SPORTS
Page C2 • Sunday, October 13, 2013
Northwest Herald / NWHerald.com
SUNDAY’S INSIDE LOOK
POP
Take2
Prep Zone
QUIZ
I’m just
Tom Musick and
Jon Styf
with Joe Stevenson – joestevenson@shawmedia.com
as told to Jeff Arnold
Saying
jarnold@shawmedia.com
FACE OFF Kitty Allen School: Marengo Year: Junior Sport: Cross country and track and ield
1. What was your best Halloween costume ever? I dressed us up as a bat. I must have been about 6.
2. What would be your dream job? Psychologist. I’d like to study that in college.
3. Which of your teammates really inspires you? Kaylin Punotai. She’s always positive about everything and always brings up the day even if the workout is hard. She always makes us smile.
4. What’s a song on your iPod people would not think is there?
“Back for More” by Five Finger Death Punch.
5. What was your favorite meet this season? The Peoria Invitational. I got seventh place, and I just love the course. It’s amazing to see all those runners come together on that course.
Evan Hying School: McHenry Year: Senior Sport: Soccer and track and ield
1. What was your best Halloween costume ever? My robot costume in third grade
2. What would be your dream job? To be an electrical engineer, that’s what I plan on studying in college.
3. Which of your teammates really inspires you? Jesse Reiser. His work ethic, he’s 100 percent all the time. He’s practicing constantly to get better.
4. What’s a song on your iPod people would not think is there?
The “Veggie Tales” theme song
5. What was your favorite match this season? The game we beat Cary-Grove, 1-0. I’ve never beaten them in varsity and our school hasn’t beaten them in seven or eight years.
Nick Beck School: Alden-Hebron Year: Senior Sport: Football and basketball
1. What was your best Halloween costume ever? When I dressed up as Captain America for homecoming. I’m going to use it for Halloween too.
2. Which of your teammates really inspires you? Actually a former coach, Dean Beck, who was with us last year.
3. What would be your dream job? Be a successful farmer What’s a song on your iPod people would not 4. think is there? “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” by Billy Joel
5. What was your favorite game this season? When we beat Mooseheart last week. That was probably the best game I’ve had this season.
T
he Kentucky High School Athletic Association recommended this week that its schools get rid of postgame handshakes because they could incite conflict. Sports editor Jon Styf and columnist Tom Musick discuss:
Musick: Oh, Kentucky. I want to like you for your mountains and horses and baseball bat museums. I don’t want to make fun of you for your big overalls and small minds. But you make it really tough to like you when you declare that postgame handshakes are a threat. Styf: The best question is what good they do. They are supposed to be about sportsmanship, but they are really just an opportunity to spit on your hand or mumble under your breath while being forced to slap hands after a game. True sportsmanship isn’t scheduled, it happens during a game or spontaneously afterward. In many cases, it is actually an unsafe practice. Exhibit A being a chippy playoff game one of our coverage area teams played in while I worked in Texas. Things were heated, they discussed canceling the handshake, and then went through with it anyway. A brawl ensued, pepper spray had to be used to break it up, and it scarred both programs. In that case, the handshake was a very bad decision. The actions certainly could have been avoided too, but eliminating the handshake would have eliminated the brawl. Musick: It’s not the handshake’s fault that people act like idiots. I say people because it’s not just the kids involved in postgame altercations, it’s also a product of egomaniacal coaches and loudmouth parents and everything else that can go wrong in amateur sports. If anything, we need to keep the handshake to remind kids (and remind ourselves) the real meaning behind these games. Is it forced? Yeah, I guess it’s forced, just like we force kids to sit in their desks and show respect to their peers and not talk out of turn. I don’t like the implications of abandoning handshakes because we aren’t civilized enough to line up and say, “Good game.” Styf: Just like we aren’t civilized enough to stand in line and wait your turn for a deal on Black Friday (I have my elbows greased to get a new TV this year, by the way). Sometimes you have to take a step outside your idealistic ivory tower and get in touch with reality, Tom. If the safety of kids is a concern, then avoid it all together. In many cases, it is. Point as many fingers as you would like, the ultimate goal is to play the game in a respectful way and go home understanding what it was about. I don’t see getting rid of the handshake as giving in to all that troubles us as a society. It’s just getting rid of a meaningless postgame tradition. Musick: Hey, I like my ivory tower. The view up here is great. Anyway, I have to disagree with you on this one. If the safety of kids is truly in jeopardy, we shouldn’t be playing the games. Because, in that case, we have way bigger issues than postgame handshakes. Styf: I’m not making it up. I’ve seen what can happen. And, because of that, I can’t disagree with what Kentucky did. Not everywhere is Mayberry. And, if head trauma can’t stop people from playing the game, postgame fights can’t either. This is just part of what I see as the evolution of the sport. Musick: So do we shake on this, or what? Oh, and by the way, I’ll see you on Black Friday. That new TV is all mine.
Mike Lalor has guided Stillman Valley to four state football championships and a Class 3-A runner-up finish in 2010. The 1990 Marian Central graduate was recently selected as the top high school football coach in Illinois in a USA Today poll, garnering more than 78,000 votes.
I wish I could kind of put my finger on why (success has come). It’s just been an unreal situation. I could have never dreamed when I started that this amount of success would have followed. I’ve always said that it’s a good, tough situation to be in. The good part is that you’ve had success and the expectations are unbelievable. I remember after we lost in the state finals in 2010, I had a few people come up after the game and pat me on the back and say, ‘It’s still an OK year – you’re second in the state’ and to those people you’re still OK. If that’s the worst problem you have as a coach, that’s a pretty good situation to be in. To be perfectly honest, when (USA Today) first emailed me, I thought it was one of my coaches prank emailing me. All of a sudden, I found out it was the real thing. But I think it’s been a real fun thing for our community – things like this don’t happen very often. I’ve never been real comfortable with the accolades that come with (coaching). But there’s just so many people involved with it. I’ve got great assistant coaches, our parents are unbelievable here, our players. And for me to get the credit for that doesn’t seem quite right.
It’s been a real interesting situation here because anywhere you go here, people know who you are. I don’t always know who they are, but if you go out to our little restaurant in town, people come over and talk to you so you always have to conduct yourself in the proper manner because the eyes are always on you. But at the same time, it’s kind of an honor and it’s a chance to influence young people by living your life the right way because people are always watching you. That’s why I think most of us get into education – to be able to influence young people in a such a close-knit community, you have that chance to actually have an effect on people. At the same time, there’s always those times when you wish you could have a little more privacy. But again, if that’s the worst problem you have in life, it’s a pretty good deal.
I’ve never been real comfortable with the attention part of things. But at the same time, I think it’s been a very positive thing in mine and my family’s life that you get to meet a lot of people. We’ve tried to do some things charity-wise to help people in need and so if you use (visibility) in the right way, you can really help a lot of people. Being part of Marian Central and having a Christian background, that’s a big part of what we try and do with our lives. And with football, maybe that’s why that was put into place – that’s something that gave people the access to us – to be able to help them out in return. I think the last several years, I’ve began to think that maybe that’s why this has happened because it doesn’t make a lot of sense to be able to have the amount of success and to have so many things fall into place. There had to be a bigger purpose to it.
I’m Just Saying is a regular Sunday feature. If there’s someone you’d like to see featured here, write to me at jarnold@shawmedia.com or send me a message on Twitter @NWH_JeffArnold.
Photo provided
Mike Lalor, a 1990 Marian Central graduate, has guided Stillman Valley to four state championships since taking over the program in 1994. The Cardinals are 7-0 this season.
8SPORTS SHORTS Magee leads Fire to win over FC Dallas FRISCO, Texas – Mike Magee tied for the MLS goal-scoring lead and added an assist to help the Fire hold off FC Dallas, 3-2, Saturday night. The victory moved the Fire (13-12-7) into a three-way tie with Montreal and Philadelphia for fourth place in the Eastern Conference with two matches remaining. The top five teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs.
Dallas (10-11-11) rallied from a 3-0 deficit on Kenny Cooper’s two second-half goals, but remained eighth in the Western Conference. The Fire opened the scoring in the 25th minute when Magee sent a corner kick from the left side to about 10 yards in front of the goal and Juan Luis Anangono headed it in.
ESPN, sponsors help Chargers lift blackout SAN DIEGO – The San Diego Chargers have been spared
the embarrassment of a local TV blackout of Monday night’s game against the Indianapolis Colts after ESPN and some local sponsors guaranteed the purchase of approximately 8,500 tickets. ESPN says it will give a portion of the tickets to military and charitable organizations. The Chargers had received a 24-hour extension from the NFL before announcing Saturday that a sellout was guaranteed.
Bucs’ Banks cleared to play against Eagles TAMPA, Fla. – Rookie cornerback Johnthan Banks, the third Tampa Bay player diagnosed with MRSA, has been cleared to play Sunday in the Buccaneers’ game against the Philadelphia Eagles. The NFL and NFL Players Association issued a joint statement Saturday, saying: “The NFL and NFLPA have worked together in response to the MRSA matter in Tampa
Bay. The jointly retained specialist has met with the team, supervised the inspection of the facilities, conducted medical examinations and agrees with the team medical staff that Mr. Banks does not pose a risk of transmission to other players.
Backes’ 2 goals lead Blues over slumping Rangers ST. LOUIS – David Backes scored twice, and the unbeaten St. Louis Blues beat the slump-
ing New York Rangers, 5-3, on Saturday night. The Blues, who haven’t trailed at all this season, are 4-0 for the first time in franchise history. St. Louis scored four times on its first 17 shots against backup goalie Martin Biron, who was making his first start of the season. Biron was pulled after the second period in favor of regular netminder Henrik Lundqvist. – Wire reports