The menu of sports is wide open this time of the year. Following the Super Bowl, fans can be faced with choices: Major League Baseball Spring training; basketball, high school, college, professional; ice hockey at three professional levels; college hockey with the growth of the Big Ten Conference, which includes Notre Dame; a multitude of high school and college sports; and even the first-year XFL professional football.
There are XFL teams in eight cities with National Football League teams, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, St. Louis, Seattle, and Tampa Bay. Perhaps Chicago’s potential franchise team owners were scared away by the hold the Bears have on Chicago fans. Other teams in Chicago never have caught on and were diminished by the strength of the Bears, and founder and owner George Halas. But then, Halas was a long time ago. He died several years prior to the 1985 Bears’ team which won the Super Bowl. That was 35 seasons ago. Halas moved the Bears to Decatur following one season as the Staleys. The start by Halas was 100 years ago. One or two years prior to the starting the Bears and playing end on the team, Halas was the last starting right fielder prior to Babe Ruth’s playing for the Yankees. The rest is history.
• The Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Cubs this week heard the refrain “pitchers and catchers report.” This year the teams were set to start February 12. The full teams will start February 17. Conjecture on the relative strengths of the two Chicago teams will be the subject of much debate, consideration, and ribbing, at least until the regular season will start in late March. The Cubs will seek revival and try to hang on to gains made four years ago in the playoffs when they won the World Series championship. The White Sox will seek to keep from rushing the young players who have matriculated to the team and inspire fans to rise to a level of higher than just early-season hopes. Patience is a virtue.
• East Aurora High School, host to the four-game Ernie Kivisto shootout Saturday, is closing in on a championship of the boys Upstate Eight Conference basketball championship. Through Monday, East Aurora was tied for first place in the Upstate Eight Conference with Glenbard South, each with an 11-2 record through Monday.
• Waubonsie Valley, 22-4 overall, and three games behind DeKalb, 7-0, in the DuPage Valley race, has lost two games in a row after receiving high ranking in the Chicago daily press. Teams go through cycles in the long season. Waubonsie Valley has an opportunity to make amends Friday when it will be host to DeKalb in a game which will tighten up the race, or, put two-games-worth of distance between the teams. A worthy note is that DeKalb has been more than competitive in its first year in DuPage Valley Conference competition, in all sports, however, especially football and basketball.
Yorkville, in its first season in the Southwest Prairie Conference, has struggled a bit, however, had some good moments. Through Monday, the Yorkville boys basketball team was 9-15 overall and 2-10 in the East Division.
“ We have defended pretty well all season,” head coach Mike Dunn said earlier this week. “We are giving up 48 points per game in our new league which is a very high-powered scoring league.
“(Josh Beetham, a 6-5 senior forward, in his season on the basketball team) has been our rock all season long with nine points per game scoring average and seven rebounds per game. He plays almost the whole game. Gives us a defensive presence.”
Beetham was the starting quarterback for the last three seasons and part of his freshman season.
Guards (5-11 Jack Fisher, a senior and 5-9 Luke Hanson, a junior) have been the team’s most improved this year, according to Dunn.
Some teams work hard all season to find an identity and may have limited winning success until near the end of the season. When coaches have a sense that their teams are making progress, the success may not show up until the last few weeks. Many teams go into the final weeks seeking the March Madness experience which will sustain them through the regional and sectional tournaments. It is part of the process.
• High school boys basketball rivalry games are on the horizon. Friday evening, among the rivalries will be Geneva at Batavia, in the first-year DuKane Conference; St. Charles East at St. Charles North in the DuKane; Wheaton Warrenville South at Wheaton North in the DuKane; and by default, the only other two teams in the DuKane, Glenbard North at Lake Park, however, those schools are neighbors. Other rivalry games will include Oswego at Oswego East for the second time this season, Elgin at Bartlett in a game between two U-46 District teams; Larkin at East Aurora in the longstanding Elgin-Aurora rivalry; Plainfield South at Plainfield East; and Joliet West at Joliet Central Saturday. Friday, Neuqua Valley slipped past Waubonsie Valley, 53-52, in a game between District 204 schools. Neuqua Valley improved to 21-6 overall.
Plano and Kaneland, each 7-3, is tied for second place, one game behind leader, Sycamore, 8-2, in the revamped Interstate Eight Conference.
Joliet West, 13-0, has a four-game lead in the Southwest Prairie Conference East; Oswego East, 10-3, has a one-game lead in the Southwest Prairie West; Aurora Christian trails Riverside-Brookfield by one game in the Metro Suburban Blue; St. Charles East and S. Charles North are locked in a first-place tie, each 9-1, in the DeKane, and the victor Friday will unlock the tie.