locker Room, we're tryin' to figure out who's gonna be 1-0 after Week 1 of the prep football season ... and, conversely, who's gonna be 0-1.
Alas, the all-knowing, all-seeing crystal ball got completely fogged up from all the panting that went on when Aramis Ramirez hit that grand slam home run to beat the Fillies on Thursday night.
As a result, with the crystal ball rendered useless, the following picks to click just might be likewise ... useless.
But in any case, here goes. If we were playing the confidence game, the picks would line up like this:
18) Deerfield over Zion-Benton
17) Waukegan over Romeoville
16) Antioch over Grayslake Central
15) Lake Forest over Palatine
14) Vernon HIlls over Niles West
13) Barrington over Libertyville
12) York over Highland Park
11) Marian Central over North Chicago
10) Buffalo Grove over Mundelein
9) Palatine Fremd over Lake Zurich
8) Westosha Central (Wis.) over Round Lake
7) Johnsburg over Grant
6) Huntley over Wauconda
5) Lakes over Grayslake North
4) Loyola over Stevenson
3) New Trier over Warren
2) Joliet Catholic over Carmel
1) Wayland Baptist over Lake Forest Academy
In the prep football preview magazine that is coming out on Thursday, Round Lake High's new football coach suggests that his team is at a competitive disadvantage because school started in Round Lake before football practice did, meaning no two-a-days, no bonding days of hanging together, and less football classroom work.
In contrast, Lake Forest High will have played TWO football games this season before any of its players ever step into a classroom.
That has to be an advantage for Lake Forest's grid program ... being able to concentrate on football for more than five weeks (practices plus games) before ever attending a class.
That is something the IHSA is going to have to look at in the future.
This ongoing debate about Grayslake Central High's old varsity boys basketball coach and its new basketball coach ... well, over here in The Locker Room, we have decided it is a stalement.
Nobody's going to announce what specifically got Tim Bowen fired, and the generalities being spewed regarding his dismissal, unfortunately, don't sound any worse than what goes on at every school in the state and don't seem like grouinds to whack him.
So, since nobody's going to talk, there's no place to go with this.
In The Locker Room, there is concern for the kids who play hoops at GCHS who are following this debate online. This can't be a positive for them.
As for the school board that did the whacking, these people don't get paid. They are volunteers so it's pretty hard to pick on them. You have to be pretty cool to volunteer as much time as it takes to be on a school board. If they made a bad choice in whacking Bowen, then make sure the board members get whacked themselves at the next election. The key thing is to make sure the kids on the team are happy and are put in the best possible position to be successful on the court next winter. We in The Locker Room are rooting for them. The rest of you can fend for yourselves.
Gotta tip the cap to likable Tom Shields who, on two separate occasions, created some serious laughter in a Locker Room that's been void of laughter ever since we realized the Bears might go 1-15..
First time was last summer when Shields was named coach of the men's basketball program at College of Lake County in Grayslake and he insisted -- as did the school's athletic director -- that this CLC gig was not a one-and-done deal.
We all laughed when we heard that. Shields may be an excellent basketball coach, but he's never stayed at one school long enough to find out where the closest Starbuck's is. And, in all honesty, coaching a juco hoops team in an empty gym is just not his style.
Second time was the other day, reading a newspaper account about Shields taking the job as athletic director at a high school in Farmington, New Mexico. The article said that Shields wants to bring stability to that school's athletic program.
We all laughed when we read that.
Tom Shields and stability in the same sentence.
Who'duh thunk it?
Good luck Tom ... and, in all honesty, we expect to see you back here soon.
While Stevenson, Antioch, Wauconda & Lake Zurich have pretty much dominated the North Suburban Conferennce in the sport of competitive cheerleading of late, three schools that might vault their way into the upper echlon this coming school year are Warren, Zion-Benton and Libertyville.
The guess here is that when the NSC holds its annual competition in January, that different teams are going to be walking off with the top honors.
Just a feeling.
Thursday night, Grayslake's high-school board hired Grayslake Central assistant varsity basketball coach Brian Moe as head coach for the 2008-2009 season.
Moe, of course, is replacing Tim Bowen, who was ousted for reasons that were not related to the team's 22-win, Fox Valley Conference and regional championship season last winter.
Moe inherits a talented, veteran squad that is expected to challenge North Chicago for Class 3A supremecy in our area next season.
Before coming to Grayslake, Moe worked as a lower-level coach at Mundelein High.
What do you think Ram fans?
In The Locker Room, we sort of look at this as a no-choice situation. At this late date, the board pretty much had to go in-house to find a coach, just as North Chicago had to go in-house to hire a varsity football coach a couple of weeks ago.
In any case, we are rooting for the kids at GCHS to have a success and happy season.
Have thought this for a long time.
As someone who forks over cash to watch the Chicago Fire play, and someone who enjoys watching soccer on TV as well as the preps in person, it seems like U.S. soccer is not developing at the pace one would think it should, based on the number of people playing.
Watching the under-23 men's team do a belly-flop in the Olympics was the latest example of our up-and-coming players not being as good as other countries' up-and-coming players.
The baffling thing is, WHY?
One would think that nearly 30 years after soccer was to become the sport of the 1980s in the U.S, that we would rule the sport. Instead, we don't seem to be serious players on the world stage. Sad.
So, in The Locker Room, we're going to pick on radio/TV baseball announcers in general.
This happened last Saturday when our Sox were going down the drain big-time against Boston. With 2 out in bottom of ninth, Jim Thome hit a totally meaningless home run that had zero affect on the outcome of the game.
When it was launched, the thought in The Locker Room was, "Gee, why didn't he save that until tomorrow's game?" when the homer might have meant something.
Now, here's the thing: Hawk Harrelson, calling the game on TV, was screaming at the top of his lungs on the Thome homer, as if the blast was a walk-off grand slam that clinched the pennant.
The problem with TV announcing is that they refuse to put anything in context. They want every play to matter on its own merit. A homer in a 6-1 sure-loss is equal to a walk-off blast.
That might have worked with fans in the 1950s, but it doesn't fly in The Locker Room today.
In The Locker Room, the TV is always on and that means sports-channel ESPN is always on.
Over the weekend, there were a ton of Little League baseball games on TV between teams of 12-year-olds representing different states.
Gotta tell you: I have seen travel baseball teams in our area that are way better than some of the state-championship teams that qualified to play in Williamsport. Yet, those kids are going to play in the "Little League World Series" and our teams are not.
What a shame.
How come it seems as if every four years, during Olympic competition, more than a dozen world records are set in swimming events -- individual/relay/men/women -- yet, it has become almost impossible to set a world record -- individual/relay.men/women -- in a track & field event?
You would think that the same improved training/nutrition/conditioning that produces world records in the swimming pool on a regular basis would also produce world-record performances on the track.
Way too much Locker Room chatter regarding the hiring practices for coaches at North Chicago High, with King Coleman coming under siege in some quarters.
Truth is, King managed to keep almost all his players academically eligible for all of last season, which is no easy feat. Not only that, but his team won 25 games.
The guess is that King spends more time with his players during non-school and non-practice situations than he does at the regular school/practice times.
Coaching at NC High is not easy and it certainly isn't like coaching at other schools in our a area.
Do we like King in The Locker Room. That's obvious.
But more importantly, we respect him for the job he's trying to do for the NC kids.
.
The buzz in The Locker Room is that longtime hoops coach Jerry Thornton -- who has tons of hoops-coaching experience (like more than 25 years at all sorts of levels, including high school and juco) -- is a possible replacement for Tim Bowen at the wheel at Grayslake Central.
Thornton reportedly has been coaching of late with the Kessel's Heat youth hoops program and has worked with some of the current members of Grayslake Central's hoops team.
We shall stay tuned.
In the Locker Room, we are looking forward to Deerfield High graduate Christina Loukas competing in diving, and for Lake Forest High grad Matt Grevers to compete in swimming.
But a lot of the Olympic sports ...thanks, but no thanks.
Track is probably the No. 1 sport up for discussion in The Locker Room, but, of course, all the races will be shown on tape and not live and so we will already know who won before the races air. It's no fun watching when you already know who won.
That is the No. 1 reason -- no, make that the ONLY reason -- we need the 2016 Games in Chicago ... no more tape delay. Everything will air live!
Brett Fave will never play QB for Green Bay again.
Kyle Orton will start at QB for the Bears in Thursday's preseason game against KC.
Favre .... Orton.
OK Bear fans: How much would you pay in draft choices to have Brett Favre behind center for the Bears when they face the mighty Colts on opening night?
A first-round draft pick? A first and a third? A first, a third and a fifth?
Tough call regarding a 39-year-old QB, albeit one who never gets hurt.
In The Locker Room, we would like to see the Bears trade no more than a second round and a third-round draft pick for Favre. And the move needs to be done soon becuase the regular season starts in another month.
It was kind of an eye-opener last week when our area boys golfers pretty much went bust when facing the state's top teen players in the Chick Evans Junior Amateur Championship. In a field of more than 100, only 2 finished in the top 32 to qualify for match play, and those two went out in the first round when match play started. Seems like the southeast corner fo the county should be a hotbed for the state's best prep golfers Then, looked it up and saw that our area has produced only two (Lake Forest both times) team state champs in the sport in the last 35 years. For some reason, it felt like we were cranking out par-fect golfers on a regular basis. Apparently not. Question is: How come?
Prep football practice for all teams starts on Aug. 13. Not one day earlier.
Some schools, like Lake Forest High, don't even start school until after Labor Day. That means the football team can have double-session practices for three weeks before having to go to the one-a-day after school practice.
In contrast, Mundelein, Grayslake North & Grayslake Central will all be in school on Aug. 13, meaning there will be no double-sessions on any weekdays for these teams.
Do the match, between Aug. 13 and opening night (Aug. 29), not counting Sundays, Lake Forest can practice 28 times (14 days x 2 sessions daily). Mundelein, Grayslake North and Grayslake Central can only go twice on Saturdays for a total of 16 practices before opening day.
Twelve less.
Wow.
