Preparation for high school Fall sports, comments on the recently-concluded and successful Olympic Games, the start of the Chicago Bears preseason with two victories in two games, revival of thoughts on the two Major League Baseball teams in Chicago, and the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) 50th anniversary of both volleyball and football playoffs. It’s a busy schedule reflected in the time of the year. Official practice started earlier this week for high school football. Games will begin Thursday, Aug. 29 through Saturday, Aug. 31, an nine-game schedule for the regular season and five weeks of playoffs which will culminate with State championship games in eight classes Thanksgiving weekend, November 29-30. The girls volleyball State championships will be held October 15-16.
Olympic Games improve each four years and for the most part the highlight of the year. Highly-trained athletes prevail, a sense of togetherness, a competitive spirit, Nations on parade with pride, happiness, and fans filling the arenas. The U.S. and China tied for the most first-place Gold Medals, 40 each. The U.S. won 44 Silver Medals for second place and 24 Bronze Medals for third place. The next four countries with Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals: Japan, 20-12-13, 45 points; Australia,13, 19, 16, 5 points; host France, 16, 26, 22, 64 points. The opening and closing shows were magnificent, the order was in effect during the course of events, July 31-August 11.
The Winter Games will be February 6,-February 22, 2026, in Milan-Cortina, Italy. The next Summer Olympic Games will be held in Los Angeles, Calif. July 14, 2028 to July 30, 2028. No doubt they will be magnificent. NBC-TV did a wonderful job this Summer and likely each succeeding two years will be outstanding. See page 2 for more information on the origins of the Modern Olympic Games.
Fall sports in high school, under the auspices of the IHSA (Illinois High School Association) will include football, boy and girls cross country, girls tennis, girls volleyball, girls and boys golf, boys soccer, girls swimming and diving, and the first year for girls flag football with 129 schools entered which should be exciting and novel. The State finals for girls flag football will be October 18-19. The IHSA this school year will celebrate 50 years of play for both football and girls volleyball and significant celebrations and honors should accompany the games along the way.
The IHSA this year reach two milestones of 50 years of State Tournament play in football and girls volleyball. The IHSA will release the Top volleyball programs and the Top football programs in each State series as selected by committees for each sports. Prior to the passage of Title IX in 1972, high school sports for girls in Illinois were conducted by the Illinois League of High School Athletic Association, commonly referred to as the GAA. Competition general consisted of festivals in which schools gathered to compete. -IHSA
It’s only two preseason football games for the Chicago Bears, so we must curb our enthusiasm, however, 2-0 reads quite well. Victory is the objective and the Bears have played well in defeating both Houston, 21-17, and Buffalo. 33-6. There have been more than few teams which go undefeated in preseason games and fall on hard times when the regular season opens. We must wait at least until the Bears play Houston in a regular-season game in week two at Houston in a Sunday night game September 15. It takes all three phases with good defense, good offense, and special teams to be a winning program.
Chicago Cubs and Chicago Sox? Both teams are below .500, although through Monday, the Cubs were two games under .500, 59-61, in third place in the National League Central and hanging on to playoff hopes.