About this column:
Sports Editor Ron Kremer reports on the Southland's athletes, coaches and teams.
Two weeks after visiting the New York Stock Exchange with the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team and ringing The Closing Bell, Bobby Douglas was playing a game of “Beat the Streets” back in the Midwest. “Listen to the instruction,” he implored youngsters during a warm-up session to launch a two-day wrestling clinic Friday at Shepard High School in Palos Heights. Douglas is a 70-year-old two-time former Olympian (1964, 1968), World silver and bronze wrestling medalist and a two-time former Olympic wrestling coach (1992, 2004). He still is fit as a fiddle. And he is preparing himself these days to …
Marist was down to its last six outs. The RedHawks trailed Sandburg 5-3 after the Eagles erupted for a five-spot in the top of the sixth inning in Friday’s Class 4A softball sectional semifinal in Orland Park. After Sandburg’s Sarah Herold smacked a three-run homer off the scoreboard in left field, there was every reason for gloom and doom to spread like wildfire in the Marist dugout. Heck, Herold hit the ball so hard she momentarily knocked out the power on the scoreboard. You’d think the power in the RedHawks’ bats might have been drained, too. Never happened. Two reasons: Denise Bromberek’…
Sandburg baseball coach Jim Morsovillo chalked up the decision as a no-brainer. With two games remaining in the conference race and the Eagles locked in a three-way tie for first in the Southwest Suburban Blue with Lockport and Joliet West, he put the ball—and his trust—in the hands of his ace. Sandburg senior left-hander Matt Farrington rewarded Morsovillo for his faith with another stellar effort. Farrington fired a three-hit shutout in the Eagles’ 10-0 six-inning victory over Homewood-Flossmoor on Tuesday afternoon in Orland Park. The victory pushed his record to 6-2 and reduced the Eagles…
The Takeaway: Andrew, L-W West and Sandburg Bowlers Knock Down More Than Pins at Girls State Tourney
Listen to their voices. “It was a great tournament for me,” Lincoln-Way West’s Morgan Flaherty said after she captured individual medalist honors at the IHSA girls bowling state tournament. Her comments first appeared in an article by Dennis Nelson of the Sun-Times News Group along with those of some other newly crowned champs. “Today is one of the best days of my entire life,” Andrew’s Ashley Stefanski said after the T-Bolts captured their first girls bowling state title on Saturday at Cherry Bowl in Rockford. “We didn’t expect this at all,” Andrew coach Julie DeChene said. And did you catch…
I’d like to begin my tribute to the state championship boys bowling team from Andrew and individual state medalist Joey Kopera from Sandburg with a single word of praise. Momentous. The word means of great importance or significance, especially in its bearing on the future. The word first was called to my attention by Andrew coach Mark Lobes following the T-Bolts’ drive to their third boys bowling state championship on Saturday at St. Clair Bowl in O’Fallon and their first title since 2006. Andrew picked up steam after a slow start in the final session of bowling at the two-day competition …
From now on, I will be prepared when somebody stops me and asks, “Why would anyone in his right mind play small college football?” My answer: St. Xavier University. The Cougars capped a stirring run to the NAIA national championship with a 24-20 victory over Carroll (Mont.) on Saturday at Barron Stadium in Rome, Ga. The game was a classic—just like St. Xavier’s season—featuring enough back-and-forth drama and late-game heroics to fill a scrapbook with memories that will last a lifetime. And that’s what small-college football is all about—making memories with friends and classmates, sharing in…
In the hours—then minutes—before kickoff, St. Xavier football coach Mike Feminis will not waiver his tried and true routine, at least not much. Feminis will call on his captains to speak in a team meeting at the hotel before St. Xavier takes the field to face Carroll (Mont.) in Saturday’s NAIA national championship football game (3:30 CST, CBS Sports Network). Then, ‘Fem’ will open the floor for other players and his assistants to say a few words. Finally, he will finish up with his own thoughts, those thoughts ranging from paying attention to assignment detail and execution of the Cougars’ …
In the sports world, there is a tendency for all of us to get caught up in hero worship. The big names and big stars are people all of us follow, if only to satisfy our celebrity curiosity craving. What does Bulls guard Derrick Rose think about getting back to work now that the NBA labor dispute has been settled? How much money did he lose during the strike? Who does a better touchdown dance? Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers? Or the two hopelessly out-of-touch folks in the television insurance company ad? You know the ones: they mimic Rodgers’ championship belt routine by working their hands…
Brace yourself college football fans for the Game of the Century, Part II. No, I’m not talking about a potential rematch of Alabama vs. LSU for the Division I national championship, though the SEC rivals remain in line for the game’s next great apocalyptic adventure. Rather, I’m referring to a semifinal matchup of St. Xavier vs. Marian as the cataclysmic battle of small-school college football powerhouses. The two will be meeting for the second time this season, a trip to the nationally televised NAIA championship game Dec. 17 in Rome, Ga., resting in the balance. Kickoff is at noon (CST) …
An old friend of mine, Edgy Tim O’Halloran, noted recently in his column for the Chicago Tribune how impossible it is to select a high school football Player of the Year and a Coach of the Year. To be sure, this is a task that falls under the category of inexact science. Do you side with the best player? Or the best player on the most successful team? And do you automatically pick the winningest coach? Or do you like the coach who turned a sleeping giant into a winner? Tough questions. No right or wrong answers, either. After boiling my list of candidates down to five, I picked Lincoln-Way …
When the news broke about former Palos Heights resident and Sandburg cross country standout Lukas Verzbicas’ decision to leave the University of Oregon midway through his freshman year, I was concerned. My concerns were alleviated when I learned Verzbicas will enroll at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs as he turns from a career in distance running to the pursuit of his dream of making the U.S. Olympic triathlon team. Stay in school. The message is one worth repeating to young men and women, no matter how gifted they might be in endeavors outside the classroom. Think of it like this…
