Game 1 of the best-of-three championship series:
LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 65
UNIV. of LOUISIANA MONROE 58
*****
GO RAMBLERS!
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Friday, March 27, 2015
College Basketball Invitational and Loyola University of Chicago
So most people have never heard of the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) tournament, which is going on right now and has its championship next week just like the NCAA tournament that gets (deservedly) all the attention. But if you're from Chicago, maybe you should have heard of it. Because there were only three men's teams from Illinois playing in the post-season, and two of them (NIT entries Illinois State and University of Illinois Champaign) are gone, gone gone (in the words of Phillip Phillips).
The third team, my own alma mater Loyola University, is still alive and will be competing with Louisiana-Monroe in the best-of-three championship of the CBI.
Yeah, I said CHAMPIONSHIP!
If you are not aware of the fact, only one team from Illinois has ever won the NCAA tournament. One guess who it was. Did you guess Loyola University of Chicago? If you didn't, you're wrong. LU won it in 1963.
I'm not 100% certain, but I think Loyola's last postseason appearance was in the 1985 NCAA tournament where they went to the Sweet 16 and lost to a really really really (that's three "really's") good Georgetown team.
Why should we care about this? Well, there's been a lot of talk these past two weeks about how bad the state of Chicago, and of Illinois college basketball has been recently. There's not much excitement around the usual teams, Illinos and DePaul. No one talks about the Redbirds of ISU, or the Salukis of SIU, or Western, Eastern, Northern, Chicago State, UIC, Northwestern, or Loyola.
Yet a bunch of NBA players and a bunch of players on the last few years' final four teams have been from Chicago. Anthony Davis. Derrick Rose. Jabari Parker. The Okafor kid from Duke this year. All Chicagoans. And there are plenty of others who are NOT superstars of their teams but instead are just good solid players.
They aren't playing for local schools.
It's a big change from when I was in school. The best college bound HS basketball players were often heading to Illinois. Or DePaul. Some even went to Loyola. A few went to Northwestern. A couple more ended up at ISU. Voise Winters? Efram Winters, Mitchell Anderson, Kenny Battle, Mark Aguirre, Ken Norman, Terry Cummings, Alfredrick Hughes, Andre Battle, David Thirdkill, Darius Clemons..those were Illinois kids who played for Illinois schools. They made Illinois college programs good.
They're all leaving now.
Seeing Loyola playing for a championship, talking about it, promoting one of our Chicago teams, is a first step in increasing the visibility of the local programs. Showcasing local talent, showcasing local coaching, those are good things. The local news and sports should be at least talking about LU's postseason run, which has included wins over Rider, Oral Roberts and Seattle so far. They don't have to make it the lead, or even higher than the upcoming Kentucky/Notre Dame matchup, but it should at the very least be news in the Chicago area market.
It hasn't been. No one, except for an occasional mention by WSCR's Mike Mulligan (a Loyola graduate), says anything about them. And that's why Chicago and Illinois basketball are not relevant these days. The big story is about major programs in other states. Not a word about Illinois programs, except to ridicule them and maybe talk about DePaul's search for a head coach.
Go Ramblers!!!
*****
The third team, my own alma mater Loyola University, is still alive and will be competing with Louisiana-Monroe in the best-of-three championship of the CBI.
Yeah, I said CHAMPIONSHIP!
If you are not aware of the fact, only one team from Illinois has ever won the NCAA tournament. One guess who it was. Did you guess Loyola University of Chicago? If you didn't, you're wrong. LU won it in 1963.
I'm not 100% certain, but I think Loyola's last postseason appearance was in the 1985 NCAA tournament where they went to the Sweet 16 and lost to a really really really (that's three "really's") good Georgetown team.
Why should we care about this? Well, there's been a lot of talk these past two weeks about how bad the state of Chicago, and of Illinois college basketball has been recently. There's not much excitement around the usual teams, Illinos and DePaul. No one talks about the Redbirds of ISU, or the Salukis of SIU, or Western, Eastern, Northern, Chicago State, UIC, Northwestern, or Loyola.
Yet a bunch of NBA players and a bunch of players on the last few years' final four teams have been from Chicago. Anthony Davis. Derrick Rose. Jabari Parker. The Okafor kid from Duke this year. All Chicagoans. And there are plenty of others who are NOT superstars of their teams but instead are just good solid players.
They aren't playing for local schools.
It's a big change from when I was in school. The best college bound HS basketball players were often heading to Illinois. Or DePaul. Some even went to Loyola. A few went to Northwestern. A couple more ended up at ISU. Voise Winters? Efram Winters, Mitchell Anderson, Kenny Battle, Mark Aguirre, Ken Norman, Terry Cummings, Alfredrick Hughes, Andre Battle, David Thirdkill, Darius Clemons..those were Illinois kids who played for Illinois schools. They made Illinois college programs good.
They're all leaving now.
Seeing Loyola playing for a championship, talking about it, promoting one of our Chicago teams, is a first step in increasing the visibility of the local programs. Showcasing local talent, showcasing local coaching, those are good things. The local news and sports should be at least talking about LU's postseason run, which has included wins over Rider, Oral Roberts and Seattle so far. They don't have to make it the lead, or even higher than the upcoming Kentucky/Notre Dame matchup, but it should at the very least be news in the Chicago area market.
It hasn't been. No one, except for an occasional mention by WSCR's Mike Mulligan (a Loyola graduate), says anything about them. And that's why Chicago and Illinois basketball are not relevant these days. The big story is about major programs in other states. Not a word about Illinois programs, except to ridicule them and maybe talk about DePaul's search for a head coach.
Go Ramblers!!!
*****
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Reminiscing...
The loss of Minnie Minoso and Ernie Banks made me think about some of the encounters I've had with athletes over the years, notably Ron Santo. At one time I was an autograph seeker. I'd get various players to sign whatever I might have on me -- a notebook, a program, a baseball card, etc. I never obtained too many really good ones until I started going to spring training in Mesa.
There, I met a man from Cooperstown, New York, named Niles Curtis. Mr. Curtis was a huge Cubs fan, and we kept in touch for many years until his death. His wife rarely went to the games in Arizona, and usually Mr. Curtis was by himself.
I met him at Fitch Park, where I was one of a small group watching prospects in the Cubs Accelerated Program (CAPS) work out on the fields there. I knew my Cubs baseball back then, and Mr. Curtis knew a lot more. He had some inside info about various prospects, what their strengths were, what they were working on, how their college or high school careers went...that sort of thing. We were all watching a prospect named Kevin Orie, a tall, lanky kid who looked comfortable at short. Orie had a brief stint as a Cubs third bagger, moved to second, then disappeared after he was traded.
Anyway, later on a trip Mr. Curtis and I were watching the workouts at Ho Ho Kam park (the old park) before a spring training game. The team would let people in to watch in the morning for free, kick everyone out around eleven, then reopen to ticketholders. So this was before they kicked us out. We were just sitting, watching, and over to my left I spotted my boyhood idol, Ron Santo, sitting in the stands with a uniformed coach.
I said something to Mr. Curtis about Santo, about wanting his autograph, but not wanting to bother him. Mr. Curtis said, "Go on over and talk to him! Mr. Santo's a real gentleman, and he'll be happy to sign an autograph for you."
So I did. I walked over, and somehow lost my voice. I was standing in the presence of my IDOL! The man who inspired me as a baseball player, made me want to be a third baseman! I didn't know what to say! I held out the program I had purchased, and said something like, "Would you sign your autograph for me?"
Mr. Santo said, "Sure!" He took the program and signed.
I wandered away, having completely ignored the man next to him. I looked back, saw them deep in conversation, and made my way back to my seat. I sat down and Mr. Curtis looked at my program. "Did you get Jimmy Piersall to sign as well?" he asked me.
Oh! That's who the uniformed man was. Jimmy Piersall, the infamous subject of Fear Strikes Out, and the radio partner of Harry Caray back in their Sox broadcast days, was working as a minor league outfield instructor for the Cubs that year (and a few other years). He was sitting next to Santo, talking about baseball, and I walk up like a dummy and totally ignore him! Am I a moron, or what?
I never did get Jimmy Piersall's autograph. I think that if I was going to get it, it would have been on that day. Any other day and who knows what Piersall mood you'd run into?
In a future post, I'd like to write about my two encounters with Harry Caray himself. One was in spring training and the other...well that's a story for it's own blog post. Till then...
*****
There, I met a man from Cooperstown, New York, named Niles Curtis. Mr. Curtis was a huge Cubs fan, and we kept in touch for many years until his death. His wife rarely went to the games in Arizona, and usually Mr. Curtis was by himself.
I met him at Fitch Park, where I was one of a small group watching prospects in the Cubs Accelerated Program (CAPS) work out on the fields there. I knew my Cubs baseball back then, and Mr. Curtis knew a lot more. He had some inside info about various prospects, what their strengths were, what they were working on, how their college or high school careers went...that sort of thing. We were all watching a prospect named Kevin Orie, a tall, lanky kid who looked comfortable at short. Orie had a brief stint as a Cubs third bagger, moved to second, then disappeared after he was traded.
Anyway, later on a trip Mr. Curtis and I were watching the workouts at Ho Ho Kam park (the old park) before a spring training game. The team would let people in to watch in the morning for free, kick everyone out around eleven, then reopen to ticketholders. So this was before they kicked us out. We were just sitting, watching, and over to my left I spotted my boyhood idol, Ron Santo, sitting in the stands with a uniformed coach.
I said something to Mr. Curtis about Santo, about wanting his autograph, but not wanting to bother him. Mr. Curtis said, "Go on over and talk to him! Mr. Santo's a real gentleman, and he'll be happy to sign an autograph for you."
So I did. I walked over, and somehow lost my voice. I was standing in the presence of my IDOL! The man who inspired me as a baseball player, made me want to be a third baseman! I didn't know what to say! I held out the program I had purchased, and said something like, "Would you sign your autograph for me?"
Mr. Santo said, "Sure!" He took the program and signed.
I wandered away, having completely ignored the man next to him. I looked back, saw them deep in conversation, and made my way back to my seat. I sat down and Mr. Curtis looked at my program. "Did you get Jimmy Piersall to sign as well?" he asked me.
Oh! That's who the uniformed man was. Jimmy Piersall, the infamous subject of Fear Strikes Out, and the radio partner of Harry Caray back in their Sox broadcast days, was working as a minor league outfield instructor for the Cubs that year (and a few other years). He was sitting next to Santo, talking about baseball, and I walk up like a dummy and totally ignore him! Am I a moron, or what?
I never did get Jimmy Piersall's autograph. I think that if I was going to get it, it would have been on that day. Any other day and who knows what Piersall mood you'd run into?
In a future post, I'd like to write about my two encounters with Harry Caray himself. One was in spring training and the other...well that's a story for it's own blog post. Till then...
*****
Monday, March 2, 2015
The loss of Minnie Minoso...
Some Chicago sports blog, eh?
No posts talking about the passing of Ernie Banks, the Cubs legend who had his best days in the late 50's and early 60's but was still productive when I became a fan in the late 1960's (mostly 1969). He was never my favorite player. I tended to like good ol' number 10 (Ron Santo) and Glenn Beckert and Fergie Jenkins. But he was always a favorite player. And I didn't even bother to post when he died.
No posts on the injuries to Derrick Rose and Patrick Kane. No posts on the moves made by those teams to cover for those losses (the Bulls made no significant moves; the Hawks got the best available forward/center and a solid defenseman).
No posts on pitchers and catchers reporting. On Kris Bryant. On much of anything.
But I saw on the news last night that White Sox great Minnie Minoso passed away over the weekend, and it made me think about this blog. I didn't see Minoso play; I only know that he was the first black Cuban player in the majors, and I believe that his numbers are thought to be Hall-of-Fame worthy.
But he was one of my grandmother's favorite players.
My grandmother, who died before I was even born, was a huge Sox fan. And by "huge" I mean she liked them a lot, not that she was a large woman. She was only about 4'11". My grandfather was a Sox fan, also. (He was a big fan, but he WAS also a big man -- something like 6'2") So how did I become a Cubs fan? Well, that's another blog entry. Maybe some day.
Anyway, when I heard about Minoso's passing, I thought about my grandparents. And I remembered some pictures that my grandmother took at a Sox game in 1951. Some of the players were identified by just their first name, some by both names. But here are those photos if you'd like to see these old Sox players and even a bit of the ballpark. I have a few others as well.
Four old black and white photos of White Sox players from the old days. I've heard the names here and there. I don't think any of them except for Minoso were exactly "great" players (whatever that means), but they were solid players.
Rest in peace, Minnie.
*****
No posts talking about the passing of Ernie Banks, the Cubs legend who had his best days in the late 50's and early 60's but was still productive when I became a fan in the late 1960's (mostly 1969). He was never my favorite player. I tended to like good ol' number 10 (Ron Santo) and Glenn Beckert and Fergie Jenkins. But he was always a favorite player. And I didn't even bother to post when he died.
No posts on the injuries to Derrick Rose and Patrick Kane. No posts on the moves made by those teams to cover for those losses (the Bulls made no significant moves; the Hawks got the best available forward/center and a solid defenseman).
No posts on pitchers and catchers reporting. On Kris Bryant. On much of anything.
But I saw on the news last night that White Sox great Minnie Minoso passed away over the weekend, and it made me think about this blog. I didn't see Minoso play; I only know that he was the first black Cuban player in the majors, and I believe that his numbers are thought to be Hall-of-Fame worthy.
But he was one of my grandmother's favorite players.
My grandmother, who died before I was even born, was a huge Sox fan. And by "huge" I mean she liked them a lot, not that she was a large woman. She was only about 4'11". My grandfather was a Sox fan, also. (He was a big fan, but he WAS also a big man -- something like 6'2") So how did I become a Cubs fan? Well, that's another blog entry. Maybe some day.
Anyway, when I heard about Minoso's passing, I thought about my grandparents. And I remembered some pictures that my grandmother took at a Sox game in 1951. Some of the players were identified by just their first name, some by both names. But here are those photos if you'd like to see these old Sox players and even a bit of the ballpark. I have a few others as well.
 |
| Minnie Minoso |
 |
| Lou Aloma |
 |
| Chico Carrasquel (I think) (sp?) |
 | ||
| Eddie Roberson (again, I think)(sp?) |
Four old black and white photos of White Sox players from the old days. I've heard the names here and there. I don't think any of them except for Minoso were exactly "great" players (whatever that means), but they were solid players.
Rest in peace, Minnie.
*****
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