Mount Carmel Defeats Fenwick 55-25 to Open Catholic League Play

The Mount Carmel Caravan are for real. Period. They handled Fenwick, a pretty good team. The score was 32-8 at the half.

I wanted to see Mount Carmel this year to see if the high rank was deserved. It is. They can play defense. They can score. Angelo Ciaravino is as good as advertised. He finished with 26 points sat much of the third and fourth quarters. He seems very much improved since last season—bigger, stronger and faster than I recall he playing last year.

Mike Clark teases me about my comments on the quality of the light is area gyms. I stand by my frequent citation to universal truth codified in the third law of basketball—the most important factor in basketball is the quality of the light in the gym. I think we all know it’s true; we just don’t talk about it.

With that said, I must say the light in the Mount Carmel gym is not the best. Not enough of it and color is a little too yellow. Perhaps a capital campaign is in order. Just a thought.

I was testing out a lens just released by Canon, the RF 100-300mm, f2.8. It’s a beast. I have used the legendary Canon EF 300mm, f2.8, telephoto lens many times. It is a classic.

Canon’s new lens looks to improve that staple of sports photography by making a 100 to 300 millimeter zoom lens instead of a 300 millimeter prime lens. A zoom lens that reaches out to 300 millimeters might just take out the other staple of sports photography—the beloved 70-200mm, f2.8, telephoto lens. Basically the best lens there is.

This new 300 is heavy. Many people use old version on a monopod. I haven’t because I have mostly used it for football so I can put it down between plays. Plus I don’t like monopods. I like to sit when I shoot.

Shooting basketball with a big heavy Canon 300mm is different. One needs to hold it up a long time. If I would use it every time I shoot basketball, it would take a while to get used to it and build up the right muscles.

This new 300mm telephoto is every bit as razor sharp as it predecessor. The “throw” (the distance and time it takes to move the lens from 100 millimeters to 300 millimeters) is a little long for basketball. The throw seems to take longer that the 70-200mm.

This is not scientific testing by me. It is my initial impressions for using for an hour and a half. I will keep using it over the next few days and at the Chicago Elite Classic. I am guessing that it will work very nicely on the bigger court at UIC’s Credit 1 Arena.

Good start to the season. I am looking forward to the race in the Chicago Catholic League Blue. Mount Carmel, Brother Rice, DePaul Prep, DeLaSalle, Loyola, St. Ignatius, St. Rita, Leo, and Fenwick. These teams know each other. The winner is likely to have at least two conference losses. But we will see. Maybe one teams run through the schedule. Maybe Mount Carmel.

Basketball is Back at the Riverside-Brookfield Shootout

I love the R-B Shootout. Gets me back into basketball. I get to see teams and players I don’t ordinarily see during the season.

The games don’t mean much. One always wants to win but it is more about seeing what teams have and what they lost.

Last year I realized the R-B is not a good time and place for photos. It is more of a place to get to know teams and players. Although I do love the main gym. It has excellent light and lots of space to get a good position.

I took some photos more to capture the atmosphere than game action.

R-B has 56 teams. A mix of traditional powerhouses, teams with standout players and just average teams but more of the former than the latter.

I hesitate to comment upon and evaluate players for want of proper bone fides for such an endeavor. My basketball credentials don’t get much past coaching my son’s grade school basketball team. But I am sticking with my decision to report because more coverage is better than less coverage. (Mike Clark encouraged me. So blame him if I get it all wrong.) So, in the venerable words of the late Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, “I know it when I see it.” I can recognize a good player, or maybe just a good play, when I set it. So here goes.

The first game of the day was St. Ignatius vs. Timothy Christian. I wanted to check out Timothy Christian’s 6’8” senior center Ben VanderWal. I also wanted to see how Chicago Catholic League contender and likely top ten team St. Ignatius looks.

VanderWal is the real thing. He has size and length. He can shoot. He plays defense. He will carry Timothy Christian.

St. Ignatius is very good. They move the very well. They make layups. They play defense. It seemed like they are much bigger than last year. Kolby Gilles, Richard Barron and A. J. Redd all looked bigger and faster. I do not remember big junior Jackson Kotecki from last year but I should have. He is the piece that rounds out this group. And they have a player named Emmett O’Shaughnessy. How can one not love that?

Next was Rolling Meadows vs. Ridgewood. I wanted to see Cameron Christie. He didn’t play much so I can’t draw any conclusions. It seemed like Rolling Meadows coach Kevin Katovich wanted to see what the rest of his squad could do. Interestedly, when Christie was in, he brought up the ball like his older brother incoming Michigan State freshman, Max Christie.

Without too much of Christie to be contended with, Coach Chris Mroz’s scrappy Ridgewood squad made a game of it. Tons of effort in this game even without the East Gym packed with college coaches.

Next were the DePaul Prep games. First Oak Forest, then Glenbrook South. Oak Forrest has Robbie Avila. That kid is just big. He he can handle the ball, he can score and he can blot out the sun. But I have to say, DePaul Prep’s Dylan Arnett played him well. I would say Arnett got the better of him.

From the frying pan and into the fire for Arnett. Glenbrook South’s Nick Martinelli followed immediately. It’s no secret to even casual observers that Martinelli is one of the best players in the state but I had never seen him until today. He did not disappoint. Arnett played well but at times, many times, Nick Martinelli could not be denied.

Glenbrook South, last year’s Central Suburban League Champions over Evanston, is a much better team than Oak Forest. Glenbrook South held the young Rams in check. One noticed the absence of DePaul Prep’s scoring machines TY Johnson and Rashid Bello in this game. The Rams stayed close but lost 43-34.

Then Glenbard West vs. St. Rita. I had to see Glenbard West and I wanted to see how the young St. Rita team was coming along.

Glenbard West is the best high school basketball team I have seen in a long time; certainly the biggest. The 1-3-1 zone had St. Rita stymied in the first half. The Mustangs did not score for a long time at the beginning of the game. The Hilltopper’s 6’10” forward Braden Huff has length and nose for the basket. He just took the ball to the hoop. Caden Pierce, Paxton Warden, Bobby Durkin and Ryan Renfro rounding out an all 6’3” or better starting five. Oh, and they are athletic too. Fast. This team has to be a favorite to make it to the 4A finals.  

Then Loyola vs. Bogan. Loyola is always good. Tom Livatino gets a bunch of athletes, coaches them up and turns them into a winning basketball team. Just always expect Loyola to be very good. Nothing different with this group. I don’t think he has any D1 prospects but they will contend for the CCL for sure. As always.

Finally, Joliet West vs. Whitney Young. The last that I saw Whitney Young, TY Johnson put forty points on them and DePaul Prep upset the Dolphins at St. Patrick’s last March in the Chipolte season ending tournament. Coach Slaughter has his team hitting on all cylinders. Just a group of big, fast athletes. They are excellent shooters. Gotta be another favorite to win 4A.

I also learned today that DePaul Prep sophomore coach Sean Connor got the head coaching job at Antioch High School. Sean is a great coach. Seriously, this guy can coach. His teams won the sophomore division of the Chicago Catholic League for, I don’t know how many years in a row, eight, nine? And he won it with the best freshmen and sophomore playing up a lot of the time. Antioch will love Sean. Just a wonderful person. I am happy for him that he will be fifteen minutes away from his home and won’t be so far from his growing family. I am also happy he didn’t land at a Catholic League school.

There you go. I am so happy basketball is on again.

Hope you like the photos.

Should I continuing writing?

Sun-Times writer Mike Clark came to the DePaul Prep stadium opener to cover the Marian Catholic game for his main job as preps editor for the Northwest Indiana Times. It’s always great to see Mike. He is such a great guy and so much fun to talk to about prep sports. Just so much knowledge.

He asked me how I liked writing.

“Sports writing is hard,” I told him.

I like to think of myself as a competent writer. Most of what I do is technical writing. I concentrate on clarity and brevity. That should translate to sports writing I thought. I was not looking to win any Pulizer prizes. Just say what happened and publish a photo. Four or five weeks into writing pieces for Inside Publications, such as they are, I am not so sure it’s a good idea. My writing hasn’t been good. And by that I mean, it’s “bad.”

Ten years ago, I started covering sports and politics for Patrick Boylan’s Center Square Journal. It was hard and time consuming. I gave it up to concentrate on photography. I love the photography. I have gotten pretty good at it. It’s opened doors for me.

I knew all this when I approached Inside about writing a prep sports column. My thinking was I don’t have to write well. Who really cares? I didn’t want to be so proud that if I can’t do it as well as real sports writers, I won’t do it at all. There is so little coverage of high school sports that people will just be glad to have more. The Inside publisher loved the idea. He didn’t seem concerned with my amateur status.

As I was talking to Mike outside the DePaul Prep stadium, he clearly had read my articles although he graciously never said as much.

“You are telling a story. Nobody wants to hear too much of the game action,” he said. “Just figure out what the story is and write about it.”

Mike is so right. His gentle advise affirmed my thinking. He inspired me to keep going. He pointed me in the right direction on how to be a good sports writer.

Thanks Mike.

Football is Here--Lots of Changes this Season

It’s game day. Start of the high school football season. I have basically taken a month off since the last of the summer basketball tournaments, but I’m back and so is football. Big changes this year so let’s get into it.

Opening night.

The area’s top teams are starting with out-of-state opponents. Sun-Times #1 Nazerath and #2 Loyola play out-of-state. The highest ranked City of Chicago teams, Simeon and Phillips also have out-of-state games to start the season. Opening the season against out-of-state opponents is just dumb. Who cares about that? But don’t get me started.

The marquee matchup of the evening, in Chicago at least, might be #14 Mount Carmel v. Curie at Mount Carmel’s new Barda-Dowling Stadium on campus at 64th and Dante. It should be fun to see Mount Carmel with a true home field. I might have to head down to that one.

We have Lane v. Lake View to entertain us this afternoon in what I am christening the 47th Ward Bowl. Both schools are located in Chicago’s premier neighborhood and the athletic programs at both are on the rise. My alma mater, St. Viator takes on Prospect this evening. Hersey was the usual opening week nemesis back in my day. Now it’s neighboring Prospect High School to open the season. The Lions should have their paws full.

Chicago Catholic League and East Suburban Catholic League Combine for Football.

This football season is gonna be different. The Chicago Catholic League and the East Suburban Catholic Conference have combined for football—again. The CCL and ESCC have formed one combined conference with 24 teams in 6 divisions. Basically, all the Catholic high schools that play football in the Chicagoland area will be in what amounts to one large conference with six mini-conferences inside based upon the school size, football participation numbers and program success. Here is a link to the combined schedule: click here. According to the press release on the ESCC website, there was a unanimous vote in favor of the combination by all the principals of the CCL and ESCC schools.

As explained to me but DePaul Prep’s Athletic Director, Pat Mahoney, the ten member ESCC was have difficulty with some larger schools having successful programs and others struggling to compete. The larger fourteen school CCL, which was divided into four divisions based upon enrollment, football participation and programs success was able to split into divisions that provided a chance for the smaller schools to be competitive.

Older readers among you may recall they tried this before. From 1996 to 2002, the CCL and ESCC combined into the “Metro Catholic Conference.” The difference between then and now is that the Metro Conference required member teams to play a full schedule of conference games. There was no room for regional or historic rivalries. And no room for traveling out-of-state for games either.  The new arrangement has fixed that. The new CCL/ESCC will have only seven conference games. Each team can schedule two non-conference games.

I am looking forward to the new arrangement. It should give some the smaller Catholic school a chance at six wins and some playoff births.

DePaul Prep Football Preview.

Frequent viewers to this channel will recall that much of my coverage has been on DePaul College Prep teams. Big changes on this front as well.

Long time head football coach and Gordon Tech state championship team member, Bill Jeske, is out as coach of the Rams. Bill lead the Rams to much success during his tenure even with the challenge of declining enrollment at Gordon and declining participation in football on Chicago’s northside.

But Bill is not gone. He is staying on as freshman football coach. Something of Gordon remains.

Taking over for Bill as varsity coach is Michael Passarella. Coach Passarella comes from a stint as a game analyst with the Cleveland Browns, an assistant and offensive coordinator at the College of DuPage and as an assistant coach at a high school in Texas.

“Coach Passeralla has brought a new enthusiasm to the program. The kids are excited about football. We have increased participation. Winning six games and making the playoffs is not outside the realm of possibility this year,” Pat Mahony told me.

He might just be right. This year’s DePaul schedule is tough but doable. DePaul Prep Rams look to rebound from last year’s winless season. The Rams lost to Marmion, Chicago Hope, Leo, Fenton, Wheaton, St. Joseph, St. Ignatius, DeLaSalle, St. Rita and St. Laurence.

With the maturing of a young team lead by talented senior quarterback Zach Burhans and Sr. WR Michael “Mikey” Flynn, the Rams will surprise some people.

The CCL/ESCC schedule provides some significant changes as well. The Rams will take on Roosevelt (2-5 in 2018), Sullivan (6-5), Carmel (4-5), Leo (3-7), St. Laurence (4-7), Marian Catholic (1-8), Providence (5-5), Joliet Catholic (10-4 and 5A State Champion) and St. Joseph (1-9). Hopefully for the Rams, the addition of two CPS teams and the addition of Marian Catholic to the Red Division will give the Rams a fighting chance at a winning record. Carmel, St. Laurence, Providence and especially, Joliet Catholic will be long shots. Upset one of those teams, handle the rest, and there you have it—the IHSA playoffs. Once you’re in, who knows. Just ask Tom Kleinschmidt. The Rams basketball team won 3rd in state last year. Maybe the Rams football team could find itself in DeKalb come Thanksgiving. Just saying.

Preps Coverage.

In other news, Mike Clark took over for Beth Long covering football in the Sun-Times. We will be well served by the professional in-depth coverage by Mike Clark. Michael O’Brien will continue his coverage as well. It’s great to see the Sun-Times dedication to prep sports coverage. Michael O’Brien and Joe Henricksen do such a great job on basketball. Michael and Mike will be great working on football.

It seems the Chicago Tribune has completely abandoned covering high school sports. I looked at the Tribune website high school sports page. The last story published was from July. Embarrassing. There is such a void in coverage out there; a million stories to tell; a  million photos to publish.  

There you have it. My first long form blog post. It’s not exactly journalism. Not exactly commentary. I will try to do more. Throw in some news, analysis, commentary and photographs. Hope you like it.